Central Preview: Predators on rise, but don't forget Red Wings

Not long after the Detroit Red Wings suffered another inglorious playoff ending last spring, veterans Steve Yzerman and Brendan Shanahan realized a new era was about to begin for the organization. They knew they wouldn't be a part of it.

 

Longtime Red Wings captain Steve Yzerman leaves the ice for the front office.

"Right after Game 6 we had a meal at the hotel and talked for quite a while," Shanahan said earlier this summer. "We both had a sense that, for different reasons, that was our last game as Red Wings.  

"It was time. The organization needed to make the switch over to give maybe some of their younger players an opportunity to take over that leadership in the dressing room."

So Yzerman, the longtime captain and franchise icon, retired after 22 seasons and three Stanley Cups in Detroit, while Shanahan, one of game's most prolific scorers during his nine years there, joined the New York Rangers as a free agent.

Departures by players of their stature naturally created a void, but the future Hall of Famers left behind a Red Wings team still deep and talented enough to seriously contend this season.

First, though, Detroit will have to deal with a much tougher challenge closer to home in the Central Division, where chief rival Nashville has made several superb moves to strengthen a lineup that produced 106 points last season. Three other bottom-feeders have upgraded themselves significantly as well.

That should make the division a lot tighter this season. The Predators and the Red Wings created a two-tier system last year, with Detroit running away from the entire NHL pack en route to finishing first overall, and the Predators simply creating enough distance between themselves and the rest of the division to drive a truck through.

But the Columbus Blue Jackets have added scorers Fredrik Modin and Anson Carter to an offense that already included Rick Nash, and it's a lot more dangerous than people realize when healthy. The Chicago Blackhawks picked up several quality forwards, including Martin Havlat and Michal Handzus, and have been getting quietly excited by the much-improved play of goalie Nikolai Khabibulin in the preseason.

Even the St. Louis Blues look presentable this year, thanks to a new ownership and management group that has brought in enough veterans to replace a lineup that was largely made up of AHL-caliber players last season.

"The people we have here really do have to prove something if they want to continue with their careers," said the new director of hockey operations for the Blues, John Davidson. "We tried to put together a team that's going to compete this season."

They might, but chances are they'll be battling more with the Blackhawks and Blue Jackets than with the two teams up top. While Detroit will be looking to players like Henrik Zetterberg and Pavel Datsyuk to take over leadership, there are veterans Nicklas Lidstrom, Chris Chelios and Kris Draper to maintain the link to recent championship teams.

But the Predators look even better now that they've addressed the biggest problem on their teams, by adding twin towers Jason Arnott and Jozef Vasicek at center.

"I think one of the biggest differences in our team this year is that we're a lot bigger," Predators left wing Paul Kariya said. "We went from being a team with good speed but not a lot of size to a team that's got some bulk down the middle and can play a bit more of a power game.

"That was a bit of a weakness last year."

Not anymore.