Barn Burner: Boomer & Pinder with Rhett Warrener - Who WINS The Central Division?? | BB Clips

Episode Date: September 11, 2026

Bobby and Pinder preview the Central Division heading into the 2026-27 NHL season and go team-by-team through what could once again be one of the toughest divisions in hockey. The guys break down projected lines, offseason additions and subtractions, betting odds and the biggest questions facing the Colorado Avalanche, Dallas Stars, Minnesota Wild, Utah Mammoth, St. Louis Blues, Nashville Predators, Winnipeg Jets and Chicago Blackhawks. Colorado, Dallas and Minnesota still look like heavyweights at the top, but there are plenty of interesting storylines behind them — from Utah trying to take another step, Connor Hellebuyck’s uncertain future in Winnipeg, to Connor Bedard and the Blackhawks finally trying to climb out of the basement. Who wins the Central, which teams make the playoffs, who takes the biggest step forward and which team could completely fall apart this season?Video Link: https://youtu.be/XP3E41Encqw#nhl #nhlshorts #nhlplayoffs #nhlpredictions #nhlhockey #nhlpicks #stanleycup #stanleycupfinal CHECK OUT OUR STUFF ⬇️BARN BURNER MERCHhttps://nationgear.ca/collections/shirts/FlamesnationBARN BURNER SHORTS https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLj_bcGtvvo-cW2DHEDZ6dEO5ePDmlhZc9&si=jo8iNGxT4ImhS2Y8📲 Follow us:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fnbarnburner/X (Twitter): https://x.com/barnburnerfn?lang=en🎧 Listen on:Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/be/podcast/barn-burner-boomer-pinder-with-rhett-warrener/id1648562889Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3Mc6Qd5U22R2zbMlQ7RxIiProducer: Jack Haverstock Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We'll continue our season preview here on the Pind Report. Today, sliding over to the Central Division. We took a look at the Metro yesterday, Bobby, and the day before we were all over the Atlantic Division. But we go to the Central. This is last year. It was Colorado's division. We had determined that by about Christmas,

where I think they had like two losses. They were not going to be denied. It was the stars and wild in that, oh my gosh, this format is so unfair. Look at the two, three playing each other that, It was the avalanche and stars a year before when Winnipeg actually won this division. The mammoths slid into a wildcard spot. They made the playoffs at 92 points.

That's a very low total. Remember, Calgary missed with 96 just one year prior to that. And on the outside, looking in with the blues, Preds, Jets, and Blackhawks, the biggest disappointment in that group, the Jets for sure. They won the West in the regular season, two seasons. Won the president's trophy. Best team in the NHL in the regular season. Incredible.

We'll start with Chicago. They've got some long. lines and pairs. You could tell you they had 72 points last year that projected for 79 and a half this year, Jackie. That is an increase of seven and a half points. Okay. Biggest additions you're going to see is probably

Patrick Kane, Bowen Byron. Those are two stars in theory. Roman Kanzarov could be in that mix too. Yeah. Tell us, tell me more. What do you like about it? He's a smaller, skilled, speedy forward. He actually, he had the most productive U-22 season in KHL history.

That seems like a good thing to do. There's been some good players over there. And if you throw him on a line with Connor Bedard once he gets back in the lineup and, you know, a guy like Bertuzi who's super skilled, like, you know, there could be another 50, 60 point guy right there for the Hawks. So they've added a couple nice pieces this off season. You noted it. Butard's going to miss some time here after that.

We caught it on the freak shoulder injury in Vancouver. It was wild. Was it a live barn caught that long and say, oh boy. Yeah. Didn't need that on video. they lose Mikhaili, Kravity,

Lafferty, and Burakovsky, it's Byron Kaine, Ian Cole, and Cole Smith. Not to mention the Russian that'll be joining this group.

They got less than, well, right around a million bucks in cap space. They'll be better. They're building. It takes time. There's a lot of good

young players. Maybe you could quibble about who they took where in drafts, but they have a lot of very good young prospects. They will be very good.

It's just a matter of what. I think so, too. If Connor Bedard stayed healthy last year, I think that they would have been in the same mix as the San Jose Ozarks. I feel like people view the sharks and Blackhawks differently. I think there's a lot of people saying the San Jose sharks, like that's been a fantastic rebuild. They're going in the right direction. They made progress last year. And Chicago, what is Chicago doing? Like, I can't believe how bad they are. Where if a Dard stayed healthy last year, he was on pace for 100 points,

the Blackhawks were in the wild card mix at the time. Yeah. They would have been right there with San Jose. I think those two teams are on a very similar trajectory right now. And like you said, It's just, it's only a matter of time. All their top young players right now are either in their first, second or third year. And it usually takes till, you know, for a lot of these guys, year three, four, five to really break out and turn into a good player. Like, I just, some of the guys that, that they have. So Connor Bidard, obviously, fantastic elite center. Frank Nizar has the potential to be like a really good two-sief.

Anton Frundel lit up the Swedish League as a 19-year-old. And he came into the NHL at the end of last season, played center for the Blackhawks and was over half a point per game. as a 19 year old. And he's huge too. So I love him as a prospect. Then you got Kansarov, who had mentioned. Nick Lardis was on pace for 21 goals last year. You know, I scored 71 in the OHL.

Like he's going to be a good player. You got Oliver Moore, Ryan Green, who played some good NHL minutes last year. And then on defense, you got Vlasic, who's kind of like a Kevin Ball style player. Sam Renzel and Artim Leav Shunov. And then you got Spencer Knight Nett, who has the potential to be a pretty damn elite goalie in this league. So the building blocks are there for sure. with this team. And then you add a Bowen Byron to the mix. Like they're going to be good in within the next, I would say, year or two.

This is not going to be their year. I can see them taking maybe like another step forward, but kind of like similar to San Jose last year. But I guarantee within three or four years this is going to be a powerhouse team. Yeah. I mean, look, you say it's not their year. I think they're going to be a lot better than last year. Where did they finish last year, second or third from the bottom? Yeah.

I think to your point, if Badaar just stays healthy, I think they finish a lot higher. Never mind all these other stories where guys were a year better. or just coming over, or it's Byram or it's cane. Those are good pieces to add. Yeah, they're not winning the cup, but this is going to be one of those young, fun, exciting teams to watch for sure. Yeah. From that, we go to the other end of the spectrum, a team that did everything you could

have possibly done in the regular season but fell short. That's the Colorado Avalanche. A lot of deletions here. We saw the change in the general manager's chair, which actually led to a lot of these deals. Chris McFarland out, President Joe Sackick back to the GM's chair. Nitchushkin, see you later. Ross Colton, see you later. Jack Drury, see you later.

Kiviranta, bye, Nick Blankenberg, see ya. That's a lot of change, but it's also a lot of their depth. Chushkin, arguably the only real top six part there. They had Jaden Schwartz. He had a nice run in Seattle, St. Louis before that. They had Schvecob from Nashville, Vinnie Hinnisroza as well. It ain't sexy the changes, but the core remains elite. You've got Prime McKinnon.

You've got Prime McCar with a new extension. Natchez in his prime. Leckin is still one. of the best in front of the net. Nelson, Caudry, Waugh, down the middle, impressive depth. I think so. I mean, the high-end talent on that team is just ridiculous. And I think one of the more underrated parts of that group is the top four on D, especially with Sam Malinsky, who had a fantastic year last year,

40 points as a 28-year-old defenseman. So, you know, you got that amazing top pair with McCar and Taves, and you got Malinski in there with Josh Manson. Like, all of a sudden, that's a pretty damn good top four, too. The thing that I found shocking with them last year, was the power play. Yes, it was the worst in the NHL. And it was last or second last for the majority of the year,

and they got hot at the end of the year to push them up to 27th. But I'm like, with the amount of talent on that team, it's baffling. How the hell did they finish 27th on the power play? I think that's going to change this year. Has to. It does not make sense. I got to imagine they'll be in the top 10 in the power play.

The other question I have about them is just goaltending. They had the best goaltending in the NHL last year by the numbers. Until round three, yep. Until round three. Yes. And I'm like, is that going? going to happen again. I mean, goaltending is insane. You never know what to expect,

especially with two guys like Wedgwood and Blackwood, who aren't the most established guys in the league, can they do that again? Yeah. We'll see. The woods were great and they're cheap and there's good value and one's a little more veteran, one's a little younger. But you certainly, I think it'd be unreasonable

to expect top 10 net mining. It was number one last year. It was crazy. They don't need it though. They want to come with Darcy Kemper. Like it's just middle of the road. It's probably enough for them, if everything else is hitting. For sure. Remember, they didn't lose with their best. The other goalie was 950 and they had

major injuries in the playoffs. I think you play that series again with different health, you get different outcomes. Vegas was not a better team than in Colorado for most of the last season, but for two weeks, yeah, they were. Yep. Where do you see Cadries fit? Do you see him down the middle in the wing? They

had him slotted on that depth chart on the wing, but he's a center. They have too many centers. It's a luxury. It's an embarrassment of riches. you could probably put them with an opposite-handed center and they can both do their strong sides, whatever. 121 points last year that projected for 107 and a half this year. That's a huge drop.

Everything did go right last year in the regular season, but they're also not that much worse. I don't know. Like you said, 14 point drop, wow. The big player to leave was Nichushkin. And even last season, he was pretty inconsistent and he hasn't been the most reliable guy over the years from him.

And Schwartz has been very good. Yeah, he's been solid. Yeah. Less than a half a million bucks in. cap space. We'll see what the aves do throughout the course of the year. Is the goaltending enough? Do they need to find another top six piece? Another defenseman will see as they go.

Let's move to Dallas. Pretty quiet offseason. Michael Bunting, Alex Petrovick, out. Kiva Ranta comes in. He was a member of the avalanche. We just told you. They got less than 400 grand in cap space. The real question around Dallas, they got it done, but it's a short-term band-aid. It's not a real solution. What's going to happen to Jason Robertson, a one-year deal now heading into UFA in the coming summer. With Tyler Sagan coming off the books at the end of this season, that's a $10 million

salary. Never mind the increase in the cap, another 10, right? So there will be cap space for them to sign Robertson. My guess is that they'll probably sign them in January or February. I'd be pretty shocked if they couldn't get a deal done with him. And if they can't get a deal done with him, like, you have to trade him then. You cannot let this guy walk to UFA. You can't let talented guys like that walk for nothing, especially when you're in your contention window right now.

He wants to be there. They want him. I really didn't understand why they didn't want to give him the money he asked for because the price is a cap issue, I think. And now he's worth more. Yeah. Like if you got that done, yeah, there'd be some pain, but he's going to be more expensive now. Yeah. He just is.

He'll probably be a, what, a $15, $16 million guy in Dallas, at least. Yeah. And we'll see what other winger signed, but the price has gone up for everything. For sure. Like the bull and buyer, him 12 and a half was crazy. seems pretty normal after you see McCar at 20.4 or whatever. Yeah, he's like... Absolutely. And I think over the last three years...

Carlson, Bedard, Celebrini, like... He's going to get his money. Oh, for sure he is. Yeah, over the last three years, he's ninth in the NHL and points over that time. Like, he is a legit, elite offensive option in this league. Not many guys you can say he's going to get 40 and feel comfy? I would say that about Robertson. Yeah, 40 and 90 points, 90 to 100 points.

I mean, that's a super valuable player. 112 points last year, they're over under. a hundred and a half another big drop I would hammer the over on that one don't mind not at all I mean so they finished the 112 points last year yet they had a bunch of injuries to guys like rantin and hints Ben Sagan Harley Dushain

all those guys missed a lot of time last year his first year under new head coach in Glenn Gulletson so now you got a second year under him in that system and it was a bit of a down year from Jake Ottinger too and they still finished with 112 points like this team is stacked I think they're one of the deepest teams

in the entire NHL you know they finished third in the league. There were one point behind the Carolina Hurricanes. This is an elite team in this league and I think I haven't really put together my playoff predictions yet or Stanley Cup champs but Dallas is very, very high on that list for me right now. Yeah, I don't mind that at all. Minnesota, there's a team that we

understand the question of the season. What's going to happen with Quinn Hughes? We talked about it on yesterday's show. There's been an update since. Quinn's like, yeah, I'm in no rush. I'm not unhappy here, but I'm definitely not. Oh, we've got a first service out right now. He's going to take his time. He also, I think, the piece came out on the athletic this morning talked about his arrival there,

traded from Vancouver, immediately lands in Minnesota and they go on the longest road trip of their season for like two weeks because the world juniors were in Minnesota. Then he comes back for a little bit. Then he's off the Olympics in Italy. Then he comes back and it was a whirlwind. Dude, if he wanted to just kick his feet up and not top contract all summer, that's his right. Why not?

He's got a year left on his deal. This is a good team. They need help down the middle. Could you find a way to get Dylan Larkin in there? Urov, Eck, Hartman, McCarron. Okay, I like those guys a lot, and none of them is number one centers, if you know what I mean. Erickson, Eck is a fantastic player, but...

Really two C. But a very good two C, for sure. Physical, has scored 30, I believe, but not a 1C for sure. They lose Zuccarello, Johansson, Teresenko, Jake Middleton, obviously, in that deal with the flames. That also reminds us that they did inherit Olimata in that deal with

Coleman who's a wild as well. Which is, I think is a great fit for him. I think he's going to fit in really well there. That's a really good defensive team. That's going to be an unbelievable defensive line. Like,

X for me is a more offensively talented, more physical back one. For sure. Yeah, it's a great comparison. Put that against other team's top lines all night and watch them pull their hair out. I think the best part of this team is their blue line.

The blue line is unbelievably stacked. Like you mentioned Quinn Hughes. You got Faber. Jonas Brodine, who's one of the best defensive defensive the league. You know, then you got Jared Spurgeon as well. Like that is a high end top four on defense right there. And I think that's kind of the driver of this whole team right now. Like Dolomata a lot in Calgary. Tiny sample. That might be a sneaky little get.

Potentially. I mean, his entire career, he was kind of the exact same guy. And then he just got on fire in Calgary. I don't know if it was like a coaching thing where it's like, hey, we're going to let you loose. I don't know what happened. He's hardly playing in Utah. But we'll see if that throw in turns into be more significant or not. They had 104 points last year. 102 and a half the over under this year. So same neck of the woods. Let's go to Nashville. Huge changes there.

We're talking about Chris McFarland leaving Colorado. He's now the new general manager in Nashville after an incredibly painstakingly slow GM search that waited until the end of the conference finals when finally they could talk to McFarland, who was in Colorado. It was worth the wait. Great GM. Executives had a lot of success. And he's brought in a lot of guys he knows very well.

Jack Drury. from Colorado. Ross Colton from Colorado. Alex Kerfoot, he's added. I believe he was with Colorado when McFarlander. They also added Niels Hoaglander. Maverick Bork was a big one. We knew that he would be an offer sheet target. They got that done. And Ilya Lubushkin added as well. Departures include Luke of Angelishta. He went to Jersey. LaRue is gone, Hall is gone, Svechkov gone, and Jordan Austerly disappears as well. 10 million bucks in cap space. 86 points last year 85 and a half the over under this year status quo. They are in the mushy middle. They are locked in the mushy middle right now. I think they're one of the most mediocre

teams in the National Hockey League this year. I do really like the Maverick Bork signing. Or the trade, I should say. I think in a bigger role, he has a potential to be a 60-point guy. And he'll be behind Ryan O'Reilly in that lineup as the 2C. So I'm looking forward to watching that. But the big thing for me with this team, all their top producers, they're all old. Yeah. So Riley, it's Yohy. It's Yoh. And like what's crazy is so Ryan O'Reilly, 34 years old, had 74 points last year. I don't think people realize like how productive O'Reilly was. Right.

You know, Stamco's kind of kind of had a rejuvenated year, 42 goals, but he's 35 years old. Yeah. Romaniosi, 55 points last year, 35 years old. And then their goal tenters, not young either. No. And he's had a couple down years. Like last year he was a 894, say percentage in 316 goals against negative goals saved above expected.

And it's two years in a row where he's really kind of. of taking a step back. And I just think this team, they're, they're kind of old at the top of their lineup. Yep. You know, some of the young guys, you know, might be a list of up. Matthew Wood had 17 goals as a rookie. Can he be a 25 goal guy? Who knows?

They've got kids coming too. They do. But there are a really good prospect system, but it's not necessarily this year that they're breaking onto this roster. Yeah, we're talking three or four years from now sort of thing. So, yeah, I just, I think they're super mediocre in a very difficult division. And they just scream six place in the central to me. 86 points last year, 85 and a half this year.

I noted that. It's the same story for the St. Louis Blues. 86 last year, 85 and a half projected this year. They also have a new GM. It is Doug Armstrong passing the keys to Alex Steen. After threatening to trade everyone over the past three years, he finally did move Cairo and Falk and a few other pieces along the way, including Pareko until he used as no move protection.

But the offseason saw them move out, Druin, Cairo, Fabry, Kessel, Hole. Would they get back? they got a little youth and they got some center ice Connor McMichael from Washington Mason McTavish remember he was odd man out in Anaheim after an okay year they signed Dylan Dubay to a one way deal after he played in the eighth of them last year

Brandon Carlo comes in and some toughness in Ross Johnston as well there's a lot of talented players on this team like especially in that forward group I don't think they have the elite of the elite like I'm a big Robert Thomas fan but like he's not in the McKinnon McDavid territory obviously

yeah there's no superstar but that's a solid line up, right? Like if neighbors and Divorke are on your third line, you're fine. And like, you know, Jimmy Snuggarood looks like he's going to be a stud, like a guaranteed lock for 30 goals a year. Really like Jake neighbors, kind of like that 200 foot, kind of

in your face, 50 point guy. Dylan Hallway's great. Bushnevich, when he's on his game is a really good player. Kind of hitting this in that regard. You know, Connor McMichael will probably play the wing this year. They're deep on the wings. They got some good young centers. They're fine up front. It's the defense.

where it's kind of ugly for this team. The other thing that was weird is that this was supposed to be Binnington's team and Joel Hofer was their best goalie by a mile. By a mile, yeah. And Bennington's best hockey was clearly at the Olympics and not as the St. Louis Blue. Yeah.

See if that is something that gets addressed as the season goes on. The final look in the Central Division goes to the Utah Mamute. Last year, 92 points. They're up a tick projected at 96.5. And why not? After adding Vinie Trocheck, They pain in the ass center in from New York.

Anders Lee, dependable veteran scorer. And they added Sebastian Kosa as well, one of the numerous young goalie prospects that Red Wings have collected at one point. Petrka gone, Dersie gone, Ian Cole gone. But hey, this is a team that wants to win. Excuse me. They want to do it sooner than later. Five million bucks cap space.

It's going to happen. They're young and talented. It's going to be Daniel Boo, Shimishev, Igu, Tijingala, and a few others that are coming into this roster here. I think, don't know where they, if they can crack the top three when you look at Dallas,

Colorado, and Minnesota, but I think they're right there. Last year. Yeah. I think they're going to be right there with Minnesota. I think Colorado and Dallas are kind of in a league of their own. And I see Utah and Minnesota being pretty close to each other. But I think this year it's going to come down to Ken Logan Cooley and

Dylan Gunther, like take the next step and be, become truly elite high-end forwards. Like they're already very good. Yeah. Can they become great? And I think that could push them over the top. And I like the veteran additions too. I think those are pretty young team over the last few years here.

I think adding Trochek and Lee is going to be big in that bottom six. Yeah. I really like what they've done. My big question is kind of around McKenzie Weeger. I mean, last year, at least in Calgary, really, really bad year for McKenzie. Can he bounce back and be like the legit first pairing guy that we know he can be? Yeah.

Because if he's not that guy, then they might be in trouble because the blue line's not that deep right now. Fair point. Okay. Also, do you think, do you think Tees will make it? I don't know. I mean, you'd want him to. He's a top 10 pick. It was two years ago. That was the correct draft. A lot of those guys are playing. And I get it. He lost the entire year after his draft year to that hip issue. But I think he's not the size. He's got the strength. Like, he looked great at the world juniors. Yeah, he's looked really good against his brethren. How does he look against men?

That's all that's left to do. Yeah. And if he starts in the American League, he starts the American League. It's not a big deal. But I bet you by the end of the year he's a regular in that lineup. We will see where he's at when by the time we get the season rolling. Jets will touch next week. We're doing all the Canadian teams of standalone next week.

The Jets might need their own full show. It's been that kind of an off season for, again, the team that, as you alluded to, won the President's trophy two years ago. Yes. It doesn't feel like that. Have we ever seen a drop off like that before? It's Hubert O.S. It really is. It's Vlad.

It's already Huberto of the NHL. How do you go from this money home runs to home? It's over here. Let's keep rolling in the Pinder Report. We'll take a look at the one final look at the division with the odds. Jack, I think I sent you this. No surprises here. The abs are incumbents.

They're the guys that were dominant last year. I'm surprised at two Dallas at three. You know what? You're seeing some value on Dallas, and I don't disagree. Namath, Jets, Blues, Preds, Hawks. Yeah, if I was going to swap anything, I might be with you, sliding Dallas and Minnesota flipping those two. I think the Jets are a little high on that list too.

I'm very down. Well, we'll see. We'll see. I mean, again, it's 33 to 1. Well, I'm just like in terms of like the actual like division rankings. Like I think St. Louis is a better team than they are. And I think Winnipeg and Nashville are pretty damn similar. I mean, it's just, yeah, like what are the Jets?

Do they have Hellabook or not? I don't even know. I don't think so. Because if you're moving them, you're getting some serious assets back. And I don't know that they want all futures. Like, I'm waiting to grade that group in a sense.

Because you know what you're looking at now isn't the team that you're going to see all year. But when you look at like those high-end like superstar trades, usually it's like a package of guys and it's more depth than you actually getting back elite talent in itself. So will that really make that much of a difference this year? I guess you're right. It depends on what the package is.

We don't know. Everyone thought they got hosed in the Trubodeal. And a year later, you're like Neil Pionk's as good or better and and and you got all these other asses same the Dubois like the Dubois trade worked out really well for them yeah totally