Looking ahead to the NHLs Central Division playoff battle
The 2026 NHL trade deadline has come and gone. The Toronto Maple Leafs sent players away, the Foligno brothers will play together on the same hockey team for the first time, Colton Parayko didn’t go to the Buffalo Sabres, and the rich seemingly got richer. That’s particularly true in the Central Division. The three top…
The 2026 NHL trade deadline has come and gone. The Toronto Maple Leafs sent players away, the Foligno brothers will play together on the same hockey team for the first time, Colton Parayko didn’t go to the Buffalo Sabres, and the rich seemingly got richer.
That’s particularly true in the Central Division. The three top teams in the Central are also among the top four in the league. The Dallas Stars, second in the NHL and the Central, were reasonably quiet Friday after adding Tyler Myers and Michael Bunting earlier in the week while their powerhouse counterparts were active.
Let’s start with the Minnesota Wild. “Trade szn” really began when they acquired Quinn Hughes in December, well before the deadline. Hughes is not only one of the top defensemen in the sport but also a true leader who was instrumental in Team USA’s Olympic gold.
This past week they picked up forward Bobby Brink from Philadelphia (and he’s there to work, not for a reunion with his buddies in Minnetonka), defenseman Jeff Petry from Florida, and Blackhawks captain Nick Foligno, who joins brother Marcus to try to win the Stanley Cup together.
Not bad for a team that was already fourth in the NHL standings.
While the Wild and Stars will likely duke it out in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs as the No. 2 vs. No. 3 matchup, the Colorado Avalanche finally solved the seasonslong question: “Who will replace Nazem Kadri as the second-line center on the Avs?”
The answer: Kadri, who was a buzzer-beater trade from Calgary back to Colorado. The veteran center won the Stanley Cup in 2022 (and famously brought the Cup that summer to a mosque, the first time that is known to have ever happened). The Avs now have Nathan MacKinnon, Kadri, Brock Nelson and Nic Roy at center. Not too shabby.
Fans complain about the playoff format every spring, and this season is another reason: Whoever emerges from the Central Division bracket will have had to beat two of the strongest teams in the league to do so.
Speaking of strength, the Anaheim Ducks were also big winners at the deadline, shocking the hockey world by acquiring Washington Capitals veteran defenseman John Carlson. The Ducks are primed for a playoff appearance for the first time in eight seasons.
The East is still an absolute gauntlet, and I’m surprised more teams weren’t active. The new rules about double salary retention and the “playoff salary cap” might have played a part, but so many teams are still fighting for spots.
The Sabres, with the longest playoff drought in the league at 14 years, and the Detroit Red Wings, who haven’t hosted postseason hockey at their current building, are both in playoff spots right now with fan bases ready to explode upon postseason returns.
Time to dive right into one of the most exciting times of the hockey season. Let the final stretch of the playoff races begin!
Jump ahead:
Games of the week
What I loved this weekend
Hart Trophy candidates
Social post of the week
Stick taps
Biggest games of the week
This week, I’ll be monitoring the teams that made the biggest moves to see how those new players settle in.
For the Avs: How will Nazem Kadri enjoy his old digs? He’s the type of player who can make an immediate impact. The Avs play the Edmonton Oilers on Tuesday, Seattle Kraken on Thursday and visit the Winnipeg Jets on Saturday.
How about the Ducks and John Carlson? Anaheim can now roll out defensive pairings featuring one young 25-and-under player on the left (Jackson LaCombe, Pavel Mintyukov and Olen Zellweger) and a 32-and-older playoff veteran on the right (Carlson, Radko Gudas and Jacob Trouba).
After Sunday’s game against the Blues in SoCal, the Ducks fly off on a Canadian road trip: the Jets on Tuesday, the Maple Leafs on Thursday, the Ottawa Senators on Saturday and Montreal Canadiens on Sunday.
Hart Trophy contenders if the season ended today
For those who have been reading all season, I am officially narrowing the field to a final three:
My winner right now is Connor McDavid. He leads the league with 106 points, including 10 in his past five games.
Nathan MacKinnon is second as the leader of the league’s top team. He has 103 points and also has 10 in his past five games.
Nikita Kucherov of the Tampa Bay Lightning is my other finalist. He has 100 points on the season, with six in his past five games.
These three have separated themselves from the pack, but with a month left to play there is time left for someone to make a run.
What I loved this weekend
On Saturday, I moderated a hockey analytics panel at the MIT Sloan Sports Conference and was on stage with Stathletes founder Meghan Chayka, Olympic gold medalist and Hockey Hall of Famer Angela Ruggiero, and Team USA women’s coach John Wroblewski, who literally went from winning gold in Milan to walking onto our panel.
Coaches don’t receive physical medals to keep, but I asked him if he at least got one of the official Olympic stuffies (you know, the one Nathan MacKinnon looked as if he were going to throw all the way to France when he was given it?)
“I didn’t, but I bought one the first day I was there,” Wroblewski replied. Come on, IOC, coaches could have at least received the stuffie!
The panel is worth watching, especially how all three of them dove into the ways analytics can affect performance and confidence in top-performing athletes at different stages of their careers. Wroblewski also talked about important moments in the gold medal game against Canada.
The panel begins at the 15-minute mark of the video below:
After Sloan, it was back to the ABC Hockey Saturday studio, including the special guest, viral content creator Kickball Dad. Speaking of content creation…
Social media post of the weekend
This caught my eye as a fan of themed nights at hockey games (and at sports events in general): The Oilers presented World of Warcraft night last Friday. It was a co-promotion with Blizzard, the developer that created the popular game. Video games and sports certainly go hand-in-hand but I hadn’t heard of World of Warcraft pulling a Leeroy Jenkins and rushing to hockey games.
If you’re coming to tonight’s #Oilers vs. Hurricanes game at @RogersPlace, check out the World of Warcraft: Midnight booth behind section 105 for a chance to win this custom Hunter x World of Warcraft shirt & other @Warcraft prizes while supplies last! pic.twitter.com/6YXhYyNeiA
— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) March 6, 2026
So I decided to investigate. From the Blizzard side, the game has a new expansion coming out, so awareness was a big push.
“What we’ve learned directly from our player base in Canada is just how deeply hockey is rooted in the culture,” Guido Alves, publishing director, Canada/Latin America for Blizzard Entertainment, told ESPN. “That passion comes up consistently when players talk about their interests outside our games, and it made us realize that while our communities already share a lot of the same connection, we also realized we hadn’t really engaged with the sport in a meaningful, direct way before.
“Since World of Warcraft: Midnight is built to be more social and welcoming, with stronger shared experiences, it felt like the right moment to connect those worlds.”
Alves added that it’s less about making a “direct overlap” between hockey and the games and more about meeting the players where they are.
Alves said the company would love to continue creating more nights like this at NHL games across the league. “The response from fans has been incredibly positive,” he said.
I’ve spent about 3,500 hours playing Hearthstone Battlegrounds, so I’m looking forward to seeing an event based on that game.
Stick taps
Congratulations to Warroad for winning the Class 1A Minnesota high school boys’ hockey state tournament championship! They came from behind to force overtime thanks to a 43-save performance from Patrick Kennedy. Roderick Jackson scored the overtime winner, and Warroad are champs for the first time since 2005.
Incidentally, 2005 was also when ESPN analyst T.J. Oshie played for “Hockeytown USA” and won the state championship. This time, he was able to watch the victory with his kids:
Got to watch with my 4 kids! Would love to be in Leni’s brain right here. Helmets, gloves and sticks all over the ice from the OT GWG celebration. Champs and runner-ups shaking hands. What’s she thinking? I’m guessing something like “that’ll be me one day.” You gotta love sports! https://t.co/hluO3VxcCa pic.twitter.com/1EQYb4W2QF
— TJ Oshie (@TJOshie77) March 8, 2026
“The Tourney” is also famous for the players’ iconic hairdos, often platinum blond lettuce with gorgeous (don’t ever call it hideous) mullets or mohawks as they make their introductions prior to the game. Oshie was among the pioneers of this trend over 20 years ago.
“My mom owned her own salon for 20 years,” he recalled. “She did almost the whole team’s hair.”
