Ranking Every Team in the NHL Central Division After Quinn Hughes Trade
It's been less than a week since the Canucks shook the hockey world with the Friday night trade that sent Quinn Hughes to the Wild. Trading a top-two defenseman in the league in the middle of the season has implications for every single NHL team, but especially the Central Division.
The Central was already an absolute gauntlet this season, by far the toughest division in the league with the top-heavy Avalanche, Stars, and Wild. Now the Wild, who were already gaining momentum after a rocky start, have acquired one of the most impactful players in the NHL.
He's fit right in, with one goal and one assist in two games with the Wild, who have crushed the Bruins 6-2 and the Capitals 5-0 in the process.
The "Quinnesota" Wild have officially upped the ante in what was already the most competitive division in the NHL. How does everything shake out now that the two best defensemen in the league call the same division home? Let's rank the Central Division after the Hughes trade.
8. Nashville Predators
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Let's not forget how much we praised GM Barry Trotz for the 2024 offseason, in which he acquired Steven Stamkos, Brady Skjei, and Jonathan Marchessault on the first day of free agency.
At the time, these big moves felt like a vote of confidence in the team to right the course and stay relevant in the Juuse Saros era. It obviously hasn't panned out for a multitude of reasons, including these three: new pieces just not finding chemistry in this environment.
It's easy to say in hindsight, and sometimes these big swings work out just fine. But a situation like this, the Quinn Hughes trade, makes you think about the difference between teams putting all of their eggs in the free agency basket vs. the patience of snagging a star on the trade market.
The Wild and the Predators are two teams notorious for middling. The Predators chose the Hail Mary route, while the Wild had offered us a slower burn and a momentum buildup until this season.
The Predators have several fundamental flaws as they sit at 13-15-4 in last place of the Central, and the Hughes trade has brought the danger of making too many drastic moves too quickly to the forefront.
7. Chicago Blackhawks
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The Blackhawks hung on to their hot start for longer than anticipated, and they're still in the mix for a playoff spot if they clean up their recent sloppiness quickly. The first two months of this season have been a delicious taste of what we can expect from this young core for years down the road.
Recently, though, the cracks are starting to show amidst this three-game losing streak and 3-6-1 bout. The Hawks have been struggling on both ends of the ice since early December, including a 6-0 loss to the Kings and a 7-1 loss to the Ducks. Then they got the worst news possible: Connor Bedard, off to a career start, is now out for at least the rest of the month with a shoulder injury.
This is brutal timing for Chicago, and it'll be tough for such a young team -- but look at it like more experience under the belt as the core gets older and wiser.
6. St. Louis Blues
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The Blues have historically had a knack for dramatic late-season comebacks, but we don't see that happening for the 2025-26 team. The Blues have some high-end talent -- like the burgeoning Robert Thomas -- to rally around, but we haven't seen enough of it perform consistently in St. Louis over the past few seasons.
What we have seen is how thin the roster depth is when any of the top players get hurt. We've also seen the inflexibility of certain contracts that have prevented would-be fixer-upper trades.
The Blues still have a mathematical path to the playoffs -- and the Jets and the Blackhawks are just inches ahead of them in the Central -- but they aren't giving us a reason to believe they'll will their way up in the standings. The defensive structure just isn't there, and Jordan Binnington has been one of the worst goaltenders in the league this season, with a -9.8 goals saved above expected rating.
5. Utah Mammoth
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Speaking of young stars out long term, Logan Cooley's absence has kept the Mammoth stagnant in the middle of the Central. The front office has been active enough so far, so before the Wild snagged Hughes, we wondered if the Mammoth would perhaps put together an enticing bid.
No dice. Not only is Utah dealing with key injuries again, but the divisional top got even heavier as Hughes joined the rival Wild. The 16-16-3 record is an accurate representation of the Mammoth's season so far, despite the hot start. It seems like everything has to go perfectly for this Mammoth team to stay consistent, and with Cooley's injury, that hasn't been the case.
We shouldn't exactly give up on the Mammoth just because the Wild, Stars, and Avalanche are in their division, but no one can deny the tough road ahead. This trade deadline will be crucial if Utah is to make the playoffs for the first time in franchise history.
4. Winnipeg Jets
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The reigning Presidents' Trophy champions have done a decent job keeping their main core together these past few years, but they haven't been able to significantly upgrade the supporting cast, and it's finally showing.
The Jets have relied on one of the best goaltenders in the game, Connor Hellebuyck, to mask some longtime deficits that eventually get exposed in the playoffs year after year. With Hellebuyck out for almost a month, these deficits were exposed earlier than usual this regular season, but even before his knee injury, the team in front of him put up some uninspiring clunkers.
Will his recent return to the net inspire this group to get it together, or is the lack of creativity from the front office finally rearing its head as the Wild, Stars, and Avalanche have continued improving on their rosters?
3. Dallas Stars
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It's painful and a bit unfair to penalize the Stars because of a divisional rival's move, but GM Jim Nill knows better than anyone that that's showbiz, baby. In the modern NHL -- especially in the brutal Central Division -- even the best teams have to keep wheeling and dealing to keep up with the competition.
Nill had last season's out-of-left-field blockbuster with the Mikko Rantanen acquisition, and with Tyler Seguin now on LTIR, he may already be picking up the phone in the wake of the Hughes deal. If the season ended today, the Stars and the Wild would be playing each other in the first round, after all.
The Stars have been fantastic despite key injuries and some atypical subpar play from Jake Oettinger in net, but Oettinger is starting to come around. If he can keep it up, and if Nill uses Seguin's stint on LTIR to the team's advantage, there's a chance the Stars hang on to their No. 2 spot in the Central. Even then, the freight train of momentum that is the Minnesota Wild feels inevitable.
2. Minnesota Wild
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Through Quinn Hughes' first two games with the Wild, they've dominated the Bruins 6-2 and the Capitals 5-0. I'm tempted to put a disclaimer here that I don't expect them to keep doing that, but sheesh, anyone watching these games has been treated to some of the most fun, fast-paced, skilled, and motivated hockey we've seen this season from anyone other than the Avalanche.
Even if we can't expect the Wild to keep crushing every opponent by a five-goal margin, we can expect the puck-moving jolt that Hughes brought to the team to persist. Hughes' transition game and ability to see the ice bring exactly what the Wild were missing to enter that upper echelon as they played catch-up after a rough start.
Minnesota had been heating up for a month and a half before the deal, and now the team's efforts have been rewarded with a top-two NHL defenseman.
Don't get me wrong: The Stars have been resilient, even dealing with a slew of injuries, but the combination of the Wild's momentum and the Hughes factor has me thinking the Wild will soon pass Dallas in the standings and end the season No. 2 in the division.
1. Colorado Avalanche
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The Wild have been climbing for more than a month, have added one of the best players in the league, and have dominated on their current five-game win streak -- all to sit 10 points behind the beastly Avalanche.
In an NHL season full of injuries to stars and inconsistent play from teams we expected more from out East, the Avalanche have been the only team as elite as it is consistent in the NHL.
Nathan MacKinnon leads the league in goals (28) and points (58), Martin Necas is right behind him with 45 points, Cale Makar is leading all defensemen with 40 points, and Scott Wedgewood ranks No. 4 among goaltenders with a 2.11 goals against average and No. 6 with a .920 save percentage.
Are they luckier than most teams this season with injury luck? Yes. But the full-team dominance at every position shows they're stacked and prepared if injury strikes. Five players have at least 10 goals, and three are averaging well over a point per game.
This team is showing no signs of slowing down, but even if there's a lull, Colorado has racked up so many points in the standings that it'll be shocking if anyone catches up.
