Previewing The 2022 Calder Cup Playoffs: Central Division
The high-flying Central Division boasts several high-octane offenses, and it will be interesting to see how they matchup against each other in the postseason and which teams are able to slow down their opposition enough without sacrificing their own offensive abilities.
1. Chicago Wolves (Carolina)
Regular Season: 50-16-10
Case For
The Chicago Wolves are probably the safe bet to win the Calder Cup this season. They're absolutely loaded, and the AHL club - which owns itself as opposed to a majority of the AHL franchises being owned by their NHL parent - made several big additions to the roster at the trading deadline to further bolster that depth.
They score a lot of goals - their 261 in the regular season was the most (total) in the league this season. They also allowed the fewest goals per game (average) with goaltender Alex Lyon winning the Harry “Hap” Holmes Memorial Award given to the goaltender on said team with the fewest goals allowed per game. Lyon was the only goalie on the Wolves who qualified for the award (minimum 25 appearances required).
They've got the weapons on offense - 101-point AHL leading scorer Andrew Poturalski and leading goal-scorer Stefan Noesen (48 goals) as well as veterans Richard Panik and Josh Leivo just to name a few of their offensively capable forwards. They pose serious matchup problems to even the stingiest of defenses.
Case Against
Injuries to Carolina - a team expected to make a deep run in the Stanley Cup Playoffs - could prevent Chicago from having their full team in the later rounds. We've already seen Pyotr Kochetkov called up due to an injury to Antti Raanta.
2. Manitoba Moose (Winnipeg)
Regular Season: 41-24-7
Case For
Manitoba is certainly a team that qualifies as "built for the postseason". They might not light it up offensively like the Chicago Wolves (who does though?), but they've shown they can consistently shut opposing offenses down by limiting shots/chances and being a stingy defensive team.
Their NHL parent Winnipeg missed the postseason, so they won't have to worry about callups decimating their playoff chances (see: Milwaukee, below)
Case Against
They did themselves a favor by nabbing the 2-seed and avoiding having to play Chicago in the divisional semifinal round, but I'm not so sure they'll be able to slow down the top offensive teams in the Western Conference enough to not be sacrificing their defensive style in order to create more offense themselves to counteract their opposition.
3. Milwaukee Admirals (Nashville)
Regular Season: 39-28-9
Case For
Despite not having home-ice advantage, Manitoba opted for the final three games of the series on their home ice which allows Milwaukee to host Games 1 and 2 and get the matchups they want on the ice to start the series.
Milwaukee's power play is lethal, and they have plenty of offensive weapons up front by the likes of Cody Glass, Rocco Grimaldi and Cole Schneider. Special teams become increasingly important in the playoffs and can play a huge role in deciding the outcome of a game.
Case Against
Losing top goaltender Connor Ingram to Nashville is a tough blow to the Admirals, and although Nashville trails their best-of-seven series 2-0 even if they're swept Milwaukee would be lucky to see Ingram for the final three games of the Admirals series - all scheduled to played in Manitoba. Rookie Devin Cooley is slated to start Game 1 in net for the Admirals, and I mean no disrespect to Cooley when I say this, but: he's no Connor Ingram.
4. Rockford IceHogs (Chicago)
Regular Season: 37-30-5
Case For
The youth movement in Rockford has instilled positive energy into the AHL affiliate of a Blackhawks organization riddled with turmoil. A total of 10 first-year AHL'ers - over half the lineup - will likely make their Calder Cup playoff debuts this week/weekend and that doesn't include second and third year players that were unable to compete in the AHL's postseason due to the pandemic cancelling the end of the 2019-20 season and shortening the 2020-21 campaign.
Lukas Reichel was the team's only 20-goal scorer in the regular season, but Rockford had 10 players hit double digits in goals scored this season. They'll look to use that scoring depth to their advantage in the postseason.
Case Against
Rockford allows a lot of shots on goal, and with a rookie goaltender (Arvid Soderblom) and a pretty average hockey club in a not-so-average division they're going to need said goaltender to probably steal some games and a series or two before they can be labeled as a cup contender.
5. Texas Stars (Dallas)
Regular Season: 32-28-12
Case For
Texas comes into the 2022 Calder Cup Playoffs with wins in their final four games of the season to secure their spot in the postseason. They've got a solid group of veterans capable of driving the bus at the AHL level with the likes of Alex Petrovic, Curtis MacKenzie, Blake Comeau, Nicholas Camaano and Joel L'Esperance to go along with some higher-end prospects like Riley Tufte and Ty Dellandrea.
Since joining the Stars from UMass, goaltender Matthew Murray has been lights out - going 5-1 in his first six AHL appearances, allowing two or fewer goals in all but one of those six games. Running into a hot goaltender could spell trouble for the opposition
Case Against
Texas has been in playoff mode the past month or so just to sneak into the final playoff spot. In a top-heavy Central Division, do they have enough in the tank to make a serious run in these playoffs?
