Quick Hit -
Is this finally the year? Year four of the dynasty, and year one under Mike Haviland might yield the Hawks first Central Division Championship. There is still awhile to go obviously so anything can happen, but this feels like it's going to happen, and that would be huge. The only year the Hawks had home ice throughout the playoffs was the year they caught a few breaks as a 4 seed and went all the way to the Cup final. Given how poor some playoff teams are on the road the Hawks could be sitting pretty in the #1 spot, so in effect the Hawks could have re-built part of their team while remaining a Cup contender if not favorite, which is the perfect situation. Again another tight race between the 4-8 positions, also, four teams outside the playoffs have a shot to make it inside the final 8. A few more bad teams over here in the West, but two of the toughest divisions, especially the Central which has all FIVE teams currently in the playoffs. Should be fun to see how this shakes out.