There's an intriguing development in the NHL's Central Division and its top three Stanley Cup contenders.

The Central had half of the top six teams in this past regular season – the first-place Colorado Avalanche, third-place Dallas Stars and seventh-place Minnesota Wild. All three of them were some of the top Stanley Cup favorites, which made for quite the battles in the first and second rounds of the playoffs.

But the Avs, Stars and Wild are losing ground in the battle for supremacy in hockey's toughest division because of what's happened – and what hasn't – during their off-season so far.

The Avalanche have dumped veterans since the off-season began. Left winger Valeri Nichushkin was dealt to the Columbus Blue Jackets, and forwards Ross Colton and Jack Drury were dealt to the Nashville Predators in separate trades.

Colorado GM Joe Sakic did acquire former Seattle Kraken veteran Jaden Schwartz in a solid move to help the Avalanche's wing position, but his 26 points in 50 games this past season weren't very encouraging.

On the whole, the Avs' group of forwards has taken a step backward this summer, and their fourth line is particularly weak. The Avalanche now have only about $404,000 in salary cap space. This could be as good as it gets for them.

Meanwhile, the Stars' biggest signing this off-season is captain Jamie Benn, who is coming back on a near-minimum cap hit of $850,000 with $1.15 million in performance bonuses. Dallas' cap crunch even forced GM Jim Nill to trade youngster Mavrik Bourque to the Preds.

As it stands, the Stars have only about $9.8 million in cap space to try to re-sign star left winger Jason Robertson. So this is the first time there are legitimate questions about Nill's management of his roster. They've taken a small step backward as a true Stanley Cup front-runner after trading Bourque.

Finally, big-game hunter Bill Guerin made some of the biggest trades in the league this past season, but the Wild GM hasn't made any super big moves this off-season.

He did re-sign blue-collar winger Michael McCarron to a lucrative extension and retain winger Bobby Brink. Guerin also acquired veterans Blake Coleman and Olli Maata from the Calgary Flames, and Coleman, in particular, is a great two-way forward who helped the Tampa Bay Lightning win two Cup championships.

But Minnesota also lost Mats Zuccarello, Marcus Johansson and Vladimir Tarasenko, who all packed some scoring punch.

The big issue in Minnesota is now their forward depth, including their second-line center.

Currently, veteran Ryan Hartman slots in as their second-line pivot, but Hartman is more of a third-liner or at least a second-line right winger.

Guerin has only $1.1 million in cap space, so trading for a true top center like Detroit Red Wings captain Dylan Larkin doesn't appear to be an option. Swapping out a first-liner like Matt Boldy for Larkin wouldn't help Minnesota's depth at all. That puts Minnesota at a competitive disadvantage as other Central teams try to nip at their heels in the standings.

All in all, the top three Central teams should still be good in 2026-27. But the way things are going, the Avalanche, Stars and Wild aren't tracking to be as dominant as they were last season.

The salary cap's main function is to annually redistribute talent. That's forcing Minnesota, Dallas and Colorado to peel off pieces and take a hit in terms of their overall depth.

While it's hard right now to say Colorado, Dallas and Minnesota will all be top-five teams in the league in 2026-27, the challenge for Sakic, Nill and Guerin is to generate cap space and address issues as they arise during the season so they can upgrade then. 

The Central's best teams are now under significant pressure to return to the lofty place they were last season.

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