Same old Central?

It seems that somebody poked the Central division with a stick this year and has awakened a few teams...notably all of them not named "Detroit Red Wings." And while those teams have come to life, the teams named "Detroit Red Wings" sit atop the Western conference. So much for the theory that the Wings feast only on the poor sisters of the Central to rack up their playoff points. What's more, the Wings are currently the only team in the division with a losing record within the division.

Team	Record v. Central
Chicago	7-4-1
St. Louis	6-5-0
Nashville	5-2-2
Columbus	5-4-2
Detroit	4-5-2

"So what?" you say...well, against the rest of the West the teams in the Central are a collective 29-16-3, with 7 of those 16 losses belonging to Nashville. So, throw the Preds out, and the other four are 25-9-3 against the rest of the West.

Yeah, it's early, but we're almost to the quarter pole, and it's a noticeable trend. If it continues, there will be 3 or more teams from the Central playing in mid-April.