Plugging Holes: Central Division

With the Stanley Cup finals in the books, it's time for every NHL team to tinker with its roster and see how it can retool for next season. The analysts of Hockey Prospectus provide some help, identifying the biggest shortcoming on every NHL roster using their GVT valuation metric (explained here) and offering a unique suggestion on how to fix it for 2012-13. The series continues with fixes for the five teams in the Central Division, where the Red Wings need to replace a legend.

St. Louis Blues

The hole: Depth up front

The Blues, who were the best possession team in the league this past season, are relatively free of glaring holes. They enjoyed terrific goaltending and a fantastic regular season but unfortunately ran into a white-hot Los Angeles Kings team in the second round of the playoffs. The Blues don't want to shake things up at this point, and since their team is built on solid, possession-driving, all-around players, they should be looking for someone cast in the exact same mold in their quest for greater depth.

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