NHL Season Preview- Northwest Division | Comcast SportsNet New England

	Sean Jamieson

NHL Season Preview- Northwest Division

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By Sean Jamieson

Thursday, October 9, 2008 at 9:54 pm ET

Northwest Division

Team	Win	Loss	OTL
Minnesota Wild- x	44	28	10
Colorado Avalanche- x	44	31	7
Calgary Flames- x	42	30	10
Edmonton Oilers	41	35	6
Vancouver Canucks	39	33	10

x- made playoffs

The Breakdown

The Northwestern Division is very much up for grabs. Last season the Minnesota Wild, Calgary Flames, and Colorado Avalanche all made the playoffs, with the Edmonton Oilers just missing. The Avalanche (forwards) and Canucks (defense) were demoralized by injury for most of the year. Despite that, every team in this division finish the regular season above .500. This year the division looks to be closer than ever. Every team has legit shot at first place.

The Calgary Flames were an enigma last year. Despite one of the best NHL goaltenders in Miikka Kiprusoff and three of the best defensive defensemen in Dion Phaneuf, Robyn Regehr, and Cory Sarich, the Flames were a middle of the road defensive team. Offensively, the Flames lost some parts in the off-season. Alex Tanguay, Kristian Huselius and Owen Nolan will be missed. However, Calgary GM Darryl Sutter did a phenomenal jog in acquiring replacements that filled the same role that the players lost were for the Flames. Calgary added Mike Cammalleri, Rene Bourque, and Todd Bertuzzi to a good offense. One thing remains the same however, as superstar Jerome Iginla goes so does the Flames offense. Defensively, Calgary will look to bounce back to being a shut down defensive club and one of the best in the NHL. Dion Phaneuf is one of the fiercest hitters in the entire league and was a Norris Trophy candidate a year ago. Goaltender Kiprusoff had a sub par season by his own standards and will look to regain his dominant form. If he can do that then the Flames will re-establish themselves as a premier shut down team.

Minnesota Wild will raise their first ever Northwestern Division Championship banner to the rafters in the Xcel Center at the start of the season. They are going to have a different look from that team that won the banner a year ago. Losing a half dozen key contributors and their Mr. everything, Brian Rolston will hurt Minnesota. However, as long as Jacques Lemaire is behind the bench, the Wild will be in contention. Marian Gaborik once again leads the Wild’s offense. Minnesota is not a scoring machine but is one of the better transition teams in the league and always plays well in special teams. The Wild’s defense is a great puck moving team with Brent Burns and Kim Johnsson leading the way. Adding Marek Zidlicky from Nashville and Marc-Andre Bergeron from Anaheim will enhance Minnesota’s point production from the blue line. The Wild have made it trendy to have a two goaltender system as they always seem to be at the top of the league in GAA at season’s end. This year is no different. Niklas Backstrom and Josh Harding will give the Wild that one two punch.

All of the hype in the Northwestern Division belongs to the Edmonton Oilers. A young team that just missed the playoffs by three points is now seemly a favorite to win the division. It’s been years since Edmonton was excited about their hockey club. A good reason for the excitement was the amazing off-season the Oilers had. GM Kevin Lowe added an Eric Cole to a young, exciting and talented offense. Last season’s kids (Sam Gagner, Andrew Cogliano, Robert Nilsson, and Kyle Brodziak) developed into core members of the Oilers’ success at the end of last year. The only thing that may hold this potential juggernaut of an offense would be the dreadful sophomore slump. Edmonton’s defense a year ago was a problem. They were hit hard by the injury bug, most notably Sheldon Souray. They allowed 251 goals last year which was second most in the Western Conference. That number should go down if they can remain healthy and newly acquired Lubomir Visnovsky can come in as advertised. Dwayne Roloson and Mathieu Garon give Edmonton a good tandem in goal.

The Vancouver Canucks went from being the class of the West to being the “what the heck happened” team. With a couple of weeks remaining in the regular season, the Canucks were only a point out of first place. Vancouver finished last in their division when the season came to an end. The Canucks won a lot of games over the years with Marcus Naslund, Brendan Morrison, and Todd Bertuzzi as their top line. Bertuzzi left a couple of years ago and over this past off season Naslund and Morrison have new homes. That leads the offensive responsibilities for the Sedin twins. Daniel and Henrik need to be spectacular for the Canucks to have a chance. Defense won’t be the problem for the Canucks. They have a boat load of experience. Not a fast group but will be a steady. That’s all goaltender Roberto Luongo will ask them to be. Louongo is one of the best goaltenders in the league.

Colorado finish last season second in the division and was the only team in their division to make it past the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs. This year may be very different. Offensively, the Avs will miss Andrew Brunette, especially on the power play. They still have the old guard in Joe Sakic, Ryan Smyth, and Milan Hejduk to go with young stud Paul Stastny. Beyond that they will be looking for key contributions from their B-list players. They’d be thrilled if one or more of them become a 20 goal scorer. Defense is this team’s ultimate strength. With top-six defense of John-Michael Liles, Scott Hannan, Brett Clark, Ruslan Salei, Adam Foote, and Jordan Leopold the Avs can match up against any team. Colorado holds a great mix of skill, grit, and experience that other team just do not have. The achilles heal of the team will lie in goaltending. The Avs lost out in the free agent goaltending shuffle, losing Jose Theodore, who re-established himself as a number one. Instead they brought in ex-Leaf Andrew Raycroft to play with Peter Budaj. Essentially the Avs have two number two goalies. Unless one steps up it will be a long year for Colorado.

Rookie Watch

Mikael Backlund (Calgary), C (19)- Great skater and playmaking ability will be needed in Calgary.

Benoit Pouliot (Minnesota), C (22)- Combines size and skill and finally playing to potential

Rob Schremp (Oilers), C (22)- Not NHL fast but a good scorer

Cory Schneider (Vancouver), G (22)- Proven winner will be looking at back-up job in Vancouver.

Coaches

Jacques Lemaire, Minnesota Wild

Craig McTavish, Edmonton Oilers

Mike Keenan, Calgary Flames

Tony Granato, Colorado Avalanche

Alain Vigneault, Vancouver Canucks

Offense Ranks

Edmonton Oilers- Cole adds size and playoff experience. Has looks of the 2008 Pens’ depth just without the front end talent.

Calgary Flames- Iginla and company are set for another good season. Cammalleri is a solid pick up.

Colorado Avalanche- A year older will only help Stastny. Old vets lead the team as Stastny looks for more young help.

Minnesota Wild- Will miss Rolston but still have enough supporting help for Gaborik to keep him happy… for now.

Vancouver Canucks- Sedin twins are now in charge. In charge of what remains to be scene.

Defensive Ranks

Colorado Avalanche- Top six match up better than anyone. Can score, defend, and fight.

Vancouver Canucks- Experienced pros Ohlund and Salo are slower but wiser. Bieska needs to be healthy.

Calgary Flames- Phanuef leads an impressive squad on paper… on paper. They need to have a better year.

Minnesota Wild- Burns is an emgerging star. Adding two puck moving D men will enhance this group.

Edmonton Oilers- Only down here because of the talent of the other teams. Good group lead by Souray.

Goalie Ranks

Vancouver Canucks- Luongo is the best in the business and will be the reason why Vancouver will win.

Calgary Flames- Coming off a down year, Kipprusoff will be better or the Flames may let him go.

Minnesota Wild- Backstrom is the real deal and with the Wild defensive system he could be an all-star

Edmonton Oilers- Garon won the job over Roloson last year. Both are capable of leading this team.

Colorado Avalanche- Raycroft or Budaj is not exactly a great question for Avs fans.

All- Northwest Team

C- Paul Stastny, Colorado Avalanche

W- Jerome Igilna, Calgary Flames

W- Marian Gaborik, Minnesota Wild

D- Dion Phanuef, Calgary Flames

D- Brent Burns, Minnesota Wild

G- Roberto Luongo, Vancouver Canucks

Coach- Jacques Lemaire, Minnesota Wild

GM- Kevin Lowe, Edmonton Oilers

Breakthrough Player

Mikko Koivu, Minnesota Wild

This two-way center is a powerful skater is ready to become an offensive force. With the departure of Pavol Demitra, Koivu will spend the majority of the year playing along side Marian Gaborik. Koivu should increase his offensive totals in his third NHL season and will become a valuable piece for Coach Jacques Lemaire.

My Prediction

This is a hard division to figure out. There was major change for every team and the only one that I feel improved themselves were the Oilers. One thing for sure is that once again this division will be very competitive. I’m taking the Calgary Flames to win here. I like the acquisition of Cammalleri he’ll give them more than Tanguay did. Kiprusoff will return to his old form and their defense will be better. Minnesota lost too many important players and it will take awhile for them to get going. Edmonton is fast, exciting, very young and will be a pest. But not quit ready for division champs. Colorado and Vancouver have major holes to pick them. The Avs in goal and the Canucks scoring goals will hurt both clubs.

Phaneuf & Flames hit stride Calgary Flames

Edmonton Oilers

Minnesota Wild

Vancouver Canucks

Colorado Avalanche

Darkhorse

Edmonton Oilers- Adding Cole and Visnosvky make this team a lot better. Their young and talented forwards will only get better. On defense this team has two great power play point men in Visnovsky and Souray. If this team can mature and they can get enough from Roloson and Garon then they will be very dangerous. In a wide open Northwest, the Oilers just may find themselves atop the standings.

Completely Bias Opinion

I went out to get the most bias opinion on the Northeast Division. So I called some friends in the region. Jeff Prince, a teacher from Dever, CO and Sam Stoia, a student from . Both are bonefied Avalanche fans.

Jeff Prince, Denver, CO

Sam Stoia, Summit County, CO

What Everyone Else Thinks
WGS	ESPN	Sporting News	Hockey News	Face-Off	JP	Sam
Flames	Oilers	Oilers	Wild	Wild	Avalanche	Avalanche
Oilers	Canucks	Wild	Oilers	Flames	Wild	Canucks
Wild	Flames	Flames	Flames	Oilers	Flames	Flames
Canucks	Wild	Canucks	Canucks	Canucks	Oilers	Wild
Avalanche	Avalanche	Avalanche	Avalanche	Avalanche	Canucks	Oilers