A Look Around the Northwest Division

NORTHWEST	GP	W	L	OTL	PTS	Home	Road	Overall	EAST	WEST	NW
Vancouver	18	10	5	3	23	6-0-1	4-5-2	10-5-3	5-2-1	5-3-2	4-1-0
Colorado	18	10	7	1	21	5-4-0	5-3-1	10-7-1	2-2-0	8-5-1	1-2-1
Minnesota	17	9	6	2	20	6-3-1	3-3-1	9-6-2	2-3-1	7-3-1	4-1-0
Calgary	17	7	10	0	14	4-5-0	3-5-0	7-10-0	0-2-0	7-8-0	3-3-0
Edmonton	17	4	10	3	11	2-5-0	2-5-3	4-10-3	1-2-1	3-8-2	1-4-1

Through a month of the NHL season 2 things are clear in the Northwest division; the difference for the Edmonton Oilers is not yet Taylor Hall and the Vancouver Canucks cannot be beaten at home.

EDMONTON OILERS:

For the Oilers it looks to be another rebuilding year, some are even talking about back to back first round draft picks though nothing is out of the question in either direction yet. As a number one draft pick Taylor had some large expectations to live up to and hasn't quite found a groove yet. He is a -8 in the plus minus category with 3 goals and 4 assists to put him at 7 points on the season, unfortunately for the oilers that puts him in either place on the team for scoring. Goaltending has not helped the team either; recently injured Nikolai Khabibulin has started 15 games, completing 13 of them, with a 4-10-1 record. He has allowed over 4 goals a game and currently has a .879 save percentage. Certainly the defense has not been much help but certainly more is expected of the veteran goalie in Edmonton. The Oilers will now turn to Devan Dbnyk who is 0-2 this season with a 2.99 GAA and a .923 save percentage, a small sample size but a desperate hope for the Oilers regardless. Despite their struggles the Oilters have collected points in 7 of their 17 games.

CALGARY FLAMES:

The Flames have continued this season in the "where do we go from here" direction that took over following the trade of Dion Phaneuf trade to Toronto last season. While they still have stars Jarome Iginla, Miikka Kiprusoff they seem to sit in the middle of the pack with a lack of offense. Kiprusoff has solid stats of 2.75 GAA and a save percentage over .900 but a 6-9 record to show for it. Iginla is the number 5 scorer on the team and his -7 plus minus rating is last among forwards on the team. Rene Borque leads the team with 15 points, 9 goals, a solid number but not enough on a team that should be doing more. Without some major changes, either in player personnel or coaching, I don't see this team doing any better this year then they finished last year. An interesting fact, the Flames are the only team in the division without an overtime loss. They don't have enough spark in their lineup to climb up in what is becoming a tough Northwest division and Western Conference in general.

COLORADO AVALANCHE:

Considering the loss of Craig Anderson for ten games already this season the Avalanche are my surprise team of the Northwest so far. In Peter Budaj's 11 starts this season, which includes one before the injury to Anderson, he has posted a 2.72 GAA and a .909 save percentage while earning 7 wins to the 3 losses and the single overtime loss. The overall balance of the offence has been good so far this year as well, 4 players average at least a point a game. The problem for the Avs seems to be that they either show up and play outstanding for the win or just don't show up at all and take the loss. This seems to be the case from the games that I have seen at least, which is more than the number of Wild games I have seen so far. This season could very well continue for the Avs especially with the return of Craig Anderson, balance is the key for any team these days in the NHL and they sure seem to have it.

VANCOUVER CANUCKS:

Speaking of Balance the Canucks have just that on the offensive side of the ice. They have 8 players with at least double digit points including a perfect balance at the top with the Sedin twins leading in points. Goaltending has also been a strong point so far for the Canucks as it seems to be every year. Roberto luongo has compiled 7 wins in 14 starts with a 2.69 GAA and a .913 save percentage. Backup Cory Schneider has been just strong in 5 appearances posting 3 wins and an overtime loss to go with a 1.59 GAA and a .949 save percentage. As mentioned at the beginning of the post the Canucks are undefeated in regulation at home, going 6-0-1, however they are 4-5-2 on the road. I think that their records inevitably even out a as the season goes along but until then the Canucks will stay atop the division.

MINNESOTA WILD:

If the standings were decided by the stat sheet the Wild would be sitting in the basement of the Northwest division and most likely the Western Conference. Their leading scorer and franchise player has only 3 goals but fortunately 12 assists. Martin Havlat has been finding the groove lately that management expected him to be in all of last year and the beginning of this year. The leading scorer for the Wild, Cal Clutterbuck, has 6 goals. Clutterbuck is supposed to be the physical presence on the ice, not the leading scorer. Brent Burns, a defenseman is the second leading scorer on the team, tied with Antti Miettinen with 5 goals. Niklas Backstrom has been one of only 2 sure things so far for the Wild. He has returned to his old form with a 1.91 GAA and a .938 save percentage on 412 shots through 14 games. The other sure thing has been the power play, which leads the league at 29%. If the Wild can get offense from the sources that it is expected, Havlat, Koivu and Burnett, then this season could be a good one for the Wild. Continued strong performances by Backstrom and solid in division play will help them stay toward to top of the division and among the leaders in the West.