2009 Northwest Division Season Preview; Wild has uphill climb ahead

A quick look at my latest issue of the Hockey News, discusses the status of attitudes going into the 2009-10 season. This time, the Hockey News tried to get a bit closer to the pulse of the fans by taking a small quote from the Wild blog 18,568 Reasons Why. In the article as well as the quote from the aforementioned Wild blog, it gushed about all of the changes the team has gone through since last season. It certainly was a predictable story line. New Head Coach and General Manager, some new scouts, a few new Assistant Coaches, some new players including a new star as the centerpiece of the franchise. Without question there have been lots of changes to the organizations as well as the team's structure. However, it ignores a fundamental and disturbing similarity with last year's squad. The lineup still lacks scoring and the organization is again banking on young players to chip in more offensively. This was a recipe for failure, as it lacked offensive firepower all too often, especially with its (then) star Marian Gaborik out of the lineup. With Gaborik in the lineup, the Wild had just enough firepower to get the job done; but depending on his health for that stability was proven to be in error. So what does it look like this season? Not all that different. The Northwest Division again did a fine job of punishing itself by beating each other up in bitter games that seem to bring out both nastiness and physical play to the forefront. It is always a battle, spent going to sold out arenas (with the lone exception of Colorado) with brutally distant in-division road trips. So how will the division shake out this season? If you're a Wild fan like I am, I don't think its going to be all that much different than last season. Here is how I see the Northwest Division for 2009-10. 1. Vancouver Canucks - Record Last season (45-27-10)Departures: C, Mats SundinLW, Taylor PyattD, Mattias OhlundD, Ossi VaananenD, Rob DavisonG, Jason LabarberaAdditions:RW, Mikael SamuelssonD, Christian EhrhoffG, Andrew RaycroftAnalysis: The reigning Northwest Division champs had the longest playoff run of any Northwest Division team as they made it to the 2nd round only to lose out to the Chicago Blackhawks in 6 games. Roberto Luongo is still one of the most consistent goaltenders in the league and now he will benefit from some more goal support with a midly improved group of forwards with the addition of Mikael Samuelsson. Samuelsson is used to playing in a puck possession environment that he did Detroit, and will help bring another finisher to the team's 2nd line. The offense is still anchored by the Sedin twins, Henrik and Daniel but the emergence of Alexandre Burrows from agitator to scorer gives Vancouver another key offensive threat. Defensively the Canucks will miss the physicality of Mattias Ohlund, but Shane O'Brien, Kevin Bieksa and veteran Willie Mitchell provide plenty of sandpaper to the Vancouver blueline. Newcomer Christian Ehrhoff and Alexander Edler will provide some offensive skill at the point on the power play. Head Coach Alain Vigneault opened up the offense a bit last season and the Canucks became a very difficult team to play against as they forechecked aggressively where they suffocated the opposition with a terrific cycling game. Why they'll be 1st?: A well-rounded team that added a bit more scoring can only make Roberto Luongo that much more difficult to play against. 2. Calgary Flames - Record Last season (46-30-6)Departures:LW, Mike CammaleriLW, Todd BertuzziLW, Andre RoyC, Wayne PrimeauD, Adrian AucoinD, Jordan LeopoldD, Jim VandermeerArrivals:RW, Fredrik SjostromRW, Brandon PrustD, Jay BouwmeesterAnalysis: The Calgary Flames are a bit of an enigma. It is a team that possesses some outstanding talent in perennial All Star Jarome Iginla and the Flames have attempted to give him a big power forward at center to work with in Olli Jokinen in a deadline deal. Its latest coup was trading for Florida Panthers defenseman Jay Bouwmeester and it is clear that General Manager Daryl Sutter is pulling out all of the stops to win now by dealing draft picks to add players they think will take them to a Stanley Cup. Daryl Sutter did not stop there, as he convinced his brother Brent to forego his last year of his contract with the New Jersey Devils to join the Flames as bench boss. Like any of the Sutter brothers, Brent is an intense coach who promotes an aggressive style of play. For Daryl Sutter, its likely put up or ship out time if he can't deliver at the very least a deep run in the playoffs. One player who took a small step back in his game was young defenseman Dion Phaneuf. Phaneuf found himself being caught out of position and the Flames are hoping Bouwmeester's presence will perhaps influence Phaneuf to relax and not feel as though he has to do it all by himself. With Phaneuf, Bouwmeester and Robyn Regehr the Flames have one of the best bluelines in the NHL. Another player who had a bit of an 'off' year was goaltender Miikka Kiprusoff. Kiprusoff was struggled to find consistency and without a capable backup, he probably played too many times last season. The Flames did not address this issue, which could have disastrous results. Why they'll be 2nd?: The Flames have solid talent in its top two lines, and defensive pairs but after that it drops off considerably. Despite the talent the team has had over the years it has underachieved, can it finally figure it out in the playoffs or will it just be another regular season wonder with little to show for it afterwards?3. Minnesota Wild - Record Last season (40-33-9)Departures:RW, Marian GaborikLW, Stephane VeilleuxLW, Peter OlveckyC, Dan FritscheC, Krys KolanosD, Martin SkoulaD, Marc-Andre BergeronD, Kurtis FosterArrivals:RW, Martin HavlatC, Kyle BrodziakD, Greg ZanonD, Shane HnidyG, Wade DubielewiczAnalysis: The Wild not only will look different in terms of the organization's personnel, but its style of play is said to go away from the defensive-focused trapping style of hockey that was used by former Head Coach Jacques Lemaire. New Head Coach Todd Richards has promised the fans of the Wild that the team will be an aggressive up-tempo team. The team replaced the oft-injured Marian Gaborik with the nearly as injury prone Martin Havlat. Havlat played 81 games for the Blackhawks last season, but like Gaborik, when healthy he's a very effective player and a dangerous scorer. As was the case last season, the Wild must keep its star (Havlat) healthy if it really is going to have a chance to threaten the Canucks and Flames for the Northwest Division title. At the tender age of 37, Owen Nolan led the Wild with 25 goals demonstrating he still knows how to bury the biscuit, and the slightly more youthful (36) Andrew Brunette also chipped in 22 goals of his own. While these vets should be applauded for their efforts last season, it is also an indictment on the team's younger talent that Nolan and Brunette ended up #1 and #2 in goal scoring for the team last year. Especially amongst the forwards, Pierre-Marc Bouchard was far and away the team's biggest disappointment. The diminutive forward disappeared all too often and he struggled to find the confidence or assertiveness without his old linemate Brian Rolston. Mikko Koivu emerged as the team's leader and throughout the season, the versatile Finn did his best to carry the team on his back but as the season wore down, so did he. He still led the team in points (67) and is expected to be an offensive workhorse yet again. Marek Zidlicky returns to provide offense from the blueline, but he must find away to rid himself of the foolish / lazy penalties as well as his lack of focus in the defensive zone which also marked his first year with the Wild. Brent Burns hopes rebound from a terrible year, and he will be looked to as perhaps the team's best two way defenseman while the steady Kim Johnsson and the shot blocking Greg Zanon provide stable play in the defensive zone. It will be interesting to see how the Wild being less defensive minded will affect the sort of scoring chances that franchise goaltender Niklas Backstrom faces. Will he be as air tight when he faces more odd-man chances than he did under Lemaire's more strict defensive system? Josh Harding is a great insurance policy between the pipes but it would be a shock to see him still on the team after the trade deadline this upcoming spring. The Wild have a solid team to compete but it still lacks scoring depth when compared to the elite teams of the Western Conference and this could mean missing the playoffs for a second straight year in a row. An up-tempo system may sound nice, but does the team really have the speed to play such a system? Brunette, Nolan and even team leader Mikko Koivu are not overly fast skaters. When your key offensive contributors are not all that speedy, does an up-tempo system really play within their abilities? Why they'll be 3rd?: Fans will love seeing the hit opportunities for Cal Clutterbuck in an aggressive forechecking system, however the team does not have the scoring depth to really threaten the top teams in the division.4. Edmonton Oilers - Record Last season (38-35-9)Departures:LW, Ales KotalikG, Dwayne RolosonArrivals:C, Mike ComrieG, Nikolai KhabibulinAnalysis: In some ways, the Edmonton Oilers appear to be in a holding pattern of sorts, but its not for a lack of trying. Last offseason the team tried to lure Marian Hossa and it came up short, this year it tried to make an offer to bring in disgruntled winger Dany Heatley to Edmonton but he wanted nothing to do with it. The Oilers struggled to find its stride offensively and its most talented forward, Ales Hemsky continues to lead the way but he will forever be a playmaker and the team has been unable to get him a sniper to work with. Sam Gagner and Andrew Cogliano both struggled in their second seasons and both must improve their offensive output if the team is to take their play to the next level. Patrick O'Sullivan is young forward with good potential and along with Dustin Penner are also needed to be more assertive in the offensive zone. The Oilers got a great season from Sheldon Souray last year, who brought offense as well as some nastiness, but the team needs more from Lubomir Visnovsky who certainly has the ability to provide more points, especially on the power play. Former Bloomington Jefferson star Tom Gilbert has been a pleasant surprise for the Oilers. The team again will be leaning on an aging goaltender as it replaced Dwayne Roloson with Nikolai Khabibulin. It is especially important Khabibulin plays well as the organization still feels a level of uncertainty over its back up situation as they use unproven Jeff Drouin-Deslaurier. The two headed monster coaching duo of Pat Quinn and Tom Renny could be pure genius or insanity as two men normally used to calling the shots by themselves now share that duty with one another. Why they'll be 4th?: The Edmonton Oilers have had the problem of finding consistency the last few seasons and without a fundamental change in personell it seems rather naively hopeful that something will suddenly change. 5. Colorado Avalanche - Record Last season (32-45-5)Departures:C, Joe SakicC, Ben GuiteC, Tyler ArnasonRW, Ian LaperriereRW, Cody McCormickLW, Ryan SmythD, Daniel TjarnqvistG, Andrew RaycroftArrivals:LW, David KociD, Kyle QuinceyD, Tom PreissingG, Craig AndersonAnalysis: The Colorado Avalanche officially hit bottom last season. Not only were they one of the worst teams in the league last season, but they fired their General Manager Francois Giguere and then failed in attempt to lure Patrick Roy to be their bench boss after dispatching Tony Granato for the 2nd time. Colorado never seemed to get much of anything going last year, and the injuries to Paul Stastny and Joe Sakic derailed the season early. Sakic has since retired and Stastny hopes to avoid a repeat. Now with Ryan Smyth in Los Angeles, the Avalanche are going to have lean heavily on Stastny, Milan Hejduk and Wojtek Wolski to carry the offense. That likely means the team will suffer from a lack of offense most nights. Rookie Matt Duchene will get a long look at camp and many believe he has the ability to be a contributor right away. However, even a talented rookie like Duchene is not enough to make Colorado a .500 team. On the blueline, John-Michael Liles is really the only offensive defenseman the Avalanche have and that is a major reason their power play struggles so much. Craig Anderson finally will get his shot to be the starting goaltender, but will find himself under fire early and often, which he may be used to after having played in Florida for a few seasons. Why they'll be 5th?: Simply put, the Colorado Avalanche were not very good last season and this team is arguably less talented than that squad.