Northwest Division Preview

Avs should rule division for fifth consecutive season

This division is one of contrasts. You have the star-studded Colorado Avalanche and the no-name Edmonton Oilers. You have the top two teams in goals against (the Avs and Oilers) coexisting with the team that scored the most last season, the Vancouver Canucks. Looking for up-tempo action with an attack based on forechecking? Try the Canucks on for size. If patient persistence is more to your liking, turn to the Minnesota Wild. And while the Avalanche have the market cornered on established stars, with the likes of Patrick Roy, Joe Sakic, Peter Forsberg and Rob Blake, the rest of the Northwest features some of the finest young stars this side of the Southeast: Jarome Iginla in Calgary, Todd Bertuzzi in Vancouver, Mike Comrie in Edmonton and Marian Gaborik in Minnesota. Hey, the division even offers up three time zones. Talk about diversity.

What's not to like about the Avalanche? They have stars at every position and young legs ready and able to contribute. And you have to figure last season's ugly ending will play a role in a new motivational mantra this year. This edition of the Avalanche benefits immediately from Forsberg being healthy. That probably means the Avs should generate more offense -- a real sticking point during the last regular season.

The Avs were shut out 11 times last year, compared with just three the previous campaign -- while having the fifth-most efficient power play in the league. This year, the Avs will be more potent and better balanced at even strength, with the power-play production in reserve to put teams away. Look for Sakic and Alex Tanguay to have better offensive numbers this year with Forsberg back in their midst.

Gone, however, is Chris Drury, he of the timely and dramatic goals. He was a fine foil to Forsberg, as the pair had complementary styles. Drury's departure to Calgary leaves an offensive gap up front, one that as many as three youngsters are vying to fill.

Beyond the attack, one assumes the Avs will possess the same stout effort on defense. Roy delivered his best season in an already storied career. However, it ended on a sour note in Game 7 of the conference finals in Detroit, after Roy committed the series-defining gaffe in Game 6 when his "in-your-face" puck salute ended up in his own net, giving the Red Wings life when they appeared to be on the ropes. That ignominious sequence is the kind of reminder that fuels elite athletes and spurs them on to greater heights.

Supporting Roy's usually superlative play is a dependable blueline core working in front of him. Led by Blake and Adam Foote, this group got deeper when Colorado added Derek Morris from the Flames. Yes, the Avs parted with a fine performer in Drury, but in Morris they acquired a 24-year-old with experience beyond his years. He has a rare all-around game, giving coach Bob Hartley tremendous flexibility on the blueline. No longer should he have to overwork either Blake or Foote -- not in the regular season or in the playoffs. It may be only October, but the Avs are again poised and positioned to prosper and play well into June.

No team was better than the Canucks in the second half of last season. No single player broke out as a dominant offensive force to the degree of Bertuzzi. And, implausibly, no team in the NHL scored more goals than the Canucks.

That's the good news. The reality is that they needed all of that just to qualify for the postseason as the eighth seed. General manager Brian Burke knows that despite his young team's gains last year, they are hardly a lock to return to the playoffs. He will do his part to ensure success, however, working with a firm and confident hand. Already, he made a nice lineup adjustment during training camp, sending disgruntled holdout Peter Schaefer to Ottawa for defenseman Sami Salo. The Canucks needed another proven commodity on the blueline, as they lost two regulars (Andrew Cassels and Scott Lachance) to free agency during the summer. Shoring up the defense was crucial when you consider that the Canucks gave up the most goals of any of the Western Conference qualifiers last year.

Typically, though, the offense scored its way out of defensive binds, particularly against poorer teams. Vancouver had the best overall record against sub-.500 teams a season ago at 21-5-2, while performing four games below .500 against winning teams. Maturity will be obvious if they perform better against the better teams. That development isn't a given -- nor is their propensity for scoring in bunches -- given the free-agent departure of veteran centerman Cassels. A void exists on that second line, potentially making them slightly more predictable on the attack as a predominantly one-line team. That one line, though, should be potent on the power play once again, with sniper Markus Naslund and that mountain of a man Bertuzzi forming a dominating two-man tandem with the man advantage.

In goal, the Canucks hope Dan Cloutier will be more predictable. He often undermines fine streaks of play with unforeseen gaffes or stretches of tentative performances. It will be interesting to see how much Cloutier misses goalie coach Andy Moog, now that Moog is in Dallas. Like their goaltender, the Canucks figure to make things interesting in the West on a nightly basis.

Last year, the Flames were a one-line wonder. So they ponied up some serious dough to retain Jarome Iginla this summer and avoided becoming a no-line team. On Oct. 1, the Flames acquired forwards Chris Drury and Stephane Yelle from Colorado. Now, that deal was a shocker -- a rare training camp blockbuster. Drury is a skilled player who should flourish on the top line with Iginla and center Craig Conroy. Yelle is a proven checker and penalty killer who will add depth and tenacity to Calgary's third line.

What about production from the second line? Enter veteran Martin Gelinas by way of Raleigh, where his role was receding. In Calgary, he will have to score -- and to do so centerman Marc Savard has to stay healthy and find a way to stay out of coach Greg Gilbert's spacious doghouse. Even if they both return to form offensively, rookie Chuck Kobasew might find himself in the second-line scoring role on the right side. So, while the Flames would seem to be on better offensive footing, the key to improvement will be the success of the second line. The supporting cast is better with Yelle, as he joins an array of long shots like veteran Swedish league regular and 2002 Olympian Mathias Johansson, feisty Steve Begin and survivor Craig Berube. The wild card is centerman Rob Niedermayer. This collection will look a lot better if he stays in the lineup and plays committed on a regular basis.

On the blueline, the Flames gave up the 24-year-old Morris -- their best defenseman -- in the trade for Drury and Yelle. The exit of Morris clears the way for 22-year-old Hobey Baker winner Jordan Leopold to join a blueline corps in which only 31-year-old Bob Boughner is over 25. Boughner anchors this group, supplying both leadership and belligerence, but Leopold must step in and immediately supply some offense from the backline. Overall, the continued maturation and development of Denis Gauthier, Toni Lydman and Robyn Regehr is also a must. If all that youth on the blueline comes together at the same time, the Flames certainly could show improvement.

The biggest benefactor of such a development would be goaltender Roman Turek. He was outstanding early last year when the Flames were the talk of the league. Tellingly, as he faded, so did the Flames' playoff prospects. Turek lost his edge, worn down by the quantity of shots he faced and the burden of the workload. The number of games won’t change that much, so it will fall on reducing the scoring chances, particularly shoring up the goals surrendered while short-handed -– a tall order indeed for such a young group on D.

But in Calgary, they have more legitimate pieces to go along with the promise than in many years.

Certainly, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts for the Wild. In other words, this team knows how to get results in coach Jacques Lemaire's team-oriented system. Granted, they didn’t score a lot last year, especially at even strength. And despite their best defensive efforts, the Wild still surrendered the 24th-most goals in the league. Still, for a second-year team, they were a tough opponent, posting a winning mark against other sub-.500 squads and impressively managing 41 points on home ice.

This campaign promises more of the same. With superstar-in-the-making Gaborik to build the attack around and Nick Schultz as the future anchor of the blueline, the Wild's future is bright. In the meantime, Minnesota will look to veterans Andrew Brunette -- coming off a career year -- and offseason acquisition Cliff Ronning to spur the attack. Both are excellent passers in close quarters and should flourish together on the power play. Success with a manpower advantage fueled the Wild throughout the first half, when they garnered 39 points. As teams became more adept at handling their inverted power play, which sets up behind the goal instead of at the point, wins were harder to come by. With the likelihood of increased special-teams play due to increased focus on interference infractions, the Wild needs to operate effectively again on the power play early in the season.

Conversely, contrary to the people who bemoan Lemaire's trapping style, this team is not a clutch-and-grab outfit. They play a system based on player awareness and positional acuteness. They predicate their positional play on body positioning and skating, exactly what the NHL is striving for. So, thoughts that the increased focus on interference away from the puck will hurt the Wild are unfounded. Actually, Lemaire's required discipline in this regard should work in their favor.

Of course, their overall defensive effort will be only as good as their goaltending, which was spotty at best last season. Manny Fernandez is the No. 1 guy, but he struggled through a sub-standard 2001-02 campaign. He has had a marvelous training camp and must parlay that into a return to form -- matching his exploits in Minnesota's inaugural campaign. If Fernandez performs consistently well, the Wild will make life miserable for every foe they face. If he is only average, the result overall in Minnesota will be less than so.

Their history has been one of prolific offensive production. That is ancient history. The challenge in Edmonton these days is finding enough offense to back up their solid team scheme on defense.

The Oilers finished second in goals against, due in large part to the pressure system of coach Craig MacTavish and the solid netminding of Tommy Salo. Yet, they missed the playoffs -- almost incomprehensible in this era defined by defense. And it wasn’t so much a case of not having capable scorers; it was more a matter of inconsistency. Part of the problem was that their best player, Ryan Smyth, missed a quarter of the season with a broken ankle. In his absence, linemate Anson Carter struggled mightily, unable to deliver timely goals.

Even when Smyth and Carter were on the top line with Comrie, there was sporadic production behind them. That's why the Oilers acquired Jiri Dopita -- to give the second line a boost on the attack. It is sound logic when you consider the addition of Mike York late last season from the Rangers for defenseman Tom Poti. With York and Dopita in the mix, the Oilers should be able to form two scoring lines this season. Beyond the top two lines, Todd Marchant and Mike Grier are mainstays on the third line and Georges Laraque is a capable tough guy on the fourth line. The unknown becomes the contributions from the rest of the support group and who will actually comprise the supporting cast. Certainly Daniel Cleary must increase his output, and youngsters Jani Rita and Jason Chimera should get a chance to prove they are ready for the NHL.

On the backline, the defense has a definitive stopper tandem and character guys as well, both necessary traits on any successful blueline. The dilemma again is depth. As is the case up front, beyond the top two pairings, who is going to contribute? And the blood-and-guts style of captain Jason Smith and Steve Staios makes them susceptible to injury. The upside for the Oilers is that they are extremely well suited to defend at the same high level, even with the attention to interference. The adjustment should be minimal, given their already developed skating-based posture.

It might be the only given going into this season for the Oilers.

Darren Eliot, a former NHL goaltender, is a hockey analyst for CNNSI.com.

 

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