The 2009-10 NHL season is now finished. The Chicago Blackhawks had been waiting for their turn to hoist the Cup for 49 years, and that drought was finally brought to an end after an exciting series against the Philadelphia Flyers.

This six part series will consist of brief summaries of every team’s performance this season. Part 5 will cover the Northwest Division.

Calgary Flames

Final standings: 40W, 32L, 10OTL, 90 points, 3^rd Northwest, 10^th Western Conference, 16^th NHL

Before this season got underway, a familiar face very briefly returned to the Flames’ lineup: Theoren Fleury. As a Flame in the late 80’s and the 90’s, he ended up being traded away and finishing his career due to a suspension by the NHL in 2003. After a few stints with some senior teams and the EIHL’s Belfast Giants, he was allowed to make an NHL comeback, playing with his original NHL team for one last time during the preseason, before happily retiring as a Calgary Flame. Afterwards, the team began playing its 30^th season, and started it off with a bang as they led the Northwest Division early on, with a 17-6-3 record over the first two months of play. However, they began to struggle during December with an 11 game slump and fared even worse before the Olympic Break with a 7-11-4 stretch over January and early February. Flames players were successful at the Olympic Tournament, and the team pulled together again in March in a final attempt to make it to the postseason: however, this was not to be as they suffered a four game losing streak in April, ultimately losing out to Colorado by only 5 points. On an upside for the Flames, they won all six games played against their rivals the Edmonton Oilers, marking the first time in the history of this rivalry that either team has won every single game against the other during the regular season.

Colorado Avalanche

Final standings: 43W, 30L, 9OTL, 95 points, 2^nd Northwest, 8^th Western Conference, 12^th NHL

Evidently unhappy with their horrendous record last year, the Avs fired not only their general manager Francois Giguere, but also the entirety of the team’s coaching staff, in order for the team to get off to a fresh new start this season. Greg Sherman and Joe Sacco were hired to become the team’s new general manager and head coach, respectively, although long-time Avalanche captain and franchise star, Joe Sakic, retired after a 20-year NHL career. Following Colorado’s extreme overhaul, the Avs got off to great start with a 10-2-2 record in October, but fell into a slump during the following month before returning to a more satisfactory level of play in December. Their success continued into the New Year, and Colorado went 12-7-0 before the Olympic break, with two winning streaks lasting six and four games each. The post-Olympic break Avs however, were very shaky and the team ended up just about making the eighth place spot in the West. The Avalanche were up against the San Jose Sharks in the first round of the postseason, and although they played very well, taking three of the first four games into OT, they eventually lost to the Sharks in game 6.

Edmonton Oilers

Final standings: 27W, 47L, 8OTL, 62 points, 5^th Northwest, 15^th Western Conference, 30^th NHL

What an embarrassing year for the Oilers. Despite replacing their coaching staff in an attempt to improve the team’s performance, that plan failed and Edmonton played their second worst NHL season in franchise history, beating the 1992-93 team by only 2 points. They appeared to be off to a good start in October, but from there everything went downhill. While they did have a five-game winning streak in December, this was immediately followed by a seven game losing streak, and the team lost all twelve games played in January. To top it all off, the Oilers lost all six games against their arch rivals the Calgary Flames – the first time in 30 years that either team has ever completed a regular season series sweep against the other – and Edmonton eventually finished dead last in the NHL, the first time ever for the team, trailing behind second-worst Toronto by 12 points. On an upside, this partially resulted in the Oilers getting their first ever, first overall pick in franchise history for the 2010 NHL Draft in Los Angeles, which they used to select Taylor Hall of the OHL’s Windsor Spitfires.

Minnesota Wild

Final standings: 38W, 36L, 8OTL, 84 points, 4^th Northwest, 13^th Western Conference, 22^nd NHL

Prior to this season, the Wild replaced both their general manager and head coach with Chuck Fletcher and Todd Richards, respectively. This plan did not appear to work initially, as Minnesota won just five of their first 14 games in October, however, their performance improved as they got to winning ways soon afterwards. One particularly noteworthy incident this year took place on December 18^th, when the team’s equipment van caught fire and incinerated everything, with just a day to go until they were set to play the Ottawa Senators. After scrambling to replace all their equipment, the game successfully went underway, but with Ottawa winning 4-1. This event did not appear to affect the team’s performance for the rest of the season – as much as hockey players are quite superstitious when it comes to anything, including equipment – but it was their bad start, combined with the team’s average record for the rest of the year, which prevented them from making the playoffs this year.

Vancouver Canucks

Final standings: 49W, 28L, 5OTL, 103 points, 1^st Northwest, 3^rd Western Conference, 5^th NHL

Vancouver got off to an average start in October, splitting the first 14 games, and after that went on to marginally improve on their already impressive record set last season, setting their third-best regular season, losing to the 2002-03 team by just one point, and the 2006-07 team by two. At the end of January, the Canucks had a seven game winning streak, but this was immediately followed by the team’s only losing month this season, in which they went 3-4-0. This “bad” month incidentally took place during the Canucks’ 14-game road trip – the longest ever in NHL history – which was undertaken so that their rink could be prepared for the Winter Olympics, as Vancouver was the first NHL city to host the event since the league started allowing their players to participate in the games. Eventually, the Canucks made the playoffs for the third time in five years: in the first round they faced the Los Angeles Kings, beating them in six games, but in the conference semifinals they lost to eventual Stanley Cup Champions the Chicago Blackhawks in six.

Coming up next in the sixth and final part will be the Pacific Division.