The 2010-11 NHL season is now finished. After a 39 year drought, the Boston Bruins came out of nowhere and beat the Vancouver Canucks to win their sixth Stanley Cup.

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: 41W, 29L, 12OTL, 94 points, 2^nd Northwest, 10^th Western Conference, 17^th NHL

Following their disappointing end to last season where they missed out by only 5 points, the Calgary Flames like many other teams made some changes to their staff during the offseason. Former Tampa Bay GM Jay Feaster was hired to be Darryl Sutter’s assistant, and three of the Flames scouts were fired (pardon the pun). During the preseason a number of key players for the Flames including Daymond Langkow and Matt Stajan among others suffered from injuries. As a result of these injuries the Flames got off to a weak start to begin the season, quite the opposite of last year. Three more players suffered injuries in October, and Calgary’s record looked even worse with them having won only 10 games by the end of November (10-12-2); however, the Flames franchise did reach a milestone this month, as Curtis Glancross scored Calgary’s 10,000^th goal in a 3-2 win against Philadelphia. The Flames began to look like a better team in January, and from there until the end of February the team earned a 15-5-6: also in February the Flames hosted Canada’s first outdoor NHL game since 2003, the Heritage Classic, against the Canadiens. Calgary won 4-0, the most lopsided victory of all outdoor NHL games to date. Following this the highly competitive Western Conference saw a number of teams including the Flames making a big, final push to get a playoff spot, but for the Flames in the second year in a row, it was not to be and they finished with a record almost identical to last year’s, missing the 8^th place spot by just 3 points behind Chicago.

Colorado Avalanche

Final standings: 30W, 44L, 8OTL, 68 points, 4^th Northwest, 14^th Western Conference, 29^th NHL

The Avalanche, having made a disappointingly early exit in the playoffs last year, clearly had their eyes set on going further… at least, during the first half of the season. The team was not very active in the offseason, but they started off good out of the gate with a 6-4-1 record in October. However, October was when one of Colorado’s problems began to kick in: starting goalie Craig Anderson suffered an injury during the team’s pre-game drill on October 26^th, and was replaced by backup Peter Budaj for the next ten games. November and December both saw the Avs once again earn fairly decent records (totalling 14-9-4) and the team had a six game winning streak in December, but from January onwards the Avalanche began tumbling downhill and out of the playoff race. February was a particularly notable month which saw Peter Forsberg make a brief return to his former team, playing for just two games on the road before retiring because of foot problems and in his own words an “inability to defend” himself on the ice. Craig Anderson continued to struggle in net and was soon traded to Ottawa for Brian Elliot, and the Avs finished February with an embarrassing 1-11-1 record, followed by a marginally better 2-10-1 in March. Much like two seasons prior, the Avs’ hopes of going anywhere near the playoffs were flushed down the toilet as they eventually finished with their worst overall record since the franchise moved to Denver.

Edmonton Oilers

Final standings: 25W, 45L, 12OTL, 62 points, 5^th Northwest, 15^th Western Conference, 30^th NHL

Having failed to qualify for the playoffs for the fourth straight season and finishing with their second worst record in franchise history, the Edmonton Oilers decided to make some changes to their staff with Tom Renney being named head coach. This year was hoped by the Oilers faithful to be the start of a new era for the franchise as their abysmal record last season allowed them to take their first ever first overall pick at the NHL draft in June, which they used to select Taylor Hall of the Windsor Spitfires, who was immediately signed by the Oilers with the largest rookie contract in franchise history. It was clearly evident that this was to be another season of rebuilding for the Oilers as they once again played with an overall weak record, finishing with the exact same points total as last year and finishing dead last for the second year in a row. But again, much like last year, the crappy overall record allowed them to get the first overall pick at the draft for the second straight year, which they used to take Ryan Nugent-Hopkins of the Red Deer Rebels. They’ve been a very busy team since, so could the Oilers be on the rise next season? Only time will tell.

Minnesota Wild

Final standings: 39W, 35L, 8OTL, 86 points, 3^rd Northwest, 12^th Western Conference, 21^st NHL

The Minnesota Wild were one of a few teams to take part in the NHL Premiere this season, and they flew over to Finland with the Carolina Hurricanes to open their regular season in Helsinki. Beforehand, the Wild played in a preseason game against Ilves in Tampare, beating the home team 5-1. In their games against Carolina, the Wild got the short end of the stick as they lost the first game 4-3 before losing the next game 2-1 after a shootout, flying back home with just 1 point. Upon returning they signed goalie Jose Theodore to a one year contract, and he went on to earn 15 wins in 32 games with the Wild. Minnesota picked up four wins before the end of the month, and at the end of December after 37 games had an almost point-per-game record with 39 points (17-15-5). Minnesota appeared to be a stronger team for the two months that followed (16-9-1), but as the other Western teams made their final playoff pushes, the Wild struggled to compete and they lost most of the remainder of their games. They were officially eliminated in a 3-1 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning in game 78, making them miss the playoffs for the third straight year, but their final game made for a bittersweet end for fans as the Wild were also the team to eliminate the Dallas Stars from postseason contention.

Vancouver Canucks

Final standings: 54W, 19L, 9OTL, 117 points, 1^st Northwest, 1^st Western Conference, 1^st NHL

The Canucks’ 40^th anniversary season was very close to being one they would remember forever, and once again they were a favourite pick to win the Cup this year. A number of trades and signings were made, and this really paid off for the Canucks as while they scored 10 fewer goals than last year (262 vs. 272), they instead earned five more wins and nine fewer losses. Their total number of wins to end the regular season set a new franchise record, as did their final points total which beat their previous record of 105, set in the 2006-07 season. The Canucks were also well disciplined compared to previous year’s teams, and their penalty minutes total of 943 was the fewest by the franchise since the 1977-78 season, in which they got 962 penalty minutes. For their regular season the Canucks didn’t get off to as strong a start as they would have liked in October (4-3-2), but from then on out they would shoot upwards and remain at the top of the Western standings all year long. Their consistent winning record was marred only by three bad spots: a four game winless streak in both November and January, and an 11 game stretch through February and March which saw them alternating between wins and losses every game. None of these losses mattered in the end however, as the Canucks went on to earn their eighth division title and earn their first President’s Trophy for the league’s best overall record, giving them home ice advantage throughout the postseason.  In the first round of the playoffs the Canucks were up against defending Stanley Cup Champions the Blackhawks, and came close to losing the series after winning the first three and then losing the next three games, however they managed a 2-1 OT win in game seven to advance further. Their next two opponents, the Predators and Sharks were comparatively easy, and they beat these teams in six and five games respectively, and made their third Stanley Cup Finals appearance, and their first since 1994. In the Final they were up against the Boston Bruins, and after winning the first game, the rest of the series became heated and physical, and despite Vancouver leading the series twice they ultimately lost to the Bruins in game seven.

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