Part 5 of The Aftermath series will cover the Northwest Division.
Calgary Flames
Final standings: 42W, 30L, 10OTL, 94 points, 3rd Northwest, 7th Western Conference, 14th NHL
The Calgary Flames entered the 2007-08 season as a favourite by some to win the Stanley Cup (Or at the very least, just me. Only because of a strange pattern I noticed with recent Stanley Cup Champions*). They started off by demoting former head coach Jim Playfair to associate coach, and replaced him with Mike Keenan. During the season, Flames captain Jarome Ignila set both personal and franchise records when he played in his 804th game on November 29th, setting a franchise record for games played in a Flames uniform, and then scoring his 700th career point two nights later against Columbus, and then scoring his 365th goal on March 3rd, surpassing former Flame and NHLer Theoren Fleury’s record of 364, to become Calgary’s all-time scoring leader. In December, the Flames also became notable by becoming the third team in NHL history to win every game of a six game road trip. Calgary made the playoffs in the end, going up against the San Jose Sharks in the first round, and for the third straight year, they were unable to make it past the first round as the Sharks defeated the Flames in seven games.
Colorado Avalanche
Final standings: 44W, 31L, 7OTL, 95 points, 2nd Northwest, 6th Western Conference, 10th NHL
To begin the season, the Avs signed free agents Scott Hannan, a defenceman, and Ryan Smyth, a left winger, who were both expected to help the team make an impact in the playoffs. Colorado had a good season, and there wasn’t a month when their losses overtook their wins: in November and February, Colorado’s worst months, the number of wins matched that of the losses, and their records for both months were 6-6-1 and 6-6-2, respectively. In February also, the Colorado Avalanche signed free agent and former long-time Av Peter Forsberg, signing him for the remainder of the season. They also acquired Adam Foote from Columbus and Ruslan Salei from Florida. The Avs made it to the playoffs when in the first round they went up against division rivals Minnesota, beating them in six games. They then moved on to the second round, where they were swept by long-time playoff rivals Detroit, who went on to win the Stanley Cup.
Edmonton Oilers
Final standings: 41W, 35L, 6OTL, 88 points, 4th Northwest, 9th Western Conference, 19th NHL
After losing several key players, becoming one of the worst teams in the league and missing the playoffs last year, the Edmonton Oilers went into a mass rebuilding session. They made many changes before the season started, with one of the most notable being the controversial signing of former Anaheim forward Dustin Penner, who was offered a 5 year, $21.25 million contract: the offer was heavily criticised by the media, as well as and especially Anaheim Ducks GM Brian Burke, due to him only being in his second NHL season and being overpaid. Despite this, he went on to become the Oilers leading scorer this season: he scored 23 goals. The team’s performance throughout the first half of the year was poor, and they lost the majority of their games. After December, however, the team turned things around, and improved their performance by winning more games. Unfortunately, it wasn’t quite enough for them to make the playoffs, and they missed out for the second straight season. Edmonton fans do have some positives to look back at though, such as Denis Grebeshkov scoring the franchise’s 8,000th goal, as well as the Oilers’ setting of a new NHL record of 13 shootout wins in a season, a record previously held by the Dallas Stars at 12 wins.
Minnesota Wild
Final standings: 44W, 28L, 10OTL, 98 points, 1st Northwest, 3rd Western Conference, 7th NHL
The Minnesota Wild had an overall successful 2007-08 campaign. Building on their franchise-best record of 104 points last year, the Wild ruled the Northwest Division and clinched their first Division title in franchise history. The Wild started off with an eight game points streak, including seven wins and one shootout loss, and then went into a 14 game slump in which they went 4-9-1. Afterwards, it was pretty much solid hockey for the rest of the season except for two winless streaks that took place in February and March: a four game one in which they lost in a shootout and lost in regulation for three straight games, and a five game one in which they lost twice and then lost in 3 consecutive shootouts. The Wild went into the first round of the playoffs and faced division rivals Colorado, however Minnesota would end up losing to the Avs in six games.
Vancouver Canucks
Final standings: 39W, 32L, 10OTL, 88 points, 5th Northwest, 11th Western Conference, 21st NHL
The Vancouver Canucks started by introducing a new (sort of) look to fit with the league-wide change to the RBK EDGE uniform system: they blended a mix of old and new, using their original colours of blue and green, and then a recoloured version of the Canucks’ most recent primary logo, along with an arching ‘Vancouver’ that didn’t go down too well with some people. The 2007-08 season however did not go too well for the ‘Nucks, starting with injuries that would hurt the team’s performance in October. November was a better month however, in which they went 9-2-2, earning the best record in the league during that month. After December however, the team would go on a bumpy road for the rest of the season, resulting in the Canucks missing the playoffs for the second time in three years, and General Manager Dave Nonis being fired and replaced with Mike Gillis.
For the sixth and final part coming up next, the Pacific Division will be covered.
(*And the aforementioned pattern I noticed? Here we go: Carolina lost in the 2002 Finals, Anaheim lost in the 2003 Finals, and then Calgary lost in the 2004 Finals. After the lockout, Carolina won the Cup in 2006, Anaheim won in 2007, so I was expecting Calgary to win it this year. I was wrong.)
