Northwest Check - "Here We Go Again" Edition

The current weather in Denver seems to be particularly symbolic of how the direction the Avs season seems to be headed in and after last season I'm absolutely terrified of potentially losing all of the next 22 games. So uh...yeah. Let's talk about other teams. Immediately.

Calgary! I love talking about them. Their fans are passionate, their history rich....ish, their GM feisty, and the team is mediocre enough to torture the Calgary Corsiatti Contingent into believing their might be hope on the horizon and they could be more than a perennial 10th place team. The Flames have been consistently mediocre all season and I could honestly get away with copy and pasting this paragraph every week and it would still be accurate.

Edmonton has finally caught fire after two straight months of futility. I imagine their recently-improved health has played a big role in their recent record leap (who knew having your best players play their best would lead to wins!?). Also an outrageous 8 point night from Sam Gagner really helps. Cool goaltending, Chicago. The Oilers are not realistically a playoff threat but can definitely ruin the party for some teams because that offense has the potential to go off on anybody on any given night. I have no interest in playing them ever again.

Minnesota can suck it. I don't wanna talk about it.

I'd go on about how Vancouver and Detroit are going to battle to the end for Western Conference supremacy and Vancouver being a top 10 team in the NHL in essentially every important statistical category and have a top 6 most teams would be envious of but I don't want to be accused of "being on Vancouver's sack" and have my Avs fandom called into question again. That said, the Canucks are terrible and they'll surely fall from their lofty position in the division because I don't like them grrrr!

Team capsules after the jump.

All standings related info taken from NHL.com...

Calgary Flames ( GP 51 23-22-6 52 Pts)

Last Week: 0-1-0 1-3 L vs. DET

Conference Standing: 11th Place

Overall Rankings:

• Goals For: 2.33 (26th)
  
• Goals Against: 2.69 (13th)
  
• Power Play %: 17.8 (15th)
  
• Penalty Kill %: 83.3 (12th)

This Week: A jam-packed week for the Flames to continue deluding their fan base into thinking they're an actual playoff team (they aren't) kicks off with a home game Friday versus Chicago before they hit the road for a crucial 3-game roadie beginning Monday at Anaheim and continuing at San Jose Wednesday and at Phoenix Thursday.

News: The Flames are adopting the Al Davis philosophy of "Just win, baby".

Very happy to see hard-luck Krys Kolanos back in the NHL. Avs fans might remember him as the guy who caused Patrick Roy to have a conniption after scoring on him.

Jay Feaster apparently doesn't believe in crying.

Brendan Morrison was traded to Chicago last week. Nice.

Transactions: Assigned G Leland Irving to Abbotsford; signed F Krys Kolanos and recalled him immediately. Good luck, Krys! I'm rooting for you! Traded D John Negrin to Winnipeg for RW Akim Aliu. Acquired D Brian Connelly for F Brendan Morrison.

Injuries:

• David Moss is on IR with a foot injury.
• Henrik Karlsson is on IR with an MCL injury.
• Derek Smith has a high ankle sprain.
• Curtis Glencross is currently sidelined with a "lower body" injury.

Colorado Avalanche (53 GP 26-25-2 54 Pts)

Last Week: 0-2-0 2-3 L @ EDM, 0-1 L vs. MIN

Conference Standings: 10th place

Overall Rankings:

• Goals For: 2.38 (25th)
  
• Goals Against: 2.79 (16th)
  
• Power Play %: 18.8 (9th)
  
• Penalty Kill %: 81.3 (21st)

This Week: The Avs continue their typical post-ASG slide with two very difficult games on the docket by hosting Vancouver on Saturday (before the Mammoth game yeaaaahhhh boooiiii) and versus Chicago on Tuesday. 4 badly needed points if we're going to continue pretending like we're making the playoffs.

Edmonton Oilers (51 GP 20-26-5 45 Pts)

Last Week: 2-0-0 3-2 W vs. COL, 8-4 W vs. CHI

Conference Standings: 14th place

Overall Rankings:

• Goals For: 2.57 (18th)
  
• Goals Against: 2.82 (20th)
  
• Power Play %: 21.4 (3rd)
  
• Penalty Kill %: 82.6 (15th)

This Week: As the Oilers continue to get healthy, they're going to prove an increasingly difficult 2 points for opposing teams to earn every night. The Oilers spoiler role begins Saturday versus Detroit and carries on Monday at Toronto and Wednesday at Detroit.

News: The U-Test is striking fear into essentially every Oilers player.

Stop me if you've heard this before but the Oilers are likely to be sellers at the deadline.

Much to the chagrin of Avs fans who are convinced Landeskog deserves the Calder, RNH is ready to return to action and get back to scoring points.

It's the Final Countdown (dunna nuu nuuuu) for the Oilers Next Generation.

Transactions: Recalled LW Philippe Cornet.

Injuries:

• Tom Gilbert is day-to-day with a knee injury.
• Ryan Nugent-Hopkins is out 7-10 days with a shoulder injury.
• Theo Peckham is day-to-day with a face injury.

Minnesota Wild (51 GP 25-19-7 57 Pts)

Last Week: 1-1-0: 4-5 L vs. NSH, 1-0 W @ COL

Conference Standing: 8th place

Overall Rankings:

• Goals For: 2.26 (28th)
• Goals Against: 2.47 (8th)
• Power Play %: 15.3 (23rd)
• Penalty Kill %: 83.0 (13th)

This Week: Minnesota continues to defy the odds as they continue their short road trip Saturday at Dallas before taking their inevitable regression to Columbus Tuesday where they'll surely pick up two ezpz points and then head on home to get stomped into the ice Thursday versus Vancouver.

News: Marek Zidlicky's days in Minnesota may be numbered.

The Wild continue to focus their efforts on proving the doubters wrong and make a push for the playoffs.

hahahaha what an embarrassing loss.

Are the Wild and Devils future trading partners?

Transactions: Recalled F Matt Kassian, Chad Rau, and Jed Ortmeyer.

Injuries: Lazy copy/paste mode ENGAGE.

• Guillaume Latendresse skated with the team twice this week, but suffered a setback
• Jarod Palmer has been diagnosed with concussion symptoms and is on Injured Reserve.
• Pierre-Marc Bouchard has concussion symptoms and is on Injured Reserve.
• Mikko Koivu is with the team and took part in the Wild's morning skate on Thursday as he continues to progress from an upper body injury

Vancouver Canucks (51 GP 31-15-5 67 Pts)

Last Week: 1-0-1 3-2 W vs. CHI, 3-4 OTL @ DET

Conference Standing: 2nd place

Overall Rankings:

• Goals For: 3.16 (3rd)
  
• Goals Against: 2.41 (7th)
  
• Power Play %: 22.9 (1st)
  
• Penalty Kill %: 85.9 (6th)

This Week: The Canucks kick off a 4-game roadie against potential playoff teams with a Saturday tilt at Colorado (assuming they're able to land the plane anywhere near Denver) and after taking the easiest 2 points in the NHL right now they head to Nashville Tuesday and Minnesota Thursday. Both games figure to be significantly more challenging than playing the suddenly lethargic Avs.

News: Cody Hodgson was named the NHL's Rookie of the Month for January.

Cory Schneider is the sexiest trade bait on the market for teams in need of goaltending.

I'm honestly only linking to this because the title contained a rhyme and I'm a sucker.

Mason Raymond continues to struggle in his return from the injury he suffered in last year's playoffs.

Transactions: None?

Injuries:

• Steve Pinizzotto is out indefinitely with a shoulder injury
• Aaron Volpatti is out 4-6 months with a shoulder injury.
• Andrew Ebbett is out 4-6 weeks with a collar bone injury.