The cool part about calling something an "All-Star Edition" is I have a glitzy name for a gimped version of the NW Check this week. I spent the last few days trying to come up with ways to make this even kind of fun but with 4 of the 5 teams in the division only playing one game, there's just not a lot to read. I should honestly call this the "Minor Standings Tweaks Edition" but I'll save that for...you know, another time.
I'm writing this in the middle of then night, I'm tired and there just isn't a whole lot to say. The division has remained the same for a month now and the 5 times combined to play 6 whole games last week. The week's highest excitement involved a little cross blog trash talk with Hockey Wilderness and his choice words and then the highway robbery that was the Phoenix debacle. Ugh.
No news links this week as pretty much everything was exactly the same as last week or each team wrote a standard blurb on their All-Stars and how they fared. I promise you aren't missing anything. Instead of news, I'm just giving you random links that I enjoy and you can either click on or skip entirely.
As always, criticisms/suggestions for next week are very welcome. Sorry for not having more hockey-related stuff to kick y'alls way on this frigid Tuesday.
Team capsules after the jump...
All standings related info pulled from NHL.com
Calgary Flames (51 GP 24-21-6 54 Pts)
Last Week: 1-0-0 4-1 W vs. STL
Conference Standing: 12th Place, 2 points behind 8th place San Jose and 17 behind 1st place Vancouver.
Overall Rankings:
- Goals For: 2.7 (17th)
- Goals Against: 2.9 (19th)
- Power Play %: 16.2 (23rd)
- Penalty Kill %: 82.1 (16th)
Fun Facts: Jarome Iginla has finished 6 of his 13 NHL seasons with a negative rating. He also has 3 seasons with ratings of +5, +1, and even. His career +/-? +53, including this year's -10. Amazing stuff.
This Week: The Flames get back into action Tuesday night @ NSH as they begin a convenient every other day schedule that takes them @ ATL Thursday before returning home Saturday vs. LA and Monday vs. CHI. Feel free to lose a couple of those, boys.
News: For Calgary's random News Link of the week, we're going with a blog that I read pretty frequently and find absolutely fascinating. It's basically the online diary of a guy who decided last November to give up video games for one year. Boxed everything up and did away with the demon creations in order to experience a life without gaming. Lots of interesting reading here.
Transactions: None.
Injuries: C Daymond Langkow is still out indefinitely with a "head" injury, D Steve Staios is listed as day to day with an "upper body" injury, and F Raitis Ivanans is day to day with a head injury (no shock there, really). Their website still hasn't updated and I'm being stubborn about it. When they update, I'll update. Hmph.
Colorado Avalanche (50 GP 25-19-6 56 Pts)
Last Week: 0-1-0 2-5 L vs. PHX/zebras
Conference Standings: 9th place, tied with 8th place San Jose and 15 points behind first place Vancouver.
Overall Rankings:
- Goals For: 3.2 (4th)
- Goals Against: 3.3 (30th)
- Power Play %: 20.8 (8th)
- Penalty Kill %: 77.7 (28th)
This Week: The Ravaranch return to the ice this week sans even more quality players (L2Skate, Jonesy) than they iced when we last saw them playing for real points as Colorado copies Calgary's rhythmic every-other-day brouhaha beginning Tuesday @STL before returning home for a 2 game home stand Thursday vs. MIN and Saturday vs. ANA. The team hits the road following their inevitable meltdown against the Ducks (/flinch) to start a 4 game road trip Monday @ PHX where they look at avenge a bitter loss in which they battled many elements other than the other team. No, I'm not ready to let it go yet.
Edmonton Oilers (49 GP 15-26-8 38 Pts)
Last Week: 1-1-0 4-3 W @ PHX (resisting making further comments...), 1-3 L @ DAL
Conference Standings: 15th place, 18 points behind 8th place Colorado and 33 (!) points behind first place Vancouver.
Overall Rankings:
- Goals For: 2.5 (26th)
- Goals Against: 3.3 (29th)
- Power Play %: 12.8 (29th)
- Penalty Kill %: 73.9 (30th)
Fun Facts: Edmonton's stellar defensive effort last week lowered their team GAA enough that our very own Avalanche replaced them as the worst team in the NHL at stopping the puck from entering our own net. Congratulations, Edmonton! Second worst for a week is still better than absolutely worst, amirite?
This Week: Edmonton enjoys rebel status this week as they spend tonight kickin back waitin to get pounded Wednesday vs. LA before taking to the road for a delicious back-to-back Friday @ STL and Saturday @CBJ. For some reason, the scheduling overlords give the Oilers a breather before returning to getting their ass kicked Monday @ NSH. You have fun with that, Edmonton.
News: Coming straight from DailyTech is an article about beating heart cells made directly from adult skin cells in mice. Cool story, mice.
Transactions: None.
Injuries:
- Ryan Whitney is on IR and is out indefinitely with an ankle injury.
- Jordan Eberle is on IR and is day to day with an ankle injury.
- Jim Vandermeer is on IR and is day to day with an ankle injury.
- Gilbert Brule is not on IR (?!?!) and is out indefinitely with an ankle injury
- Ales Hemsky is not on IR and is out indefinitely with a concussion.
Minnesota Wild (49 GP 25-19-5 55 Pts)
Last Week: 1-0-0 4-2 W @ CHI
Conference Standing: 10th place, 1 point behind 8th place San Jose, 16 points behind 1st place Vancouver.
Overall Rankings:
- Goals For: 2.7 (19th)
- Goals Against: 2.7 (11th)
- Power Play %: 21.1 (6th)
- Penalty Kill %: 82.3 (15th)
Fun Facts: MHH is still awesomer-er than Hockey Wilderness and Peter Forsberg could single handedly rip the pretentiously self-proclaimed State of Hockey in half with his fucking eyebrows. What's despicable is they would likely see him coming, implement the trap, and still get dominated. /Fun fact'd
This Week: Minnesota enjoys your everyday ho-humdinger of a dilly dally Tuesday vs. LA and hit the road where they will welcome Hockey Godzilla back to the ice in his much-anticipated return Thursday @ COL and then head into the belly of the striped beast (jk, not letting it go just yet) Saturday @ PHX. Get stomped, plixplox.
News: Only fitting for the Wild that we get a little crazy up in here. I'm sure many of you have already seen this but I cannot stop laughing about how awesome it is that a Chinese TV station ran a piece featuring live action fire...or was it just Top Gun?
Transactions:
- Jan 25 - C Cody Almond reassigned to Houston
Injuries:
- James Sheppard is still out with a knee injury with his return unknown.
- Josh Harding remains out with a knee injury of his own but has begun skating lightly.
- Guillaume Latendresse is out indefinitely with what is listed as a hip/hernia injury.
- Marek Zidlicky is on IR with a shoulder injury and will remain out for the next 4-6 weeks while he rehabs.
- Marco Scandella has a mild concussion after taking a puck to the face and remains out of the lineup. Enjoy All-Star weekend, dude. Concussions ftl.
Vancouver Canucks (50 GP 31-10-9 71 Pts)
Last Week: 1-0-0 2-1 W vs. NSH
Conference Standing: 1st Place, 5 points ahead of 2nd place Detroit.
Overall Rankings:
- Goals For: 3.3 (3rd)
- Goals Against: 2.3 (3rd)
- Power Play %: 23.6 (3rd)
- Penalty Kill %: 84.2 (5th)
Fun Facts: These guys are never losing again. Is there anything more fun?
This Week: Vancouver comes out the of gate quickly with 3 games in 4 days starting Tuesday with the first of a back-to-back @ DAL and Wednesday @ PHX before returning to their friendly confines where Friday night means a night of slappin Indians vs. CHI before TWO whole days off and getting back to securing 2 more points Monday vs. OTT.
News: Lake Vostok, home of the purest water on Earth, is about to meet human contact for the first time. As cool as it is, I really don't understand what they're looking for by testing the water. Just let it be, humanity. Just let it be.
Transactions:
Injuries:
- Alex Bolduc will miss 3-4 weeks with a shoulder injury sustained in last week's win over Washington.
- Aaron Rome will also miss 3-4 weeks with an MCL sprain, also suffered in last week's win over Washington.
- Sami Salo remains sidelined with an exploded Achilles. He is listed as week-to-week.
- Andrew Alberts is out 2-3 weeks with a shoulder injury.