The NHL's Northwest Division was formed in 1998 as part of the Western Conference due to expansion.
Calgary Flames:
The Calgary Flames are a professional hockey team based in Calgary, Alberta, Canada and play out of the Pengrowth Saddledome. They are members of the Northwest Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League (NHL).
The Flames arrived in the city of Calgary in 1980 after spending their first eight seasons in Atlanta, Georgia as the Atlanta Flames. The Flames are the only NHL club to relocate from the United States to Canada, and are also the only NHL club to retain its nickname after a relocation. (The Dallas Stars shortened their name after moving from Minneapolis as the North Stars.) The Flames spent their first three seasons playing in the Stampede Corral, during which they lost only 32 games, before moving into the Olympic Saddledome in 1983.
Calgary's top rival are their Alberta cousins, the Edmonton Oilers. The two teams have often feuded in what is known as the Battle of Alberta, an always feisty event.
Post lockout (2006-present):
The Flames roared through the 2005-06 season, finishing with 103 points — their best total since the 1989 Cup-winning season — and their first division title in 12 years. However, they lost to the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim in seven games during the first round of the playoffs. Star goaltender Miikka Kiprusoff captured both the Vezina Trophy and the William M. Jennings Trophy, while rookie defenceman Dion Phaneuf set a franchise record for goals by a rookie blueliner with 20.
Noteworthy Events:
The "Red Mile"
During the Flames' run to the Stanley Cup finals of 2004, the city of Calgary essentially became the host of a "non-stop party". The 17th Avenue SW entertainment district, which runs West from the Pengrowth Saddledome, flooded with as many as 80,000 red-clad fans after games. Similar celebrations had occurred during Flames celebrations during the 1980s and primarily took place along 11th Ave SW, then known as "Electric Avenue".
The Red Mile party became world-famous and received worldwide coverage in newspapers. The Red Mile was notable in that incidents were minimal, the crowds were positive, and only one arrest was made after a police officer was injured by a celebrant.
In April 2006, the Calgary Police Service announced that the Red Mile gatherings of 2004 would not be encouraged, and that measures would be taken to discourage it, including traffic diversions, a zero-tolerance policy on noise and rowdy behaviour, and the presence of plainclothes officers among the crowd to ticket offenders. After meeting with the Chief of Police, Mayor Dave Bronconnier convinced the Calgary Police Service to relax their ban on the "Red Mile" and encouraged people to make their way to 17th Ave. The police retained their zero tolerance policy on public nudity and drunkenness.
The "C of Red":
During the Flames' run to the Stanley Cup finals of 2004, most of the Flames fans attending the hockey games at the Saddledome wore a red jersey with the Flames' famous flaming C on it. Many of those who did not have a red jersey wore a red shirt instead. Thus, the "C" of Red became the nickname for the fans at the Saddledome during the Flames' playoff run, and the trend of an attendance dressed almost entirely in red continued throughout the 2005-06 and 2006-07 seasons. The tradition of the C of Red dates back to the 1986 Stanley Cup playoffs against the Oilers. Oiler fans were donning hats promoting "Hat Trick Fever" in their quest for three straight Stanley Cups. Flames fans countered by wearing red. In the 1987 playoffs against the Winnipeg Jets, the Jets responded to the C of Red by encouraging fans to wear white, creating the Winnipeg White Out.
"Red Hot" Video:
The Calgary Flames' 1987 "Red Hot" video is a music video, created to benefit charities, featuring the players from that year's team. It features players like Lanny McDonald, Gary Roberts, Mike Vernon, Al MacInnis, and Joel Otto, among others, lipsynching and pretending to play instruments. It was released on VHS and the song was released on vinyl back in 1987. It enjoyed popularity then but was forgotten until the video surfaced on the internet in 2005.
Colorado Avalanche:
The Colorado Avalanche are a professional ice hockey team based in Denver, Colorado, United States. They are members of the Northwest Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League (NHL). The Avalanche have won the Stanley Cup twice, in 1996 and 2001. The franchise was founded in Quebec and were the Quebec Nordiques until moving to Denver, Colorado in 1995. The Avalanche have won eight division titles and went to the playoffs in each of their first 10 seasons in Denver, with the streak ending in 2007. The Avalanche are the only team in NHL history to win the Stanley Cup their first season after a re-location.
From the time of their move to Denver in 1995, until the end of the 1998–99 season, the Avalanche played their home games at McNichols Arena. Since then, the Avalanche have called Pepsi Center home.
The Avalanche have a notable rivalry with the Detroit Red Wings, partly due to having met each other five times in seven years in the Western Conference playoffs between 1996 and 2002.
The Quebec Nordiques were one of the World Hockey Association's (WHA) original teams when the league began play in 1972. Though first awarded to a group in San Francisco, the team quickly moved to Quebec City when the California deal soured because of financial and arena problems. During their seven WHA seasons, the Nordiques won the Avco World Trophy once, in 1977 and lost the finals once, in 1975. In 1979, the franchise entered the NHL, along with the WHA's Edmonton Oilers, Hartford Whalers, and Winnipeg Jets.
After making the postseason for seven consecutive years, from 1981 to 1987, the Nordiques became one of the worst teams in the league: from 1987–88 to 1991–92, the team finished last in their division every season and three times had the worst record of the league. As a result, the team earned three consecutive first overall draft picks, used to select Mats Sundin (1989), Owen Nolan (1990) and Eric Lindros (1991), even though Lindros had made it clear he did not wish to play for the Nordiques. Lindros did not wear the team's jersey for the press photographs, only holding it when it was presented to him and, on advice from his mother, he refused to sign a contract and began a holdout that lasted over a year. On June 30, 1992, he was traded to the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for five players, the rights to Swedish prospect Peter Forsberg, two first-round draft picks, and US$15 million. In hindsight, the Lindros trade is seen as one of the most one-sided deals in sports history, and a major foundation for the Nordiques/Avalanche franchise successes over the next decade. In the first season after the trade, the 1992–93 NHL season, the Nordiques reached the playoffs for the first time in six years. Two years later, they won the Northeast Division and had the second best regular season record of the league.
Edmonton Oilers:
The Edmonton Oilers are a professional ice hockey team based in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. They are members of the Northwest Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League (NHL). When playing against their arch rivals, the Calgary Flames, the matches are often referred to as the Battle of Alberta.
In 1972 the Alberta Oilers joined the World Hockey Association as a founding member. The team was originally owned by Bill Hunter. Hunter had previously owned the Edmonton Oil Kings and founded what would become the Western Hockey League, but his efforts to bring professional hockey to Edmonton had initially been rebuffed by the NHL. Actually, the team had been named the Alberta Oilers as it was planned to split their home games between Edmonton and Calgary after the Calgary Broncos folded. For various reasons, possibly financial or the possibility of allowing easier expansion of either the NHL or WHA to Calgary, the team played all of its games in Edmonton, and changed their name to reflect this the following year.
The team proved popular with the fans, behind stars such as defenceman and team captain Al Hamilton, star goaltender Dave Dryden, and forwards Blair MacDonald and Bill Flett. The team's performance would change for the better in 1978, when new owner Peter Pocklington scored one of the greatest trades in hockey history, acquiring already-aspiring superstar Wayne Gretzky as an under-age player (consequentially, his first year of WHA experience didn't make him an official 1979-80 NHL rookie), as well as goaltender Eddie Mio and forward Peter Driscoll, from the recently-folded Indianapolis Racers for a token sum. Gretzky's first and only WHA season, 1978-79, saw the Oilers shoot to the top of the WHA standings, posting a league-best 48-30-2 record. However, Edmonton’s regular season success did not translate into a championship, as they fell to the rival Winnipeg Jets in the Avco World Trophy Final. Young Oilers enforcer Dave Semenko scored the last goal in WHA history late in the third period of the final game.
Minnesota Wild:
The Minnesota Wild are a professional ice hockey team based in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Their symbol is a bear made to look like the wilderness. They are members of the Northwest Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League (NHL). The team's inaugural season was in 2000.
2006-07 — Signed veteran Free Agents, Kim Johnsson, Mark Parrish, and Keith Carney. On the day of the NHL Entry Draft, they traded the 17th overall pick and prospect Patrick O'Sullivan to the Los Angeles Kings for veteran Slovakian Pavol Demitra. Niklas Backstrom has been the Starting goalie for the Wild since starter Manny Fernandez initially sprained his knee on Jan. 20. Fernandez played for the first time since the sprain on Tuesday, March 6th and was removed after allowing three goals in two periods in the Wild's 3-0 loss to San Jose. Josh Harding, was brought up from the Wild's minor-league affiliate, the Houston Aeros, when Fernandez was hurt, and remained on Minnesota's roster for the rest of the season as the backup goalie. All-Star winger Marian Gaborik returned from a groin injury in January of 2007 and made an immediate impact, bringing a new spark to a lacking offense.
The Wild made the playoffs in 2007 for the second time in team history but were eliminated by the Stanley Cup Champion Anaheim Ducks in the opening round. Coincidentally, the same Anaheim franchise eliminated the Wild in their first playoff year, in the conference finals, in 2003.
Vancouver Canucks:
The Vancouver Canucks are a professional ice hockey team based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. They are members of the Northwest Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League (NHL). They joined the NHL as an expansion team in 1970. The Canucks play their home games in GM Place. The Canucks have twice made it to the Stanley Cup Finals, but lost to each of the two New York teams: the Islanders in 1982, and the Rangers in 1994.
West Coast Express years (2001-2006)
Orca logo, 1998-2007
With a new general manager, Brian Burke, and coach Marc Crawford (who had won a Stanley Cup with the 1996 Colorado Avalanche), Vancouver rebuilt their team and returned to the playoffs in 2001. The team held their training camp in Stockholm, and participated against Swedish and Finnish teams in the NHL Challenge. Led by forwards Markus Naslund, Brendan Morrison and Todd Bertuzzi, defenceman Ed Jovanovski and goaltender Dan Cloutier, the Canucks would achieve some success in the next few years. However, since 1994, the Canucks have not yet achieved significant playoff success, failing to achieve victory in the second round.
It was Brian Burke who coined the phrase "Goalie Graveyard", when referring to the Canucks' long-standing history of having troubles between the pipes. As it turned out, Vancouver became Burke's own graveyard. Before the lockout of 2004-05, Burke did not have his NHL GM contract renewed by the Canucks and was replaced by Dave Nonis, who had been assistant GM. Free agent activity in the summer prior to the 2005-06 season saw players such as Anson Carter and Richard Park arrive in Vancouver.
Post-Lockout (2005-Present):
The 2005-06 season began with much promise, with some hockey analysts picking the Canucks as Stanley Cup favourites. However, the team failed to meet expectations and completed the regular season in a disappointing 9th place in their Conference — narrowly missing a playoff position to the Edmonton Oilers, which caused some debate about the effect of the point awarded for an overtime or shootout loss, recently instituted by the NHL. The season was characterized by under-achieving play, most notably in the first line of Naslund, Bertuzzi, and Brendan Morrison, which was expected to produce higher point totals under the new league rules. Morrison had a career-high 84 penalty minutes. Meanwhile, his wingers, Bertuzzi and Naslund, had a combined -37 in Plus/Minus Rating. Vancouver's highest-scoring line was that of Carter and Daniel and Henrik Sedin.
On April 25, 2006, the Canucks fired Crawford. Alain Vigneault, who had just coached Vancouver's American Hockey League affiliate, the Manitoba Moose, to a 102-point season, was hired as his replacement on June 20, 2006. The Los Angeles Kings hired Crawford soon after Vancouver let him go. Netminder Dan Cloutier went to LA too.
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