Preface: Well there's only one team left in the Northwest, and only one spot left for them to be.

To recap, the Vancouver Canucks will be bringing up the rear, while the Avs (barring any dynamo additions up front) will be eyeing fourth. The Wild will tumble a bit from last year to third, while the Oilers will take a surprising second.

Let's keep in mind though, that even with this team coming in first, the Northwest is a division that could really be won and lost by anyone—kind of like last year's Southeast Division, which we'll get to next week.

Anyways, let's get down to business:

The Calgary Flames have had a lot of memorable players in their day—Joe Nieuwendyk, Gary Roberts, Lanny McDonald, Al MacInnis, Theoren Fleury, and Mike Vernon, just to name a few.

Ironically enough, all six of those—including another fan favorite, Doug Gilmour—were members of the 1989 Stanley Cup championship Flames team.

With their near-win in 2004—about two inches on another Martin Gelinas series-clinching goal away from victory—the Flames seemed to be turning a corner.

Four years later, though, there stands to be just as much optimism for the Flames today as in the future.

Roster Additions: Todd Bertuzzi-F (F.A.), Michael Cammalleri-F (Trade), Rene Bourque-F (Trade/Sign)

Roster Subtractions: Alex Tanguay-F (Trade), Curtis Joseph-G (F.A.), David Hale-D (F.A.), Owen Nolan-F (F.A.), Stephane Yelle-F (F.A.), Kristian Huselius-F (F.A.)

How did 2007-08 go? 42-30-10, 94 points, Seventh in conference, third in Northwest, lost in first round of 2008 playoffs (Western Conference).

2008-09 Goal: First in division, Conference Finals.

Let's break'er down!

Some people think that the Calgary Flames are overrated, while some think that the Calgary Flames are underrated—so it’s really a damned-if-you-do, damned-if-you-don’t scenario.

The only question I have is how are there still people out there that don’t appreciate Jarome Iginla?

To get a little, you have to give a little

The Calgary Flames' big responsibility this offseason was to re-sign some of their key players, and they did that with contracts to David Langkow and Craig Conroy—their top playmaking centre coming off back-to-back 30 goal seasons, and one of their best two-way players.

In doing that however, the Flames failed to retain Kristian Huselius—a player who developed some serious chemistry over the course of last season with Jarome Iginla—and they also dealt Alex Tanguay to the Montreal Canadiens, a deal which has been expected for the past two seasons.

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