Best Sixes in the Northwest Division

Jarome Iginla	Paul Stastny	Dustin Penner	Mikko Koivu	Henrik Sedin
Rene Bourque	Matt Duchene	Gilbert Brule	Andrew Brunette	Daniel Sedin
Matt Stajan	Milan Hejduk	Shawn Horcoff	Martin Havlat	Ryan Kesler
Ian White	John-Michael Liles	Kurtis Foster	Marek Zidlicky	Christian Ehrhoff
Marc Giordano	Kyle Quincey	Ryan Whitney	Cam Barker	Alex Edler
Miikka Kiprusoff	Craig Anderson	Jeff Deslauriers	Niklas Backstrom	Roberto Luongo

I'm expecting a lot of transition through the top sixes of the Northwest Division between now and the same time next Summer and only little touch-ups between now and the beginning of the season.  I think for the most part, the goalies are set here, the top three forwards are set, but the defensemen may still have some movement left, but I couldn't be positive as to how much.  With some of the coaching changes in the Northwest, the five teams may be opening up the flood gates before too long and it will be those who can still play defense that should win it in the end.

As top threes go, it's hard not to look at the Canucks and try to imagine what the Sedin twins have in store for an encore in 2011.  Henrik led the league in scoring last year and if it wasn't for Daniel's injury, it might have been a bigger romp than the close finish it was at the end of 2010.  The other four teams are not carrying the one-two punch that the Canucks have at the moment, although the Avalanche are growing their kids quickly, the Wild will look for chemistry along side Havlat, the Oilers current top three should be overtaken by their new youth and the Flames are in need of some more oomph besides Iginla.

On defense, these are five pairings that still have a lot of growth to do, the Flames pair does not include either Bouwmeester or Regehr, which is strange; the Avalanche pair still need to find some consistency; the Oilers pair has a couple of relatively new faces on it; the Wild's pair should be looking for some more flair, loosening the reins on Barker, hoping that he opens up a bit; and the Canucks pair have got a lot more help behind them this year, so the weight of the club isn't solely on their shoulders.  Last season's numbers will dictate which pair gets drafted first.

In net, Anderson topped the list in points, but I think he'll leave enough of a shadow of doubt over top of most poolies to drop him down to third or fourth in this division, behind Luongo and Kiprusoff for sure, probably going before Backstrom, definitely before Deslauriers (or whoever wins out in Edmonton).  Should be lots of goalie points from this division, no matter which way you slice it.

If I had to make a guess in my draft this year (which is in Calgary), I would have to say that the Canucks six will disappear first, then the Flames, the Avalanche, Wild and then the Oilers.  The Oilers big prizes are not in their top six, rather the kids that are waiting in the wings below.