All-star report on the Canadian teams in the Western conference

Vancouver Canucks

Offense A - The Sedins brothers are top 10 in scoring with Henrik (eighth 52 points) and Daniel (tenth with 51 points) but of course it will come down to secondary scoring with Ryan Kesler (33 points) and Alex borrows (32 points) will need to continue put up goals especially in the playoffs. Then there are the grinders Cody Hodgson and Chris Higgins who can pop in a goal here or there to help the team succeed heading into the playoffs.

Defense B+ - the Canuacks has given up 118 goals in 49 games which is the 2.41 GAA a game which is the seventh lowest in the NHL and the defenseman has put up 116 points (25 goals and 91 assists) lead by Alexander Edler who has 34 points (7 goals and 27 assists) from the back end.

Goalies B- - Both Goalies are solid with Roberto Luongo with a GAA of 2.39 and saving% .918 with 20 wins and 4 OTL in 34 decisions and Cory Schneider with a GAA of 2.30 and saving% of .927 and has 10 wins in 15 decisions with both having two shutouts each. The end result is that one of them needs to do the heavy lifting in the playoffs and help the Canucks to lift the holy grail at the end of the season.

Management ? - it all depends if they make a deal at the deadline that helps them achieve the ultimate goal lifting the cup.

Calgary Flames

Offense C - Jerome started cold and picked it up and the only way that the Flames get into the playoffs is if Mike Cammalleri can be a good fit with Jerome. While Curtis Glencross has 18 goals to tie Jerome for the team lead and Flames are tied for sixth worst in the NHL in goals with 119 goals this season and they are very very old and do not look like they are going to get younger soon.

Defense C- - The Flames have given up the 14th fewest goals with 134 and have 70 points from their back end in 50 games and their point getting D-man Jay Bouwmeester has 3 goals and 21 points and needs to be much better.

Goalie B - they are 11th in the Western conference 3 points out of the playoffs and Miikka Kiprusoff has got the team points in 25 of 41 decisions and 22 wins along with a GAA of 2.31 and saving% of .920 and given up 96 of the 134 goals in his 43 games.

Management F - They continue to get older and older and they are picking up huge contracts for players like Mike Cammalleri whose 7 mil cap hit can not be moved if he fails to help Jerome for the two years remaining and they are still up in the air on if it is better to move any older players to get young or keep them and ride it out on trying to sneak into the playoffs and hope Mikka gets even hotter.

Edmonton Oilers

Offense D - with Ryan Smyth the only guy over the age of 21 performing to a decent performance as he has 34 points and part of the reason he has put up points is that he has sent time with Jordan Eberle (45 points), Taylor Hall (33 points), and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (35 points). Which leaves the rest of the team out in the cold and not able to put points together on their own and the Oilers need to get more veteran players who can score to help the younger players send this team to the playoffs.

Defense D - The D has lead to 140 goals against which 19th in the league and the D has 67 points this season and 16 of them coming from Corey Potter who is also minus 13 which is by far the worst on the team and they will need stronger puck moving D to help the goalies.

Goalies C- - Nikolai Khabibulin started the season well gaining a point for the team in his first 9 starts (7-0-2) and since then is 4-15-2 and the Oilers will need to see if Devan Dubnyk is the goalie going forward (2.83 and .911 in 24 games) or if they make a pitch for a guy like Cory Schneider in the off-season.

Management B- - Everybody is on the last year of their deal and it looks like there maybe a house cleaning from GM down to the assistant coaches and it will be interesting who of the underachieving performers will be sent out of town for a young player or even more draft picks to build the system. A change maybe what takes the team to the next step and stop getting top 3 picks and get into the playoff picture next season or the season after because it is time to take the next step.