Believe it or not we are a quarter way through the2009-2010 NHL season. After the first dozen games things began to settle in more, players growing more comfortable with their new teams, new coaches getting their systems established and the rust of the summer gone. Here is a look at of each team in the Western Conference so far.

Central Division

Chicago Blackhawks

The Blackhawks are quickly becoming one of the best teams to watch in the league with a high flying offense. Laden with star young players the Blackhawks are only going to get better they have quickly risen to an elite team. They are second in the conference and all star Marian Hossa is just now starting to play after a lengthy injury. Watch out for this team, or just watch because they are fun.

Columbus Blue Jackets

The Blue Jackets are starting to come into their own building off the confidence of their first post season appearance. The offense is being productive but unfortunately Steve Mason, last year’s rookie of the year has faltered between the pipes. If the Jackets expect to go anywhere they’ll need him to get back into form because a team can’t succeed without good goaltending.

Detroit Red Wings

The Wings have been hard on luck in the early part of the season, losing Johan Franzen and Valteri Filpulla for extended periods and a rash of other minor injuries. Though they sit at ninth place as of this writing don't expect them to stay there. The Wings always find a way to succeed and once they get healthy again they’ll be back near the top. Their biggest problem is consistent goaltending which neither veteran Chris Osgood or rookie Jimmy Howard have provided.

Nashville Predators

The Preds have slowly and quietly climbed their way into the West’s top eight teams after being slow out of the gate. They’re doing a good job keeping the puck out of the net, but not too good when it comes to putting it in. They’re going to need to improve on that if they hope to stay in playoff contention, not to mention make it past the first round. The good news is they still have the most the season to do that.

St. Louis Blues

The Blues started off the year strong but have since tapered off. Their offense has been sputtering, key players like Paul Kariya, Patrick Berglund and David Backes far lower on the points totem than they should be. It won't matter how well the defense and goalies play, if the Blues don't start scoring soon they may dig themselves a hole they can't get out of.

Northwest Division

Calgary Flames

Despite ranking fifth in the conference the Flames are still seen as a bit disappointing. Their defense, with the big offseason acquisition of Jay Bouwmeester was expected to be their strength yet has not yielded the results that were expecting. The major problem of secondary scoring that has plagued the Flames for years appears to be better, instead of just a few players accounting for most the goals many instead have less tallies. They’ll need more production from their name players down the stretch.

Colorado Avalanche

Would anyone have guessed the Avalanche be sitting third in the conference a quarter of the way through the season? I sure as hell didn’t. Strong play from goaltender Curtis Sanford, considered a meager signing by most (like me) and young players like Paul Stastny, Matt Duschene, Ryan O’Reilly and Kyle Quincey have made the Avs one of the surprise teams of the year. Right now the future of the team is quite bright but it’s a question if the kids can keep up their strong play.

Edmonton Oilers

Recent tradition seems to be spurning the Oilers in the summer in some way, be it the Chris Pronger and Dustin Penner fiascos and the recent Dany Heatley rejection. It’s a blow to the morale of players before the year even starts. Losing key players like Sheldon Souray hasn’t helped matters any as the Oilers are currently out of the playoffs. They need more production from players like Shawn Horcoff and Andrew Cogliano if they want to excel, especially now that Ales Hemsky is out for the rest of the season.

Minnesota Wild

With a new GM, coach and offensive system in place the Wild were supposed to be high flying and entertaining once again. Instead they have struggled sitting near the bottom of the conference the entire year. It’s still the first year of a regime change on and off the ice so growing pains are expected. It’s not too late to turn things around, but it’s not particularly promising.

Vancouver Canucks

As seems the case the past few seasons the Canucks are getting hit by injuries leaving their ranks depleted of some of their best players. This has once again kept them from playing at their best and causing them to slip in the standings. If they want to make it far they will need to shake the injury bug.

Pacific Division

Anaheim Ducks

The Ducks began the retooling of their team last year, trading veterans in favor of young players. Right now those moves have them sitting at the bottom of the conference. They miss Pronger more than they thought and the picks and prospect they received were never meant to be an immediate replacement, leaving a huge void on their blue line. The Ducks are making too many simple mistakes leading to turnovers or scoring chances that other teams are capitalizing on. If they hope to sniff the post season they need to right the ship ASAP.

Dallas Stars

The Stars seem to lack an identity, transitioning from the old core of players like Mike Madano and Jere Lehtinen to younger players like Loui Eriksson and James Neal. They are getting strong production from their top players and the defense and goaltending has been holding steady. After a few disappointing years they are hoping this will be the year things turn around and right now it’s looking it could be that way.

Los Angeles Kings

The Kings are finally coming into their own with a mix of young talent and veteran presence. The addition of players like Ryan Smyth and Rob Scuderi has helped to bring stability and experience to the team. Anze Kopitar is currently among the league leaders in points, seemingly improving his game every year. If they keep up the pace they will achieve their goal of making the post season once more.

Phoenix Coyotes

You’ve got to feel bad for this team. Even though they are performing well the ridiculous ownership issues this summer killed what fan interest there was in area. The players try and stay positive but no one is going to see them play. With a real coach behind the bench now in the form of Dave Tippet they are playing some of their best hockey in years. If they can keep the good play up they may make their first playoff appearance since 2001.

San Jose Sharks

The Sharks (as of this writing) have the most points in the league. Still a strong mix of veteran and youth the addition of another elite player in Dany Heatley has kept the team ahead of the pack. But no matter how well this team does in the regular season, the perennial stings of post season failures will be over their heads until the finally succeed. Right now though they’re sitting on the top of the mountain and there doesn’t appear to be any signs of slowing.

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