The Northwest division can certainly hold its own with the rest of the NHL. Calgary is the only team in the division that is really struggling, but the top four teams could compete anywhere in the league. But how will they compete among themselves?

Vancouver Canucks
Vancouver has picked up where it left off last year, losing just two of its last 16 games to end the season, and has been hot for the entire calendar year of 2002. The Canucks do not want to see the calendar change. They are a good team, much better than people thought, and they are showing that that hot streak was no fluke.

The only bad luck Vancouver had was facing eventual champion Detroit in the first round of the playoffs, but the Canucks did put a big-time scare into the Red Wings by taking the first two games of the series.

The Canucks are tied for eighth in the league in goals per game and are a good offensive team, and they also handle the puck well. There were questions about their defensive play, though. They are a speed and puck-possession team, but goalie Dan Cloutier has been as good as anyone could have hoped and erased a lot of the doubts people had in that area.

The only obstacle facing the Canucks in winning the division would be injuries to key players like Markus Naslund, Todd Bertuzzi, the Sedin twins or Cloutier. If they stay healthy they are going to win this division.

Minnesota Wild
Everyone has been waiting for the Wild to drop off after their hot start, but it hasn't. Minnesota will challenge for the top spot until the end. This is a much stronger team than most people realize, and the biggest surprise is that it is a better puck-possession team than it gets credit for.

Everyone looks at the Wild and thinks about the good defense they play, but there is more than that. The players have good speed and move the puck well, and coach Jacques Lemaire rolls four lines and can rely on key players like Marian Gaborik, who is one of the most spectacular youngsters in the league right now.

The goaltending also has been surprisingly strong. Both Manny Fernandez and Dwayne Roloson have been excellent, posting goals-against averages of 2.21 and 2.05, respectively.

This will be a playoff team for sure. But youth and inexperience will make it tougher for the Wild to maintain confidence as the season gets longer and more intense and the points are harder to come by.

Edmonton Oilers
The Oilers looked a little suspect in the first month of the season. The crackdown on obstruction seemed like something that would benefit Edmonton, but the goaltenders didn't play particularly well early on.

Tommy Salo didn't get off to a great start, winning just two of his first 10 starts, and Edmonton kind of floundered. But the Oilers have really come on recently, losing just twice in the last 13 games, and are looking like the team they should have been from the start.

Edmonton will likely make the playoffs but will have to maintain that level of play. If there is a stumbling block for the Oilers is it a lack of confidence in their goal scoring, as they tend to fall into long droughts. Should the Oilers fail to make the postseason that may well be their undoing.

Colorado Avalanche
The Avalanche is catching the attention of fans and observers this season for reasons other than its seven straight division titles (eight straight including a Northeast crown as the Quebec Nordiques in 1994-95).

The Avs are very talented and everyone knows it, including themselves, but they have made a lot of mistakes defensively. And in those game where the defense is good Colorado has not been able to score goals, which is unbelievable when you see names like Sakic, Forsberg, Hejduk, Tanguay and Blake on the roster.

There are some similarities between Colorado's situation this season and Dallas' last year. The Avalanche is a team that should be able to manufacture goals at will yet is in danger of falling out of the playoff picture early, much like last year's Stars.

A team can go through the first few weeks of the season saying "We're going to get it together", but Dallas did that for the first three months of last year and ended up sitting at home when the regular season ended.

That is something the Avs need to avoid and they are starting to realize it, but most teams cannot just step on the gas and start winning games. They are in danger of not righting the ship quickly enough and they know it, but Colorado has yet to find and identity and an effective formula for success.

The Avalanche looks great on paper, but if a team doesn't have everyone buying into a system it is tough to go anywhere. This slow start will be the toughest thing for one of the most skilled teams in the league to overcome as it tries to get off the fringe of the playoff hunt.

Calgary Flames
The Flames just don't look like a playoff team right now. They stumbled coming out of the gate and then fired coach Greg Gilbert, but Calgary has gotten some tough breaks and is a little better than it has shown in the points column.

They just don't have the horses on the roster and the confidence in the ice right now that will make them a threat. Forwards Jarome Iginla and Chris Drury have played through injury and defenseman Bob Boughner has missed significant time, while Roman Turek has been up-and-down in net.

Calgary has to rebuild itself from this point on and that is very difficult to do after more than a quarter of the season is gone. The biggest thing the Flames have to do is regain some confidence and try to somehow overcome their early slow start by winning a few games.

Brian Engblom is a hockey analyst for ESPN. He played 11 seasons in the NHL as a defenseman and was on three Stanley Cup-winning teams in six seasons with the Montreal Canadiens.