FanHouse James Sheppard

It's officially the offseason, meaning the time is right to look into the future. We continue our division-by-division preview of the potential wheeling and dealing with the Northwest Division.

It appears we are setting up for an offseason of significant change in the Northwest Division. Only the Vancouver Canucks will have the same coach as last year, and there could be some real upheaval in terms of personnel. Not only that, but two teams (Minnesota and Colorado) have changed general managers.

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Change has come to the Minnesota Wild.

A new general manager -- Chuck Fletcher -- has arrived. Among the things he wants to do is up the tempo of play. No longer will this team be chided for playing a low-tempo, trapping, "boring" style of hockey.

The overhaul appears to be complete, as reports have Fletcher settled on his new coach.

It's been pretty obvious since his consecutive games streak ended February 21. Minnesota Wild forward Andrew Brunette has only missed one game since, but he hasn't looked right since, either.

Speculation was rampant that Brunette had suffered some sort of ligament damage to his knee. Were he to have surgery, his season would likely (depending on the severity of the damage) be over. Instead, Brunette has forged ahead, continuing to be a fixture in the Wild lineup.

Montreal Canadiens defenseman Ryan O'Byrne has yet to score a goal this season, and thus far, only has one in his brief NHL career. Unfortunately for Montreal, the 24-year old rearguard scored on his own net with just under five-minutes to play in regulation on Monday night, sending the game to overtime. The own-goal proved to be costly for Montreal, as the Islanders took the game in a shootout, 4-3, picking up the extra point and winning for the fifth time in their past six games.

The O'Byrne gaffe happened on a delayed penalty call, which led to Canadiens goalie Carey Price heading to the bench for the extra-attacker. O'Byrne, unfortunately, sent the puck backwards toward the yawning net -- as seen in the above video -- tying the game at three, much to the chagrin of the Bell Centre crowd.

Seriously, that's just painful to watch. O'Byrne instantly covered his face and looked like he wanted to dig a hole in the ice and crawl out of the arena. What do you even say after that?

Islanders forward Bill Guerin was credited for what will surely be the easiest goal of his career.

Richard Park and Trent Hunter scored the other goals for the Islanders, while Steve Begin, John Gorges and Maxim Lapierre scored for Montreal.