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How high can the NHL's two brightest stars take the league? Can spending big really turn things around for teams in the space of one offseason? Will promising seasons for a few teams be derailed by difficult contractual situations?
The answers are to be determined, but in the meantime, the questions are part of the top storylines to follow this season:
1. The dynamic duo
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| Alex Ovechkin earned the right to hold the Hart Trophy. (Getty Images) |
Ovechkin edged out Crosby for rookie of the year in 2006, but the Penguins captain won the scoring title and MVP award the following season. Ovechkin claimed those prizes last season, although Crosby was injured for most of it before returning in time to help Pittsburgh to the Stanley Cup Finals. So what do they do for an encore this season?
2. Lightning strikes
The story of the summer in Tampa was the ascent of the baseball Rays, but the new owners of the Lightning still managed to grab more than their share of headlines with their massive and expensive makeover of the team.
More than needing a program to figure out who the players are, you'll have to have an organizational guide to understand just how widespread the overhaul has been for the league's worst team last season. Tampa Bay could turn things around the way the Philadelphia Flyers did last season, or create a chemistry lab explosion. Either way, the Lightning will be worth watching.
3. PA pushback
The NHL Players Association looked to be in shambles after the lockout, although given the stunning rise in salaries since then, the athletes haven't done too badly. Still, since the hiring of Paul Kelly a year ago as the PA's new boss, the union has taken on a more assertive tone, which is not necessarily a bad thing and one that bears watching over the next few months.
Clearly Kelly is far more measured than the belligerent Bob Goodenow, who led the union into the disastrous work stoppage, and nowhere near the patsy as his immediate predecessor Ted Saskin. But Kelly has made it increasingly clear that the partnership between the two sides will no longer be defined on the NHL's terms.
Kelly staked out an ambivalent position this summer with respect to player signings by the new Russian league, and has made it known that decisions on NHL participation in the Olympics beyond 2010 will not be made by league executives without union input. Most important, Kelly has left open the possibility the PA will exercise its exclusive option to cancel the collective bargaining agreement after the season.
4. Who will welcome Mats back?
Former Maple Leafs captain Mats Sundin hasn't retired, he just hasn't decided whether he wants to play anymore. And he's keeping a lot of teams in limbo as a result. Sundin had all kinds of offers this summer when he became a free agent, but remained noncommittal, leading to speculation he wants to take a few more months off and return with a contender in time to help them on a Stanley Cup run.
Technically, Sundin has until the March trade deadline to sign somewhere and be eligible for the playoffs, and since much of the NHL rumor mill is generated out of Toronto anyway, his soap opera should remain front and center until he makes up his mind.
5. Icy igloo
Generally speaking, the Stanley Cup hangover refers to the winning team because it has to deal with a short summer and a variety of obligations that go along with being champion. However, as the Edmonton Oilers and Ottawa Senators have found out, there is an impact on the losers after they play into June as well and it might be felt this time around by the Pittsburgh Penguins. Just not for the reasons one might expect.
The Penguins are one of the youngest teams in the league, but they paid a price for their success by losing a handful of players who cashed in on free agency. Still, the core talent of Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Jordan Staal and Marc-Andre Fleury is around, but the Pens could be in trouble because they'll spend much of the season's first half with two key defensemen -- Sergei Gonchar and Ryan Whitney -- on the shelf.
6. Ducks in a row
They're back -- maybe. Anaheim's Stanley Cup defense got off to a rough start last season. The Ducks were missing several key players and were forced to debut with a tough road trip that began in London.
Veterans Scott Niedermayer and Teemu Selanne created the model that Sundin seems to be following now by taking a half season off, and Anaheim's best defensive forward, Samuel Pahlsson, missed the first couple of months because of an injury. There were all kinds of offensive problems as well, yet the Ducks still managed to remain in contention for a division title and finish with more than 100 points.
The mainstays are there to start the new season, but this is an older team that is far less intimidating than it once was. And there will be a constant distraction surrounding the future of GM Brian Burke, the team architect in the last year of his contract and apparently not interested in an extension.
7. Deal or no deal
Minnesota's Marian Gaborik is one of the league's elite young forwards and Florida's Jay Bouwmeester is among the top young defensemen. Their teams want to keep them for the long term. The problem is that each is eligible for unrestricted free agency after the season, and neither seems inclined -- certainly not in a rush -- to work out an extension.
That creates a serious dilemma for the Wild and Panthers, who might be forced to trade the players rather than lose them for nothing next summer. The Panthers can't negotiate with Bouwmeester until Jan. 1 because he signed a one-year deal after arbitration this summer. The Wild don't have the same restriction, but seem unwilling to match the kind of money Gaborik believes he will find on the open market. In other words, there will be clouds hanging over both teams until the situations are settled one way or the other.
8. Winds of change
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| Denis Savard faces Chicago's greater expectations. (Getty Images) |
Now the issue is whether the Blackhawks can live up to their expectations. That pressure falls on the shoulders of coach Denis Savard more than most because Chicago recently brought former Blues and Avalanche coach Joel Quenneville into the fold as a scout.
9. Goals are the goal
Defense wins games but offense sells tickets. That's why the scoring decline in each season since the lockout is a concern for everyone except maybe the goalies. But since the netminders are the targets of shooters on a nightly basis, they are also targets for those who believe the answer is cutting them down to size, or at least cutting back on the size of their equipment.
It's a subject that comes up for discussion regularly when rule-makers meet, and it was addressed in a minimal way again this summer with the reduction of the "wings" that protect the inside of the goalie's knees and a reshaping of the clavicle protector. The modifications are subtle enough not to be noticed and probably not to have any effect. If the downward trend in scoring continues, look for the subject of enlarging nets to be revived.
10. Cold War redux
Forget about what the politicians say on the campaign trail, there are some potential problems for the league on this side of the pond because of those running the new Russian hockey league. The KHL (Kontinental Hockey League) is the brainchild of some very rich and powerful Russian oligarchs, who seem less interested in making money with their teams than stroking their egos and keeping the masses happy.
The new league isn't much of a threat to the NHL right now, although it scored some coups this summer by signing Jaromir Jagr among other notables who are at the tail end of their careers. Still the KHL created controversy by snatching young Nashville star Alexander Radulov, who was still under contract to the Predators. That case seems headed for the courts or arbitration, but the real issue is the lack of a transfer agreement between the Russian federation and the NHL.
The best players now still want to play in the NHL, but with the deep-pocketed Russians looking to expand to other sites in Europe, they could pose a more serious challenge for premier talent in the future.
