1.
Will the off-season spending of the Rangers and Flyers pay immediate
dividends? We all remember that back in the pre-cap era, buying
their way out of management mistakes got the Rangers nowhere.
New York came within a whisper of reaching the Eastern Conference
finals last spring, and this summer they went all in for the Cup
when GM Glen Sather committed $86.75 million to free agents Scott
Gomez (7 years, $51.5 million) and Chris Drury (5 years, $35.25
million). Throw in Jaromir Jagr and Henrik Lundqvist and the Rangers
are spending almost $30 million this season on four players. The
Flyers signed Daniel Briere (8 years, $52 million), Kimmo Timonen
(6 years, $37.8 million) and Scott Hartnell (6 years, $25.2 million)
as part of their instant rebuilding recipe - just add money and
mix. That will get them out of the NHL cellar, but will it get
them in the playoffs?
2. Mike Keenan is hired to coach the Calgary Flames. Iron Mike
never goes away for long, as the Flames will be his eighth NHL
team following stints with Philadelphia, Chicago, the New York
Rangers, St. Louis, Vancouver, Boston and Florida. Only once since
the end of the 1995-96 season has Keenan started and finished
a season behind the same bench, and he hasn't made a playoff appearance
since then, either. He's the fifth all-time winningest coach in
NHL history, but given his recent track record and his long-standing
ability to alienate players, it's a shocking choice. Other new
coaches this season are Brent Sutter in New Jersey, Claude Julien
in Boston and John Paddock in Ottawa. There are three new GMs:
Bryan Murray in Ottawa, Scott Howson in Columbus and Don Maloney
in Phoenix.
3. Is Nashville really an NHL market worth keeping? Hats off to
the local owners who rescued the team from Jim Balsillie this
summer, and to the Nashville fans who pushed season ticket sales
to more than 9,000 last month. But there's a long way yet to go
to call the city a viable location for the league. The Predators
averaged 15,259 fans last season when the team was one of the
league's best - about 250 fans more than Phoenix, which was awful.
If the Preds don't average 14,000 per game this season - when
the team will not be as good - their lease can be broken. We'll
see how much money the new owners are willing to lose. By the
way, Harrah's is building a 20,000-seat arena in Las Vegas, to
be open in 2010. And speaking of shaky attendance, the Devils,
who were 26th last season with just over 14,000 fans per game,
will move into their $375 million Prudential Center in Newark
later this month.
4. Can the NHL grab a little more of the national sports spotlight?
The timing seems right, with the NBA wallowing in the Tim Donaghy
scandal, the NFL taking black eyes from Michael Vick and Bill
Belichek and MLB tracking shipments of HGH. The NHL has made the
lockout a distant memory, with revenues growing faster than anyone
expected and the game given back - at least a little - to the
skilled players. Parity has arrived, as it's been nine years since
a team has repeated as Cup champion - the longest such stretch
in the post-WWII era. And there's a compelling cast of young stars,
led by Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Alexander Ovechkin. Another
positive sign: it was reported this summer the NHL and ESPN have
begun talks about putting the league back on cable's sports giant,
perhaps as early as next season.
5. Speaking of compelling young players, here's some rookies to
watch this season: Montreal goaltender Carey Price, who helped
Canada to the World Junior title, then led Hamilton to the Calder
Cup; Chicago forward Jonathan Toews, another World Junior gold
winner for Canada and a No. 4 overall pick in 2006; Los Angeles
defenseman Jack Johnson, a No. 3 overall pick in 2005 who landed
in LA after Carolina inexplicably traded him last October for
Eric Belanger and Tim Gleason; and St. Louis defenseman Erik Johnson,
the No. 1 overall pick in 2006 ahead of Jordan Staal.
1.
Will the off-season spending of the Rangers and Flyers pay immediate
dividends? We all remember that back in the pre-cap era, buying
their way out of management mistakes got the Rangers nowhere.
New York came within a whisper of reaching the Eastern Conference
finals last spring, and this summer they went all in for the Cup
when GM Glen Sather committed $86.75 million to free agents Scott
Gomez (7 years, $51.5 million) and Chris Drury (5 years, $35.25
million). Throw in Jaromir Jagr and Henrik Lundqvist and the Rangers
are spending almost $30 million this season on four players. The
Flyers signed Daniel Briere (8 years, $52 million), Kimmo Timonen
(6 years, $37.8 million) and Scott Hartnell (6 years, $25.2 million)
as part of their instant rebuilding recipe - just add money and
mix. That will get them out of the NHL cellar, but will it get
them in the playoffs? 
2. Mike Keenan is hired to coach the Calgary Flames. Iron Mike
never goes away for long, as the Flames will be his eighth NHL
team following stints with Philadelphia, Chicago, the New York
Rangers, St. Louis, Vancouver, Boston and Florida. Only once since
the end of the 1995-96 season has Keenan started and finished
a season behind the same bench, and he hasn't made a playoff appearance
since then, either. He's the fifth all-time winningest coach in
NHL history, but given his recent track record and his long-standing
ability to alienate players, it's a shocking choice. Other new
coaches this season are Brent Sutter in New Jersey, Claude Julien
in Boston and John Paddock in Ottawa. There are three new GMs:
Bryan Murray in Ottawa, Scott Howson in Columbus and Don Maloney
in Phoenix. 
3. Is Nashville really an NHL market worth keeping? Hats off to
the local owners who rescued the team from Jim Balsillie this
summer, and to the Nashville fans who pushed season ticket sales
to more than 9,000 last month. But there's a long way yet to go
to call the city a viable location for the league. The Predators
averaged 15,259 fans last season when the team was one of the
league's best - about 250 fans more than Phoenix, which was awful.
If the Preds don't average 14,000 per game this season - when
the team will not be as good - their lease can be broken. We'll
see how much money the new owners are willing to lose. By the
way, Harrah's is building a 20,000-seat arena in Las Vegas, to
be open in 2010. And speaking of shaky attendance, the Devils,
who were 26th last season with just over 14,000 fans per game,
will move into their $375 million Prudential Center in Newark
later this month. 
4. Can the NHL grab a little more of the national sports spotlight?
The timing seems right, with the NBA wallowing in the Tim Donaghy
scandal, the NFL taking black eyes from Michael Vick and Bill
Belichek and MLB tracking shipments of HGH. The NHL has made the
lockout a distant memory, with revenues growing faster than anyone
expected and the game given back - at least a little - to the
skilled players. Parity has arrived, as it's been nine years since
a team has repeated as Cup champion - the longest such stretch
in the post-WWII era. And there's a compelling cast of young stars,
led by Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Alexander Ovechkin. Another
positive sign: it was reported this summer the NHL and ESPN have
begun talks about putting the league back on cable's sports giant,
perhaps as early as next season. 
5. Speaking of compelling young players, here's some rookies to
watch this season: Montreal goaltender Carey Price, who helped
Canada to the World Junior title, then led Hamilton to the Calder
Cup; Chicago forward Jonathan Toews, another World Junior gold
winner for Canada and a No. 4 overall pick in 2006; Los Angeles
defenseman Jack Johnson, a No. 3 overall pick in 2005 who landed
in LA after Carolina inexplicably traded him last October for
Eric Belanger and Tim Gleason; and St. Louis defenseman Erik Johnson,
the No. 1 overall pick in 2006 ahead of Jordan Staal.