It has been a year and a half, but you can finally take out your false teeth, let loose your flowing mullet, and start growing your playoff beard, because hockey has finally returned.
As a fan, I have suffered a winter without high-sticking, spearing, cross-checking, fighting, and any other penalty that would land your average 6' 2" 230 pound giant in jail for assault with a deadly weapon.
However, my love for this glorious sport extends far beyond bloodlust. The game is back and better than ever, even though teams like the Nashville Predators and Atlanta Thrashers still exist. The rule changes implemented are designed to bring us hockey with scoring that mirrors the live ball era of baseball. Best of all you can still catch the Canadian with the best mullet since Dave Coulier, hockey guru Barry Melrose, on NHL Live.
In the eyes of the esteemed Mr. Melrose, the new rule changes are the most exciting thing about the return of the NHL. For those of you who generally don't pick up the season until the playoffs, I will let you in on what to expect come late April.
The most obvious change is the rink itself; the net has been moved back and the blue lines have been placed further into the neutral zone. This means that the area in front of the net is larger, allowing bigger players like Joe Thornton and the infamous Todd Bertuzzi to wreak havoc.
The elimination of all of the hooking and holding will not only help the big guys, but also the smaller speedy players. Guys like Martin St. Louis will be able to gain a full head of steam through the neutral zone, leaving the bigger defenders flatfooted and wondering who let the little kiddies run wild.
The center line has also been eliminated. At first this might not make sense, because if you are lucky enough to catch a game on NESN or the OLN you know that the line is a lot realer than the first down stripe in football.
The loss of the center line means that the rule against two line passes is no longer enforced. This will let defenders pass the puck from their net all the way down to a streaking player who has snuck behind the defense for a breakaway.
Those aren't the only breakaways the NHL have worked into the game, as it has gone the way of the MLS and decided to end overtimes in a shootout. This is exciting and tragic at the same time. Gone are the dissatisfying ties of the regular season, but also the unbelievably intense triple and quadruple overtime thrillers that the playoffs annually produce.
If the goalies seem a little different it is because they are restricted to the area behind their net and are required to wear smaller pads. The NHL is hoping that all of these changes will give hockey the shot in the arm that it so desperately needs.
While the game is new and improved, the best part of the return of this storied league is the arrival of the next big thing, Sidney Crosby. Well, in all fairness he's not exactly that big at just 5' 11". Barely 18 years old, this youngster decided to forgo college to take the NHL by storm.
For many of us this season marks a culmination of three years of waiting that seems eerily similar to the arrival of basketball prodigy LeBron James. Sadly, for those of us who prefer it on ice, Crosby's Canadian Junior League games were not televised like those of King James's St. Vincent-St. Mary High School.
Like James, Crosby has an uncanny knowledge of the game for a teenager. At Crosby's size, his vision on the ice strikes up images of the last great one to come out of Canada, and no, this time I'm not talking about Barry Melrose.
Not only has the next great one arrived on the ice, but the original great one has returned to the bench as the Phoenix Coyotes head man. Many have questioned whether or not Wayne Gretzky's soft spoken demeanor will translate into success.
Doubts about whether he can lead a team and teach both the skills and intangibles that elevated his own game will persist until he starts winning. And that seems a tall task as Gretzky has taken the helm of one of the many stumbling franchises in a climate unfit for frozen sports.
The problem in Phoenix is a microcosm of the epidemic that is the NHL's greatest headache. While hockey has made some impressive changes to the game during the stoppage, it still has yet to address the ridiculous expansion of franchises into the Sun Belt. I mean, what does a community that hasn't seen a snowstorm since the ice age know about hockey?
Teams like Nashville and Atlanta have a worse fan base than the ABC fall lineup. Because of the salary cap, marquee players like Paul Kariya are forced to take smaller wages and waste their talents in venues that will never sell out.
While we are on the subject of selling out, don't shed a tear for Paul Kariya just yet. I think his residuals from his Mighty Ducks III cameo will take care of him while those embarrassing losses pile up in Nashville.
The trend of relocation started when great northern franchises like the Hartford Whalers, Minnesota North Stars, and Winnipeg Jets were all forced to head south for bigger markets, better arenas, and terrible fans. The NHL missed a golden opportunity to consolidate the league and bring hockey back to where it was once profitable, in Canada and the Northern United States.
The league got it right with one expansion team in the Wild, but unfortunately for Whaler fans the puck won't be dropping in the Hartford Civic Center any time soon, which is a shame. The latest league slogan is "thank you fans," but if the league truly wants to make it up to this fan and many others in the New England area, they will force Peter Karmanos to move the Hurricanes back to Hartford so we can hear the brass bonanza one more time.
