NHL Outlook Is for No End to Surprises

Finally, the NHL’s year of playing dangerously is over. The league survived a strike, a presidential coup and the Eric Lindros fiasco.

It was some 75th anniversary year.

And there still are unresolved questions as the NHL opens its regular season on Tuesday. Among others, they are:

1. Why are people calling the NHL the Russia House?

Confusion is easy when one tries to follow Slava Kozlov (Detroit Red Wings) or Igor Korolev (St. Louis Blues). Then there is Alexei Kovalev (New York Rangers).

Who doesn’t have a Dimitri around these days?

Boston has Dimitri Kvartalnov. The Flyers have Dimitri Yushkevich.

2. Who will replace Wayne Gretzky, leaguewide?

Three nominees to do so while all of the Kings’ doctors try to put Gretzky back together again: 1) Brett Hull 2) Eric Lindros 3) Mario Lemieux.

Lemieux has the skill and talent, but not Gretzky’s personality. Hull has the personality. Lindros has the potential, but is an unknown quantity.

3. Who will replace Wayne Gretzky in the Kings’ lineup?

Candidates: 1) Jari Kurri 2) Robert Lang 3) Jimmy Carson.

Kurri has shown ability playing center during the exhibition season. But the jury is still out.

4. What do these people have in common? Jody Hull, Kay Whitmore, Shawn Cronin and Valeri Kamensky.

No, they aren’t the first women to play in the NHL. All are men on NHL teams. Manon Rheaume, the 20-year-old female goaltender, still has her singular place in hockey history.

5. What date should we circle on the NHL calendar?

Oct. 13. Presumably, the Flyers won’t hold Eric Lindros out of his long-awaited debut at the Colisee in Quebec. It should be another memorable chapter in the Lindros soap opera, a lengthy tale of two countries, three hockey teams and one controversial family.

6. Do the Penguins really need a coach?

No. The late Bob Johnson and Scotty Bowman were on opposite ends of the planet in coaching philosophy. Yet the Penguins won two Stanley Cups in a row playing under these two very different men. Bowman won’t be back this season, and it appears that General Manager Craig Patrick will be behind the bench. Not many other teams would go through the summer and exhibition season without choosing a coach. In Pittsburgh, the team’s the thing, not the coach.

7. Why are they calling Eric Lindros and Keith Acton the Odd Couple?

They roomed together during training camp. The first night at camp, Acton went to bed early. Lindros slept on the floor. Acton is 5 feet 8, balding, 34 and will make $265,000 this season. Lindros, 19, is 6-5, 230 pounds and will make $3.5 million.

8. What happened to the Penguin?

It is one of hockey’s sad tales. The cool, new-wavish, streetwise Pittsburgh Penguin logo is no more. Instead, the mean-looking, stick-toting Penguin has been replaced by a yuppified, stickless Penguin. The old Penguin looked like it could do serious harm in the corners. The new Penguin looks like it should be on a frozen yogurt container.

9. Are there really players in the NHL making less than $100,000 per season?

Last season, there were two: Winnipeg’s Bryan Erickson ($80,000) and Quebec’s Steve Maltais ($95,000). Maltais is no longer on Quebec’s roster, and Erickson had abdominal surgery last summer, which has left him out of the lineup indefinitely.

10. Why should reporters covering the Tampa Bay Lighting carry calculators?

Club President Phil Esposito, that’s why. Esposito trades and trades and trades some more. Within hours of June’s expansion draft, he announced his first deal. On June 19, Esposito made five transactions. During a three-week stretch in September, he pulled off three more trades.

11. Why will the Patrick be the NHL’s most exciting division?

Lindros.

12. So, who wins in a battle for the soul of the New York Rangers, Mark Messier or Coach Roger Neilson?

That’s easy. Simply ask a few folks such as Paul Westhead, Robbie Ftorek and Doug Collins.

13. Will people anyone call the Quebec Nordiques “Les Dindes” anymore?

There was a near-riot in the Quebec dressing room a couple of years ago when a radio reporter called the Nordiques Les Dindes. Translation: The turkeys. The Nordiques will shed that label this season, bolstered by young scorers. The foursome of Mike Ricci, Mats Sundin, Joe Sakic and rookie Valeri Kamensky reminds some of the Edmonton Oilers of the early 1980s, before their Stanley Cup championships.

14. What happened when Russ Courtnall announced in June that he would only play for the Kings?

Courtnall made it halfway from Montreal to Los Angeles--landing in Minnesota. No, he wasn’t stranded there by Northwest Airlines. The Canadiens traded him to the North Stars for Brian Bellows in August.

15. What will the order of finish be in the Smythe Division?

1) Vancouver 2) Winnipeg 3) Calgary 4) Edmonton 5) Kings 6) San Jose.

16. What will the order of finish be in the Norris Division?

1) Detroit 2) Chicago 3) St. Louis 4) Minnesota 5) Toronto 6) Tampa Bay.

17. What will the order of finish be in the Adams Division?

1) Buffalo 2) Montreal 3) Boston 4) Quebec 5) Hartford 6) Ottawa.

18. What will the order of finish be in the Patrick Division? 1) Pittsburgh 2) New York Rangers 3) Washington 4) New Jersey 5) New York Islanders 6) Philadelphia.

19. Which expansion team, Tampa Bay or Ottawa, will finish dead last in the NHL?

Esposito can keep the Tampa Bay Lighting off the bottom of the league standings with his trade-a-week philosophy. That doesn’t work with an established franchise, but there is not much to ruin in Tampa Bay.

20. Will the Penguins three-peat?

Yes, new wimp logo and all. Pittsburgh’s management has been judicious this summer in signing goaltender Tom Barrasso and budding superstar right winger Jaromir Jagr to long-term deals. And how can you bet against Craig Patrick in the Patrick Division?