NHL Embraces Old, New as Season Gets Underway

The NHL today will begin its 82nd season with three games that symbolize its past, its present and, perhaps, its future.

At New York’s Madison Square Garden, all-time scoring leader Wayne Gretzky will begin his 20th NHL season when the Rangers--one of the league’s original six franchises--play the Philadelphia Flyers. Gretzky, 37, begins the season with 2,795 points and holds or shares 56 NHL records.

Several trends are discernible in the Tampa Bay Lightning’s opener against the Florida Panthers at Sunrise, Fla. Both were part of the NHL’s sixth expansion but they’re no longer its newest members because of the addition of the Nashville Predators, who debut Saturday. The Panthers today will unveil a new arena, continuing a trend of sponsor-related names--it’s the National Car Rental Center--and toward new buildings. It will be the 13th new arena for an NHL team since 1993. Nashville will open its arena Saturday, and Toronto will leave Maple Leaf Gardens for the Air Canada Centre in February.

The San Jose Sharks’ game against the Calgary Flames at Tokyo reflects the NHL’s focus on broadening its international appeal in hopes of winning bigger audiences and greater merchandising and marketing revenues. And revenues are very much on the minds of NHL executives, who have seen players’ salaries skyrocket in the last decade. The average salary is expected to exceed $1.3 million, more than six times the average of $211,401 in the 1989-90 season.

The NHL’s agreement with ABC-ESPN on a five-year, $600-million TV contract doesn’t start until next season, and even then, the growing number of teams will pare each team’s share to about $4 million, less than the salary of a premier forward or defenseman. Nor is the NHL likely to get financial concessions from players, because it’s locked into its labor contract with the NHL Players Assn. until Sept. 15, 2004.

Rule changes were instituted to boost scoring, which has lagged behind defense in recent years. Two referees will officiate many games in an attempt to minimize fouls behind the play and give greater leeway to skill players. Referees will continue their vigilance against obstruction.

In addition, realignment has split each conference into three divisions, rather than two. The three division winners in each conference will be seeded first through third, based on points, and the next five teams with the best records will be seeded fourth through eighth for the playoffs. In a change designed to avoid the sweeps that occurred in the last four Stanley Cup finals, teams will be reseeded at the start of the conference semifinals and conference finals.