Nothing Is Out of the Question at This Stage

Now that the Olympics have come to a close, it’s time for the NHL to get back to business. With seven weeks remaining in the regular season, the league is facing a truckload of unanswered questions:

Are the Kings a legitimate Stanley Cup contender? Maybe. Although it may be a while before Coach Andy Murray recovers from post-concussion syndrome, the Kings head into their stretch run as one of the best-coached teams in the league. Thanks to their dominant special teams (No. 2 in the power play and penalty kill at the Olympic break), the Kings will be a difficult team to defeat in close games. If Felix Potvin and Jamie Storr can continue to give the team solid goaltending, the Kings may be ready to advance even deeper into the playoffs than they did last season. Another postseason strong point for the Kings will be their scoring depth with at least six players with 12 or more goals and 10 players with 20 or more points. Philadelphia is the only team in the league with more scoring depth.

Can the Mighty Ducks make a run at .500? Unlikely. Coach Bryan Murray has done an admirable job of returning the Ducks to a respectable level, but they are 10 games under .500 with only 21 to play. It would take a minor miracle for Anaheim to even catch up-and-coming Nashville. Look for Paul Kariya to play well now that he has a gold medal to his credit but the Ducks need more consistent offense from players such as Jeff Friesen, Matt Cullen, Mike Leclerc and German Titov. It also doesn’t help that the Ducks play 18 teams over .500.

Will the Detroit Red Wings continue to dominate the league? Maybe. Coach Scotty Bowman’s team is loaded with future Hall of Famers but their age may work against them. Detroit had the NHL’s largest contingent at the Olympics. Four of their players reached the gold-medal game in Salt Lake City. But that could present a problem for the veteran Red Wings, who now open their post-Olympic push with 15 games in 33 days, including 10 games on the road and two six-game stretches that include five road games. Injuries may become an issue: Captain Steve Yzerman is already hampered by bad knees and 40-year old defenseman Chris Chelios gave everything he had in the Olympics. And left wing Brendan Shanahan revealed Monday that he broke a thumb in the Olympics.

Can Colorado repeat as Stanley Cup champion? Absolutely. The Avalanche will not only have a rested goaltender in Patrick Roy, who opted not to play in the Olympics for Canada, but they also will play six games in a row at home with none on consecutive nights to start their stretch run. Center Joe Sakic and defensemen Rob Blake and Adam Foote were dominant players in the Olympics and are still hungry enough to lead Colorado’s Stanley Cup quest.

Which Western Conference teams will not make the playoffs? Columbus, Minnesota, Nashville and the Ducks can definitely make early summer vacation plans but it’s not that easy figuring out what other teams will join them. Even though Edmonton is currently the No. 7 seed in the conference, look for the Oilers to drop if goaltender Tommy Salo can’t bounce back after giving up the winning goal for Sweden in an upset Olympic loss to Belarus. Although Phoenix is having a solid season, the Coyotes do not play defense well enough to stay in the playoff race. Calgary is another team with issues because Jarome Iginla can’t do it all.

Who will emerge as the class team in the Eastern Conference? Philadelphia. If goaltender Roman Cechmanek remains steady, the Flyers will be the team to beat in the East. General Manager Bobby Clarke has to be excited about his team’s chances with Jeremy Roenick, Mark Recchi, Simon Gagne and John LeClair providing one of the most feared offensive attacks in the league. The midseason pickup of tough guy Donald Brashear and the return of former King Rick Tocchet, who has rehabilitated a torn patella tendon in his left knee, also will help. The Flyers, however, will not have an easy time in the East because Boston and Toronto also will be ready.

Will Pittsburgh’s Mario Lemieux make it through the remainder of the season? Unclear. Now that he has finally won his long-awaited gold medal, Lemieux’s fortitude will surely be tested playing for the struggling Penguins. Then there is the question of how Lemieux responds when his hip injury acts up again. With Pittsburgh continuing play today seven points out of a playoff berth, Lemieux may start seeing himself again as more of an owner than a player. If that happens, expect him not to finish the season in uniform.

Can Calgary’s Iginla hold on to the league’s scoring lead? No. If Iginla played on a team with more scoring options, he would likely become the first player of color to win the NHL’s Art Ross trophy. But he doesn’t. Although Iginla has ranked near the top in points since October, Calgary has scored only one more goal than the Ducks this season. Boston’s Joe Thornton or Vancouver’s Markus Naslund are more likely to produce more points because both are more assist-men than goal scorers.

Will Washington fire Coach Ron Wilson before the season ends? Probably not. Wilson is definitely under the microscope but the Capitals are too talented not to make a run for the playoffs. Washington has been inconsistent all season but the Capitals are only five points from the No. 8 spot in the East and will play six of their next eight games at home. But if Washington fails to make up ground soon, Wilson may get the boot because the Capitals face a killer eight-game, 14-day trip in March that includes games at San Jose, Colorado and Toronto.

Which team is a dark horse to win the Stanley Cup? St. Louis. But for the Blues to get out of the West, they will need a healthy Keith Tkachuk, who played hurt for the U.S. in the Olympic gold-medal game. Tkachuk, Pavol Demitra and Doug Weight are legitimate offensive forces and no hype is needed for defensemen Chris Pronger and Al MacInnis. The key for the Blues will be goaltender Brent Johnson, who has to be the least respected netminder in the league despite 23 victories and a .902 save percentage at the Olympic break.

Line Shifts

The NHL may look to adopt a key rule used in the Olympics to speed up play for next season. Prompted by positive results of hurry-up faceoffs that were featured in Salt Lake City, the league is seriously thinking about adopting it. It would stop teams from delaying games with line changes during stoppages of play. The rule calls for the visiting team to have five seconds to make a line change and then the home team has five seconds to send out its players. The referee then has five seconds to drop the puck. The American Hockey League and junior hockey are already using versions of the rule and the NHL has been pleased with the results.

The New York Rangers’ Mark Messier has been contemplating season-ending shoulder surgery and if he does opt for it, his career may be in jeopardy. Messier, who turned 41 last month, said he’s going to wait for at least a couple of weeks before making his decision, but he’s tired of playing in pain. Messier missed 11 consecutive games and 15 of 18 before playing in the last five games before the Olympic break. He had one power play assist and a minus-five rating in the five games.

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THE TIMES’ RANKINGS

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