Off
N.H.L fans have grown used to the league serving up extracurricular issues with its regular slate of games. Two seasons ago, an owners' lockout cut the schedule almost in half. Last season was interrupted by the Sochi Olympics, but accentuated by six outdoor stadium games.
The 2014-15 season, which gets underway Wednesday night, will be shadowed by something altogether different: a snowballing concussion lawsuit, which could leave the league with a multimillion-dollar liability like that facing the N.F.L., which threatens to hover in the background like a lingering reflection in the rink glass, all season long.
New players keep joining the class-action lawsuit scheduled to go before United States District Judge Susan R. Nelson in St. Paul at an undetermined date. It has 40 named players and scores of unnamed ones, he most recent addition being Joe Murphy, a former No. 1 draft choice and a Stanley Cup winner in 1990.
This is one reason the N.H.L. would rather keep the focus on the ice as it embarks on its 97th season.
Contenders for the Cup: The Los Angeles Kings are trying to become the first team to repeat as Stanley Cup champions since the Red Wings in 1997 and '98, and they have a good shot at succeeding. The only major component they lost over the summer was the 37-year-old defenseman Willie Mitchell, which means they have Jonathan Quick, Anze Kopitar, Drew Doughty, Marian Gaborik and Jeff Carter back.
The Rangers, who lost to the Kings in the Cup finals in June, may not get as far this time around. But despite losing key pieces like Brad Richards, Anton Stralman and Brian Boyle, there is hope. Henrik Lundqvist is still in goal; defenseman Ryan McDonagh, now the captain, is poised for a Norris Trophy-caliber season; and there's no way Rick Nash will go silent in the playoffs again, right?
Watch out, too, for the Chicago Blackhawks, with Patrick Kane attaining a level of celebrity in the United States rare for a hockey player; the Boston Bruins, holders of the Presidents' Trophy, keen to avenge their second-round loss to the hated Montreal Canadiens; and the long-underachieving Pittsburgh Penguins, rebooting under a new general manager (Jim Rutherford) and coach (Mike Johnston) who aim to rejuvenate Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin at playoff time.
McDavid, Eichel and the Buffalo Exacta: The teenage phenoms Connor McDavid and Jack Eichel are the top prizes in next June's N.H.L. draft, each a potentially transformative player for a struggling team. The Buffalo Sabres were awful last season, and they are likely to be bad this season too, so they should have a good shot at the No. 1 pick. But they also hold the first-round pick of the Islanders, who could be just as bad. Which raises the question: If the Sabres draw the right lottery balls, could McDavid and Eichel both end up in Buffalo?
New Rules: No sport changes its rules as compulsively as hockey. This season brings a series of escalating fines for players who repeatedly dive and embellish to draw penalties. Coaches will be fined as well, starting at $2,000 with their team's fourth embellishment penalty of the season.
Video judges in Toronto were also given wider latitude to overrule goal or no-goal calls; the trapezoid behind the net, which defines where goalies can play the puck, got bigger; and 'spin-o-rama' goals during shootouts are now forbidden.
Finally, Stéphane Quintal takes over as the N.H.L.'s director of player safety from Brendan Shanahan, who left to become president of the Maple Leafs.
New Face: Ron McLean is out as host of 'Hockey Night in Canada,' a job he held since 1987. Rogers Communications' 12-year, $5.2 billion contract has begun, ending CBC's 62-year run of producing Canada's most-watched telecast. The talk-show interviewer George Stroumboulopoulos replaces McLean starting Saturday night, but McLean will still host the iconic 'Coach's Corner' intermission segment with his bombastic partner, Don Cherry.
New Name: The Phoenix Coyotes are now the Arizona Coyotes, and the debt-plagued Jobing.com Arena is now called the Gila River Arena.
New Coaches: Dismissed by the Nashville Predators after coaching all of their 15 seasons, Barry Trotz takes over the Washington Capitals. Can his brand of tough love bring playoff success to the Washington's problematic superstar, Alex Ovechkin? Peter Laviolette replaces Trotz in Nashville, while Mike Johnston takes charge in Pittsburgh, Gerard Gallant in Florida and Bill Peters in Carolina. In Vancouver, Willie Desjardins replaces John Tortorella.
New Uniforms: At the Vancouver Olympics in 2010, Ryan Miller backstopped the United States all the way to overtime of the gold medal game before giving up the decisive goal to Canada's Sidney Crosby. Now he returns to the same ice as the Vancouver Canucks' goalie, after 11 seasons with Buffalo and four disappointing months with St. Louis.
Other notable off-season moves: forward Ryan Kesler to Anaheim after 10 seasons with Vancouver; center Jason Spezza to Dallas after 11 seasons with Ottawa; defenseman Brooks Orpik to Washington after 11 with Pittsburgh; center Paul Stastny to his hometown, St. Louis, after eight seasons with Colorado; defenseman Johnny Boychuk to the Islanders after six seasons with Boston; and center Brad Richards to Chicago after three seasons with the Rangers.
No Uniform: Goalie Martin Brodeur, a free agent after 21 seasons with the Devils, remains unsigned. Brodeur, 42, is practicing with the Gatineau Olympiques, the junior team where his son Anthony plays goal.
'I have the itch to keep playing,' the elder Brodeur said Monday. 'I love hockey. I'm like a child inside. Hockey, that's all I know.'
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