Top Five Stories to Follow This NHL Season

A healthy Sidney Crosby is exactly what the NHL looks to put the lockout behind them. (Gene J. Puskar)

After a long and laborious lockout, the NHL season finally gets under way tomorrow. In this shortened season, there are many stories to follow. I will simply give five of my top ones to watch throughout this season.

1. Pittsburgh Penguins star Sidney Crosby returns to the ice fully healthy. Crosby significantly benefited from the lockout in that he was able to get fully healthy after battling through concussions the last two seasons. Crosby was inspirational in moving the NHL past the 2005 lockout and bringing fans back to the game. This season could be very similar. Crosby could be set for a huge return to stardom. That is something even his haters cannot ignore.

2. The Minnesota Wild spent big money during the offseason, but it remains to be seen if it will be worth it. The Wild have not been to the playoffs since 2008. Their main struggle last season was that they had the NHL's worst offense. During the offseason, the Wild spent a combined $196 million on free agents Ryan Suter and Zach Parise. Whether that can translate to success, remains to be seen. The Wild have many unanswered questions so far, including whether or not goaltender Josh Harding can return to top form following his inspiring return from multiple sclerosis.

3. Rick Nash could be the missing piece that the New York Rangers need to win the Stanley Cup. The Rangers have had some great pieces. Brad Richards, Ryan Callahan and Marian Gaborik lead the way offensively. They also have had a solid core of young players and a solid defense that is anchored by Henrik Lundqvist, one of the greatest goaltenders in the world. Over the past several years, they simply have not been enough. This likely prompted the Rangers to go out and get Rick Nash. Nash is one of the league's best scorers and is going to make a huge impact if he can adjust to life in the spotlight.

4. The Carolina Hurricanes could be this season's surprise playoff team. The Hurricanes were not in the playoff picture last season, but they steadily improved as the season wore on. In fact, they had the Southeast Division's best record over the last 48 games of this past season. In the offseason, the Hurricanes bolstered their roster by acquiring Jordan Staal and signing Alexander Semin. They could be primed to make some noise in a winnable division.

5. This could be the season the Detroit Red Wings finally don't make the playoffs. Last season, the Red Wings fell down to the fifth seed in the playoffs. Then, during the offseason, they had to deal with the retirement of Nicklas Lidstrom, one of the best defensemen in NHL history. The affect this will have on the Red Wings, remains to be seen. Some people believe that they could wind up coming up short in their bid for their 22nd straight playoff berth.

Night of Shootouts Reminds Us How Important They Are

When the regular season draws to a close, there is usually only a few points difference between playoff positioning and even making or missing them all together. These few points can often be made or lost in one simple thing. Shootouts. Every team plays them multiple times each season. If you win, you get two points. If you lose, you only get one. If you win enough of them, those additional points can start to add up nicely. Amazingly, five of the nine NHL games played tonight ended in a shootout. I will take a look at each one and give a breakdown of its importance.

Minnesota Wild 3 Florida Panthers 2

The Minnesota Wild have slid farther out of the playoff picture, but their steady goalkeeping came through for them again in this game. The Panthers are in the hunt to win the Southeast Division (currently only 1 point behind Winnipeg for the lead). If they win the division, they will likely get the #3 seed in the playoffs. If they don't, they are barely clinging onto the eight and final playoff spot. Ideally, they obviously want to win the division. However, this is yet another disappointing shootout loss. This now puts their shootout record for the season at 3-7. That is the most losses of any team currently in the playoffs. If the Panthers don't fix this soon, it might be the difference between the #3 seed and missing the playoffs all together.

Anaheim Ducks 3 Carolina Hurricanes 2

Both of these teams are considerably far out of their respective playoff pictures, so the importance is rather minimal. The Ducks have played better as of late. They are 7-1-2 in their last ten games. It is interesting to note that the Hurricanes are now 0-5 in shootout games. They are the only winless team in that regard.

Vancouver Canucks 4 Detroit Red Wings 3

This is the granddaddy of them all. The Red Wings came in with their NHL-record 23-game home winning streak. The Canucks came in with the NHL's best road record. As you might have imagined, these are the two teams with the most points in the Western Conference. With time running down in the third period, the Red Wings were clinging to a 3-2 lead. The Canucks pulled goalkeeper Roberto Luongo to get the extra attacker. With 16 seconds remaining in the game, Henrik Sedin found his brother Daniel, who blistered home the tying goal. In the shootout, Luongo shut down all three Red Wings shots. On the third shot for the Canucks, Alexandre Burrows netted the game winner. He reacted by pretending to snap his stick to signify the record steak being snapped. This game was a great one and could be a preview of the Western Conference finals further down the road.

St. Louis Blues 3 Nashville Predators 2

These two teams currently seem destined for a #4 vs. #5 playoff matchup in the Western Conference. With how evenly matched these teams appear to be, it could be very valuable to finish ahead of the other to secure the home ice for the matchup. By winning the game, the Blues increased their lead over the Predators to four points. There is still a lot of hockey to be played, but every point between these two could end up making the difference.

Phoenix Coyotes 4 Calgary Flames 3

The Coyotes are currently the #7 seed in the Western Conference playoff picture. They currently hold a five point lead over the hotly contested #8 seed (currently six teams within 4 points of that spot). The Coyotes should do all they can to keep winning to avoid getting involved in that mess. That is just what they accomplished by winning the shootout tonight. The Flames are one of those six teams currently in the hunt for that final playoff spot. Every point matters to those teams right now, so they didn't do themselves any favors by losing this shootout. They are now 3-5 in shootout games, which isn't terrible, but at this point, every point matters in these teams' pursuit of a playoff berth.

Maurice and Boudreau are Checked Out From Their Head Coaching Posts

Monday is a new day of a work week, and it also was a beginning of a new chapter for two NHL franchises. These teams' head coaches have been fired just more than twenty games into the season.

The Carolina Hurricanes fired Paul Maurice for the second time in less than a decade. The last-place Hurricanes have had only one playoff appearance since 2006 and have lost 10 of their last 13 games. The team's record now stands at 8-13-4, but they are only five points out of the eighth playoff spot. It is clear that the front office thought that a move would help the team achieve its full potential.

The Hurricanes new head coach is former All-Star Kirk Muller. Muller had long, prosperous career in which he made six All-Star teams and helped lead the Montreal Canadiens to their most recent Stanley Cup in 1993. Muller does have coaching experience with the Canadiens and the Nashville Predators' AHL team, the Milwaukee Admirals.

Hurricanes GM Jim Rutherford is eager to see what Muller can do with his team. Rutherford stated, "I don't know exactly how good we are. I believe we're better than what we've done so far." It is now Muller's job to prove Rutherford right.

A much more surprising move was when the Washington Capitals decided to fire head coach Bruce Boudreau. Boudreau became the fastest coach to 200 wins in modern NHL history. However, Boudreau's team routinely choked and under-performed in the playoffs, despite its very talented lineup led by two-time league MVP Alex Ovechkin.

Because of his team's continual underachieving, Boudreau tried a new tactic of benching players who exhibited this type of play, including team captain Ovechkin. Ovechkin's play had not responded well to his former coach's stricter coaching style. He only has 17 points in 22 games.

Capitals GM George McPhee explained the move, "This was simply a case of the players were no longer responding to Bruce. When you see that, as much as you don't want to make a change, you have to make a change."

McPhee decided to replace Boudreau with former Capitals captain Dale Hunter. Hunter has no NHL coaching experience at all. In fact, his only experience coaching adults is with the London Knights of the Ontario Hockey League.

Obviously, McPhee didn't make this move to get a superior coach. This move was made to be a wake up call to his players. Will it work? That remains to be seen. This team has to change its under-performing ways for that to happen.