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In the last Twelve months the National Hockey League has undergone as massive of your overhaul every sports league within the last half century. With revamped rules, a restructured salary system plus a new television partner, professional hockey is the shell of the sport that locked its doors a year ago. The changes reflect the NHL's new mantra - more scoring, increased parity and price certainty. So forget everything you realize or think you know in relation to its the NHL, which begins preseason play on Sept. 16, as even one of the most faithful and ardent fan jeremy scott adidas whiteneeds to admit that they can have no clue as to the way the game will look in 2005-06.

First, hockey viewers will have to get used to watching their game on a whole new station. ESPN took a gamble and refused to pick up the network's option on the NHL's broadcasting rights. The idea was that ESPN will be in a posture to opt from their deal, then repurchase the rights at a substantially reduced rate. Instead, the Outdoor Living Network, a subsidiary of Comcast Cable, swooped in using a very lucrative offer and purchased the rights to broadcast the NHL regular season and playoffs for $65 million this season, $70 million in 2006-2007, and $72.5 million in 2007-2008. Not to fret though - Barry Melrose and the man mullet have signed up with OLN.

However, OLN only reaches approximately 65 million homes through the entire United States and Canada. That's a substantial reduction in the 90 million subscribers that ESPN boasts, along with the 89 million viewers that ESPN2 can reach. Also, since ESPN doesn't own the rights, the league shouldn't expect an excessive amount of coverage from those Bristol bastards. The new deal - while a relative windfall for a sport with flailing TV ratings - definitely relegates the NHL to Niche Sport status. Well, that along with a 309-day lockout will shut off any fan base. Right now hockey's popularity lies somewhere throughout the WNBA and extreme dodgeball.

Next, besides the ideological alterations the league has experienced, there have been considerable changes for the practical aspects in the game. A competition committee revisited several issues that have been pinpointed as trouble spots during the pre-lockout days. The highlights with their adopted rule changes are:

1)	No more ties. As an alternative solution to records that read like Lotto picks, the league moved returning to good ol' fashioned wins and losses. At the finish of overtime a six-player shootout will ensue, followed by a sudden death shootout if necessary.

2)	Goalies will no longer be allowed to be built like Optimus Prime. Their allotted padding continues to be reduced 11 percent. The rule is backed by $25,000 fines and suspensions.

3)	Goaltenders can don't "freeze" the puck, plus a trapezoidal area has been create behind the aim line. The goalies are only able to handle the puck within that area when behind the thing line.

4)	The offensive zone will likely be larger. The bluelines were each moved two feet closer to one another, shrinking the neutral zone. Also, the goal-lines are actually moved two feet further through the boards, leaving more room behind the net.

5)	The red line is gone, and two-line passes have become legal.

6)	Other minor changes have occurred. There's no flopping, a point of focus on clutching and grabbing, anyone who instigates a fight within the last five minutes gets suspended, no flipping the puck in to the stands with your defensive zone, with no public complaints regarding the league.

The idea is that most of the rule modifications will open scoring and boost the speed with the game. They're hoping how the new NHL will probably be similar on the hockey played inside the Olympics, featuring more scoring and skill rather than neutral zone traps and also the grind-it-out garbage which in fact had permeated the NHL within the last decade.

Finally, a whirlwind of player movement has completely reconfigured the total amount of talent throughout the league. Trying to figure out who is going where has proven more tiresome than trying to continue in which pitcher Alyssa Milano is banging now. In fact, when opening night comes (the Rangers open up against the Flyers on Oct. 5) most fans will think that Guy Pierce's short-term-memory depraved character in Memento. They'll vaguely recognize where these are but don't have any idea how they were given there.

I saw a post on another sports site that we felt best sums inside the player movement that's happened considering that the league went last business: "Don't you are feeling just like the new NHL is the equivalent of somebody stealing your NHL '95 game for Sega, randomizing the rosters, and after that creating to you?"

Laying a bet on NHL futures looking to predict who'll hoist the Cup next summer could be an incredible chance to fleece some unsuspecting oddsmakers. But, as always, wager at your personal risk. Here's a quick overview on some teams that is planning to be worth watching and might be definitely worth the gamble:

Detroit Red Wings (17/2) - The favorites for that upcoming season reside in Hockeytown. It's a horrible bet,jeremy scott wings 2.0 and do not bite. Yes the Red Wings were the best team within the 2003-04 regular season with 109 overall points, but perhaps no team was hurt more by the year off. Steve Yzerman is currently 40, Chris Chelios is 43 and Brendan Shanahan is turning 37. The window could have closed for that Wings in addition to their AARP roster. Also, Detroit only has about $7 million to resign Pavel Datsyuk (who's said he's not close to a deal) and/or Henrik Zetterberg. This team has holes, and now they are unable to plug it with money.

Philadelphia Flyers (9/1) - The Flyers waived goodbye to the nucleus of Jeremy Roenick, John LeClair and Mark Recchi. Their absence will open up the ice for young speedsters Jeff Carter and Mike Richards. Also, they was able to pilfer Peter Forsberg and Derian Hatcher, adding two with the top free agent talents to a already strong team. The Flyers needs to have a small edge over Nj-new jersey inside their quest to defend their Atlantic Division championship.

Ottawa Senators (11/1) - The Sens were the most notable scoring team inside the Eastern Conference in 2003-04 (262 goals), plus they added the dynamic Dany Heatley inside a blockbuster deal that included Marian Hossa. For as long as no-one asks Heatley to become the designated driver, he should add more pop to Ottawa's offense. Daniel Alfredsson led the team with 48 assists in 03-04, and is going to be setting the table for Heatley. This squad is deep and strong, and will be depending on Ray Emery and Dominick Hasek within the net.

Calgary Flames (13/1) - The runners-up to the 2004 champion Tampa Bay Lightning (man, that also sounds strange) will likely be best of all this season. The main element move they made was retaining superstar Jerome Iginla. Iginla was tied to the NHL lead with 41 goals in 03-04. The Flames upgraded the offense by attracting Tony Amonte and Darren McCarty. Also, Roman Hamrlik was acquired to shore up an already stout defense.

New Jersey Devils (14/1) - This is really a very worthwhile team going into the preseason. As Detroit and Colorado will be most affected with the salary cap, Nj will probably be most affected with the rule changes. Many blame the Devils for pioneering the neutral zone trap as well as the clutch-and-grab style that took over the league inside the last decade. Offensively, they still have Scott Gomez (team leader in assists) and Patrick Elias (leader in goals and points) and that i expect big numbers from both. They've won at least 41 games in each in the past three seasons, along with Martin Brodeur in goal they have always a shot.

Colorado Avalance (14/1) - The Avs have Joe Sakic and Pierre Turgeon in the center, Brad May and Alex Tanguay about the left and Milan Hejduk around the right. So in other words, they still have a chance. Colorado has put up the average of 42 wins each year the final three seasons, and its core remains intact. Rob Blake is returning to anchor the defense and David Aebischer may be the man in the cage. I expect the crooks to figure prominently in the Western Conference, however don't think they've enough depth to hoist the Cup.

Boston Bruins (15/1) - The Bruins were one from the teams that benefited essentially the most from your outlandish free agency. They were able to lock up captain Joe Thornton for 3 years, and Glen Murray on the club. Also, we were holding able to add seasoned vets Shawn McEachern and Brian Leetch, too as Alexi Zhamnov and Dave Scatchard. That talent infusion improves a team that was already pretty tough (defending Northeast Division champions). The pressure is going to be on Andrew Raycroft, the only real goalie on the roster.

Pittsburgh Penguins (15/1) - The March in the Penguins returning to hockey's elite may turn this season. Besides as a fiscal farce off the ice, to remain one of the worst teams onto it for that past several years, managing just 78 wins within the last three seasons. They put up only 2.3 goals a casino game while winning 23 games in 03-04. But the Steel City won the Sidney Crosby Sweepstakes, and also the "next Gretzky" gives them instant credibility. They resigned leading scorer Dick Tarnstrom and acquired Lyle Odelein, understanding that young talent could possibly be ready to adopt the subsequent step.

Tampa Bay Lightning (15/1) - Winning the Stanley Cup a couple of weeks prior to lockout must've been kind of like winning the lottery then finding out we're going back towards the barter system. Tampa Bay caught lightning in a bottle within the summer of 2004, as well as the defending Stanley Cup champions have brought back the principals involved because run. Dave Andreychuk, Martin St. Louis, and Vincent Lecavalier are typical back and able to go. They roster reeks of old age, but they're still the champs and really should see the proper respect.

Anaheim Mighty Ducks (30/1) - Team Teemu returns since the head from the Flying V. Sergie Federov is trying to salvage a burnt out career, and Scott Niedermeyer should flourish in Anaheim's wide-open attack. Also, the Ducks use a huge advantage with J-S Giguere minding the net. That's one guy who won't need the extra padding to dominate. A drawback is that they can traded captain Steve Rucchin on the Rangers.

Atlanta Thrashers (33/1) - I similar to this pick to the value. The Hossa-Heatley trade was just about a push, but getting a solid veteran defenseman like Greg deVries inside the deal may shift the advantage in the Thrashers favor. They already posses a core led by the very talented Ilya Kovalchuk (team leader in goals and assists) and Hossa's playmaking style (36 goals and 82 points) will fit right in. They signed Mike Dunham to mentor talented youngster Kari Lehtonen, and brought in Bobby Holik to add even more firepower. They may be a year away, nonetheless it could possibly be worth every penny to consider a $10 or $20 flier on them jeremy scott adidasfrom decqhuhuan.