Puck drops on new season tonight

NEW YORK -- Celebration replaced trepidation inside a Manhattan club.

The NHL hosted a big bash last week, kicking off a new season free of lockout clouds, labor unrest and questions about the league's viability.

Star players hung out with supermodels in front of the shiny Stanley Cup that lit up with every flash, while members of the champion Carolina Hurricanes checked out their freshly engraved names.

The party's on.

Hockey is fun again, and the NHL is striving to make people notice.

"Every year is always big. But I think we had a great year last year," said teenage phenom Sidney Crosby, the Pittsburgh star and runner-up for rookie of the year. "There shouldn't be anyone second-guessing that."

He and rookie of the year Alexander Ovechkin, who set a first-year record with 425 shots on goal last season with Washington, provided many of the highlights.

After losing a year to the lockout, last season featured radically revamped rosters. Some stability returned in the offseason, but big names were still on the move as the league prepared for its second season of the salary cap, which increased from $39 million to $44 million.

Chris Pronger calls Southern California home now, joining the Anaheim Ducks by forcing a trade out of Edmonton after just one season with the Oilers that ended with a surprise trip to the Stanley Cup finals.

The Oilers eliminated the Ducks in the Western Conference finals, then nearly won it all.

The Hurricanes, too, would like to duplicate their success, after skating off with the prize.

That's two straight seasons for a southern champion. Just like the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2004, the Hurricanes knocked off a small-market Alberta club to do it.

Doug Weight, sent to Carolina from St. Louis late in the season, won't be a part of a repeat. After staying long enough to win his first championship, Weight was lured back to the Blues by new team president John Davidson.

The Blues' run of 25 straight postseason appearances ended with a thud last season as the team finished with the fewest points in the league. And the team was sold to a group led by Dave Checketts, the former Madison Square Garden president. He wasted little time in bringing in Davidson to pair with general manager Larry Pleau.

"We feel we significantly improved the team," said Davidson, who also added Bill Guerin to the roster. "But at the same time the people we have here really do have to prove something if they want to continue with their careers."

Eight teams will be playing under new coaches this season: Dave Lewis (Boston), Marc Crawford (Los Angeles), Alain Vigneault (Vancouver), Claude Julien (New Jersey), Paul Maurice (Toronto), Guy Carbonneau (Montreal), Jim Playfair (Calgary) and Ted Nolan (New York Islanders).

"The changes, in particular here in Boston, may be more radical than most teams," said Lewis, let go by Detroit after the 2003-04 season. "Everything is a real plus-plus for us. The competitive balance has changed."