Hockey In Useful Terms

With the 2006 NHL season ready to get underway, the usual complaints that surround the league are still in the air, even after a season removed from the 2004 lockout. Despite an incredible Stanley Cup Finals that saw the Carolina Hurricanes (eww) defeat the Edmonton Oilers in seven games - few people watched and even fewer cared. The off-season highlighted the problems that plague the NHL, with a lot of money being thrown around - hello, Rick DiPietro, and your 15-year, $68 million dollar contract - and players switching teams more then Paris Hilton switches boyfriends.

However, the biggest problem with the NHL still is, and will always remain, their inability to market to the casual fan. That is why I am here to help. I want you to enjoy hockey as much as I do, so to make it easier for you to follow, this season I have put together a little guide comparing the players and teams of Canada's favorite sport to one of ours, basketball. Enjoy.

"The Young Stud" - Sidney Crosby vs. LeBron James

Just like "King James," Crosby has it all - the cool nickname (Sid the Kid), the Hollywood good looks and the skills to back all of it up. Just as LeBron did in 2003, Crosby burst onto the scene last year as a fresh-faced 18-year old and proved to be worthy of all the hype. He finished the year sixth in the league in goals and tied for 12th in points, all while playing for a team that finished with the worst record in the Eastern Conference. Both also play in small markets with somewhat inept front offices, which could eventually lead them to leave their current teams for the bright lights of bigger cities. However, for the foreseeable future Crosby remains in Pittsburgh, and he is only going to get better.

"The star in his 30's who still puts up unreal numbers." - Jaromir Jagr vs. Kevin Garnett

While Garnett may go down in NBA history as one of the greatest players never to win a championship, Jagr has two rings from his days with the Penguins and a realistic shot to get number three this year with the New York Rangers. Either way, despite both being in their thirties, both are still putting up ridiculous numbers. Last season Jagr returned to his late 90s form, finishing second in the league in both points (123) and goals (54). The only thing that could slow Jagr from putting up similar numbers this season is a lingering shoulder injury from last season's playoffs. Regardless, Jagr is still a star, even at the age of 34, a first ballot Hall of Famer and will also go down as having one of the premiere mullets of his generation.

"The former star who is slowly starting to show his age." - Sergei Fedorov vs. Tim Duncan

Despite winning three Stanley Cups with the Detroit Red Wings, the highlight of Fedorov's career may end being his brief marriage to Anna Kournikova. Sure, she was only 16 when they met, but you know what they say - what happens in the Ukraine, stays in the Ukraine. Either way, Fedorov's stats have slowly been declining since the 2002-2003 season, his last in Detroit. Like Duncan, Fedorov missed a number of games last year and things probably aren't getting much better this year, considering he'll be 37 by the All-Star break.

"The chemistry experiment that went terribly wrong." - Boston Bruins vs. New York Knicks

Unless you've been living under a rock for the past year, you know what an embarrassment Isiah Thomas has turned the New York Knicks into. However, only the savviest of sports fans know the exact same thing happened in the world of hockey to the Boston Bruins. Similar to what the Knicks have done recently, last off season the Bruins loaded up on high priced free agents Brad Stuart and Marco Sturm, only to see their Stanley Cup aspirations end 12 games below .500 and out of the playoffs. The Joe Thornton era is officially over in Boston, after traded his unquestioned skills but highly questioned heart to San Jose halfway through last year. As with the Knicks just getting to the playoffs would be a huge step in the right direction, but without any clear cut leaders that will remain a challenge.

"The we score a ton are fun to watch but don't play enough defense to win a championship team." - Edmonton Oilers vs. Phoenix Suns

All right, this one is a little unfair, considering Edmonton played well on defense last year in winning a Western Conference championship. However, with Chris Pronger and Jaroslav Spacek leaving town as free agents, Edmonton will rely more and more on their high scoring offense. There's no doubt Jarrett Stoll, Rafi Torres and the newly signed Petr Sykora will be fun to watch (much like Steve Nash, Shawn Marion and the Suns) but expect a hot goalie to put an end to the Oilers championship dreams, sooner rather then later.

"We were great in the regular season last year, fizzled in the playoffs but should still be considered championship threats this year." - Ottawa Senators vs. San Antonio Spurs

The similarities between these two teams are striking. Both dominated during the regular season, giving their respective fans realistic championship aspirations. Both played uninspired in the first round of the playoffs, but used superior talent to win. And both got bounced in the second round of the playoffs when they met teams that they actually had to play hard against to win. With that embarrassment behind them, expect Ottawa and their high powered offense to step up and make it past the second round of the playoffs. With two of the leagues top five point scorers from a year ago in Dany Heatley and Daniel Alfredsson and veteran Martin Gerber in goal, Ottawa should be the favorites. When all is said and done, expect them to be hoisting Lord Stanley's Cup.

Aaron Torres is The Daily Campus' new NHL columnist,

and his column will appear every Friday. He can be reached at aaron.s.torres@uconn.edu.