By Allan Muir

A guide to this morning’s must-read hockey stories:

• That’s how you settle a score. Enforcer John Scott ragdolled Shawn Thornton, and red-hot Thomas Vanek rang up five points as the Buffalo Sabres whipped the “brain-dead” Bruins, 7-4.

• Another night, another parade to the penalty box for the bumbling Washington Capitals. Giving up 40 shots probably didn’t help, either as the Leafs came back for a 3-2 win.

• They’re not just talking about Ryan Kesler in Vancouver. They’re still on about Nail Yakupov’s goal celebration and the need to help players learn to celebrate responsibly.

• The Canucks still don’t have a timetable for Kesler’s return. They won’t really know what they are — or what they need — until he skates.

• Logan Couture shows support for the San Francisco 49ers with the first-known display of Kaepernicking on ice. Oh, and the San Jose Sharks are now 7-0.

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Alex Ovechkin (left) wasn’t exactly enthused by coach Adam Oates’ experiment. (Greg Fiume/Getty Images)

You have to hand it to Adam Oates. He’s clearly a man of his convictions.

It’ll be interesting to see how much longer Washington’s freshman coach will be allowed to hold onto them.

During his preseason preparation for his new gig, Oates came to a conclusion about the sagging fortunes of superstar Alex Ovechkin: the two-time MVP had become too predictable on the attack. If he had the puck, Ovechkin would carry it into the zone, curl in from the left wing and try to snap a shot off his forehand from the circle. If he didn’t have it, he would mill around until he could dart into the circle to await a pass that would set up a vicious one-timer.

Of course, Oates wasn’t the first to recognize this. Bruce Boudreau tried to address it and the ensuing power struggle cost him his job. So did Dale Hunter, whose weariness at dealing with Ovechkin was thought to be the prime reason for his return to junior hockey at the end of the playoffs.

So Oates took up the cause, bringing with him a reputation as an astute offensive mind. If anyone could get OV back on track, it would be the guy who spent his Hall of Fame career setting up Brett Hull and Cam Neely to succeed.

So what does Oates do? He takes the natural left winger and moves him to the right side.

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Trying to plug holes by trading high draft picks has backfired on the Maple Leafs, so it may be wiser to deal Phil Kessel. (Nick Turchiaro/Icon SMI)

By Allan Muir

A guide to this morning’s must-read stories around the NHL.

• Trading Phil Kessel, rather than offer sheeting P.K. Subban, is the road forward for the Maple Leafs.

• How is this Lambeau Leap by Vancouver’s Aaron Volpatti any different than the one that earned Brayden Schenn a suspension last week? If Brendan Shanahan is committed to consistency, this one cries out for supplemental discipline.

• Lots to like about Jarome Iginla’s game despite his “slow start.” Still, with the Flames struggling to light the lamp, especially five-on-five, they need Iggy to start finishing.

• Kyle Clifford started the season on Los Angeles’ fourth line, but his hot hand has earned the team’s leading scorer a promotion to the Mike Richards/Jeff Carter unit.

• The Oilers have been brutal five-on-five , scoring just four times through four games. Might help if they slowed the parade to the penalty box and bought themselves a little more time at even strength.

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Patrick Marleau has four multi-goal games to start the season. (Icon SMI)

By Allan Muir

A guide to this morning’s must-read stories around the NHL.

• Kevin Paul Dupont leads off Sunday’s best notes column with thoughts on Derek Sanderson and the latest cranky old man ramblings from Montgomery Burns Jeremy Jacobs.

• Is the seat under Caps’ GM George McPhee getting a little warm? He could be on the hook if the winless Caps don’t turn things around in a big way this season. That parade to the penalty box might be a big part of the team’s problem.

• With another two-goal game in Saturday’s 4-0 win over the hapless Avs, Eddie Munster Patrick Marleau ties a 96-year-old record.

• If last night’s Dallas-St. Louis contest was the first hockey game you’d ever watched, you could be forgiven to thinking that David Perron is the best player in the world. That was a jaw-dropping performance. Here are the highlights .

• Should the Maple Leafs offer sheet P.K. Subban? Only if they’ve somehow forgotten about giving up on the top-10 draft picks that turned into Tyler Seguin and Dougie Hamilton.

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Alex Ovechkin has a new coach to get used to, and the Rangers may pay a price for their reliance on blocking shots. (Will Schneekloth/Icon SMI)

By Stu Hackel

Every NHL season starts with expectations and conjures up predictions about where teams might finish, but this is a season like no other. You can’t even compare it too closely to the lockout-shortened 1995 campaign, one played with a 26-team NHL, a different conference alignment and playoff format, no shootout or “loser’s point,” and far less parity. And even in a normal season, there is so much uncertainty in sports that preseason predictions are a waste of time.

SI.com colleagues Brian Cazeneuve, Sarah Kwak and Adrian Dater have their thoughts on the upcoming season and you can find them here:

Power Rankings | Milestones | Central | Northwest | Pacific | Southeast | Atlantic | Northeast

Our favorite preseason pastime at Red Light is trying to boil down each team’s success or failure to one or a few essential themes. Each club has them and the answers to these questions, theoretically at least, should go a long way to determining if it plays up to expectations and potential. Keep in mind they all take place within the framework of the shortened season imposing its own unique characteristics on the playoff chase, which we pondered in this post.

Below are the essential questions for each team in the East and here’s the link for teams in the West:

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How many fans will return to watching NHL games and buying official merchandise after the lockout is always debatable, but it is clear that some have already left the building and other are calling for a boycott of opening night. (Mike Stobe/Getty Images)

By Stu Hackel

I usually don’t publish emails that I receive, but this one from Tuesday about a fan’s reaction to the NHL’s ongoing lockout should be shared:

I just wonder how many fans will take a stand and not show up when and if this does get resolved.  Nothing would please me more as a disheartened fan than on opening night of whatever season is next the arenas are empty.  Sadly for me this lockout is personal in that my 13- and 15-year-old daughters were becoming die-hard Penguins and hockey in general fans.  It was great family time to get in front of the TV with Center Ice and cheer the Pens on in full jersey garb as we have the last two seasons.  They couldn’t wait for the start of this season.  We have lost that time together and a sports bond that I cherish to this day that I had with my father.  The NHL has lost them.  They have no desire to watch hockey anymore, they don’t understand the issues and could care less.  They just loved watching hockey with their dad.  They don’t like football or any other sport so that is something I will never get back once they sort this out.

Regards,
Curtis M.

Now, there’s nothing earthshaking here. It’s just one father’s story about how the lockout impacts his family. Maybe it struck me as worth sharing because I’m a father, too, and I know about the bond Curtis says he had with his father and the one he shared with his daughters.

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Capitals owner Ted Leonsis is widely rumored to be in the group of hardline owners who are prolonging the lockout, but is he really trying to get out from under the fat deal he gave Alex Ovechkin? (Mitchell Layton/Getty Images)

By Stu Hackel

On Wednesday’s blog post, we touched on the unity of the players and their rising anger level during the lockout. It prompted a comment regarding the unity of the owners. “You write about the possibility of players getting angry but what about the owners?” asked the reader who goes by JamesLandonJones. “How long until the owners in small or non-traditional hockey markets, or with otherwise shallow pockets and bills to pay, begin to apply pressure on Bettman? If this happens, where will the cracks first appear? How long before it begins? Has it already begun? Fehr has shown great skill and foresight in rallying his union. Does Bettman have the necessary skills to do the same with ownership?”

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Canadiens fans can bid adieu to the stirring Centennial Plaza with its statues of Habs greats such as Jean Beliveau outside the Bell Centre as the site becomes home to pricey high-rise condominiums. (Ed Wolfstein/Icon SMI)

By Stu Hackel

While there are other hockey stories to discuss — the start of salary arbitration hearings (T.J. Oshie and Sam Gagner are up first on Friday), the Capitals signing Mike Green to a three-year $18.25 million deal, Jets goalie Ondrej Pavelec convicted of drunk driving in the Czech Republic, the sale of the Coyotes clearing a hurdle with the failure of petitioners to force the team’s arena lease agreement to a public referendum — it’s hard to avoid the CBA talks, which resume on Wednesday in New York. With team owners submitting a first proposal that the players will never accept, the clock is now ticking toward what many believe will be a lockout-shortened season — if not an entirely lost one.

Yes, we’ve been down this road before, not very long ago. It was a painful path, especially for those who work in the hockey business. But it was no fun either for those whose spending makes that business possible: the fans.

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Unfortunately for free agent Alex Semin, his reputation precedes his impressive statistics. (Jerome Davis/Icon SMI)

By Stu Hackel

Goal scoring in the NHL is down, the thin free agent market is depleted of top offensive talent, and the trade market seems frozen, so one name in particular stands out: unrestricted free agent Alexander Semin. Theoretically at least, he could be the solution to some team’s scoring woes, but there he sits by the phone, waiting for his agent Marc Gandler to tell him which club wants to sign a supremely talented 28-year-old who has put up seasons of 38, 34 and 40 goals during his NHL career. His numbers are comparable to Zach Parise’s, but no one is throwing a 13-year contract worth $98 million at Semin. Not even close.

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In new Hall of Famer Adam Oates (right), the Caps hired a superb teacher. (Shelly Castellano/Icon SMI)

By Stu Hackel

You won’t see a guy have a better day than Adam Oates had on Tuesday, being officially announced as the head coach of the Washington Capitals and an honored member of the Hockey Hall of Fame (video) within the space of a few hours. “Obviously an absolutely fantastic day,” Oates said. “I don’t know if that’s ever happened before. I have to go out and play Lotto, I think.  Two huge honors.”

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