Hockey is Alive and Well

A few snapshots from around the league in these early days of the 08-09 season:

- Big Shooter's Edmonton Oilers are kicking ass. Dustin Penner scored two goals last night in the Oil's 3-2 victory over the Colorado Avalanche. I think there's hardly a question that the Oilers are going to be the NHL's most exciting team to watch this year. Nice.

- San Jose Sharks are undefeated so far. I like what I'm seeing from new head coach Todd McClellan. The Sharks are playing an even tighter and more offensive game, based on Red Wings-style puck possession. This has so far resulted in 2 points each for Patrick Marleau and Jonathan Cheechoo, something that neither of them achieved this early last season. Young feller Devin Setoguchi has a goal, as does other young feller Joe Pavelski. What depth. Seriously.

- And how about those New York Rangers? Might they take the Eastern Conference?

- The Tampa Bay Lightning are, as of yet, winless.

- The Flames-Canucks are going to have a blistering, hate-filled rivalry all year. Steve Bernier's going to be a big deal for Vancouver this season, I predict. Daniel Sedin is already scoring goals like it was his profession or something. Another prediction: the next time these two teams play, the Flames are going to get a hellacious revenge.

- The Carolina Hurricanes are serious this year. They want a playoff return badly.

- My favorite news item from around the league: the Phoenix Coyotes are killing it. Olli Jokinen and Peter Mueller had goals in the very first game, Shane Doan scored two goals last night against a so-far faltering Anaheim Ducks, and much-anticipated rookie Kyle Turris scored his first NHL thing-where-the-puck-goes-into-the-net. Ilya Bryzgalov has been excellent. Like I said, the Stanley Cup is not out of the question.