In Shorter Season, Playoffs Start Now

The critics say a 48-game regular season is a joke. The game of hockey, they claim, has been compromised, and whoever wins the Stanley Cup in five months will hoist a tarnished trophy.

Don’t listen. Not for a second.

NHL players and coaches certainly don’t think that way. They don’t have time. This weekend, 26 teams began two sprint heats for the playoffs and, ultimately, the right to drink from Lord Stanley’s cup.

What you won’t see on this shortened schedule is an early season Calgary-Washington matchup that carries next-to-zero significance for either team.

What you will see are 624 intraconference games - with the exception of an Ottawa-Tampa Bay faceoff or two in April - each of which will paint a stroke on the post-season picture.

It’s playoff hockey from start to finish.

“It means more intense hockey and a better game for the fans, and that’s great,” San Jose coach Kevin Constantine said.

The bottom line for every team will be to avoid slumps, because there’s little time to make up ground. Conversely, with only a 48-game regular season, a solid team can run away from the pack with a strong start. A mediocre team can put itself into a playoff race it might not have seen in a full 84-game season.

Some examples: Toronto began last season with 10 consecutive victories, and the Maple Leafs didn’t surrender first place in the Western Conference until three months later.

Three months from now, the playoffs will be starting.

Philadelphia started 11-3-0 last season and remained among the Eastern Conference’s top five teams until February, after which the young Flyers plummeted out of the playoff picture for the fifth consecutive season.

Florida and Anaheim, last year’s expansion teams, also fell out of the playoff picture late. The Panthers did so on the last day of the season.

“Teams that start the quickest can almost say after 12 to 15 games that they’ve made the playoffs,” Anaheim coach Ron Wilson said.

Certified Public Idiot

Brendan “Nit” Witt, Washington’s first pick in the 1993 entry draft, and his agent, Mark Hall, turned down the Capitals’ fouryear, $3.6 million offer Monday, the league signing deadline for this season. Witt apparently would rather go back into the 1995 draft, after which he’ll be subject to the new $850,000 rookie salary cap.

Hello.

Defense wins

Defense more important than offense? The question is moot in Detroit, where everybody scores. In a scrimmage Wednesday at Joe Louis Arena - the Wings opened the doors to the public, and more than 7,000 fans watched - a team comprised of Detroit’s top defensive players defeated one made up of offensive stars, 6-4. Tough guy Darren McCarty scored a hat trick.

Another world

Pittsburgh’s Shawn McEachern now understands how European players can feel lost when they arrive in North America for the first time.

McEachern played briefly for Kiekko-Espoo in Finland but managed just one goal in eight games before sustaining a back injury. The experience was enough, though.

“They’d have team meetings that would last an hour, hour and a half, and there wouldn’t be any English spoken,” he said. “I’d have no idea what they were saying, but then they’d ask you to say something about what was going on.”

Return to sender

Ed Jovanovski, the first overall pick in last summer’s entry draft, will not make his NHL debut this season. Despite being granted a 72-hour window to sign their top pick, the Panthers sent him back to his junior team.

“There were a lot of factors,” general manager Bryan Murray said. “The fact we have eight veteran defensemen, the shortness of the schedule, and every game being so important, it would be tough for Eddie to get a real opportunity.”

Fetisov coming back?

Slava Fetisov could wind up back in a New Jersey Devils uniform. The Devils have renewed interest in the 36-year-old defenseman, who retired at the end of last season after not receiving an NHL offer, because Jason Smith sustained a knee injury playing in the minors two months ago.

Week at a glance

Sunday: Calgary at Detroit - Mike Vernon, traded to the Red Wings in the off-season, faces his former teammates for the first time.

Wednesday: Vancouver at Toronto - Think the Leafs have forgotten losing, at home, no less, to the Canucks in the Western Conference final?

Thursday: Los Angeles at St. Louis - Gretzky vs. Hull.