Young stars can lift NHL this postseason

The NHL couldn’t ask for more.

Crying out for attention, looking to move to a bigger stage and rebound from a nasty labor dispute that cost the league the entire 2004-2005 season – a first in North American pro sports history – these Stanley Cup playoffs are very important.

The league is quick to boast about setting attendance records each season, but won’t fess up to still being regarded as the niche sport that got lapped by NASCAR, swarmed under by Tiger Woods and pushed around by newcomers such as mixed martial arts in the last 10 years.

Oh, hockey has its passionate fan base, no doubt. And that’s never been a problem for the NHL. The fans who care have a healthy appetite for everything pucks. Those fans aren’t going anywhere, no matter how much ticket prices are raised. Some may have stopped going to games in places like Detroit, Los Angeles and New Jersey, but they’re still out there watching, still loyal to the game they love.

The fans in Canada have to be laughing at this. The game never wavers there, where hockey is woven into the fabric of everything Canadian. It falls somewhere between national pastime and a religion, and really, what’s wrong with that? But only six of 30 teams skate on the frozen climes of Canadian soil. It’s just most of the 24 other markets that give pause for concern.

The NHL, which sometimes takes those very important, long-standing fans for granted, should be concerned about cultivating a new generation of support for its game. It should be concerned with getting back on a national network that can be viewed in every household. It should be focused on letting everyone see what fabulous new talent is on display.

That’s what these playoffs are about.

Alexander Ovechkin, Sidney Crosby, Ryan Getzlaf, Evgeni Malkin, Henrik Lundqvist, Dion Phaneuf, Marian Gaborik, Jason Spezza, Zach Parise, Mike Richards, Nicklas Backstrom and Alexander Radulov.

Not as young, but just as dynamic are Pavel Datsyuk, Henrik Zetterberg, Joe Thornton, Brian Campbell, Evgeni Nabokov, Jarome Iginla, Miikka Kiprusoff, Jaromir Jagr, Zdeno Chara, Alexei Kovalev, Brad Richards, Jean-Sebastien Giguere, Jason Arnott and Milan Hejduk.

And the grand old-timers, Joe Sakic, Brendan Shanahan, Dominik Hasek, Nicklas Lidstrom, Martin Brodeur, Sergei Fedorov and Peter Forsberg.

They’re all here and they are extremely gifted.

For those who have not watched Ovechkin, the 22-year-old star of the Washington Capitals who signed a 13-year, $124 million deal in January, they’re in for a treat. It’s not just his 65 goals or the 112 points – both league-leading figures – that stand out. It’s his energy, enthusiasm and the joy he shows for playing a game he loves.

Ovechkin hasn’t had an opportunity to play in the postseason in either of his first two NHL seasons. He brings playoff hockey to the regular season. It’ll be interesting to see if he has another level of intensity for the playoffs.

Crosby, just 20 years old but already a league MVP, is a big question mark. A high-ankle sprain sustained in mid-January limited his time to appearing in just seven of Pittsburgh’s final 36 games. Clever with the puck, gifted on his skates, what people may not realize is Crosby’s willingness to go into corners, in front of the net or anywhere on the ice to battle for the puck.

Getzlaf is an under-the-radar third-year star in Anaheim, where the Cup resides in the Pacific time zone for the first time. Big, skilled and possessing a mean streak, don’t think for one minute Getzlaf and the Ducks aren’t primed to defend what the franchise won for the first time last spring.

Mystery and intrigue surround the eight opening-round series.

Montreal and Boston revisit a long-standing playoff rivalry that the Canadiens have dominated with 23 victories to just seven series’ losses. On top of that, Montreal swept the season series from the Bruins, and have won 11 straight overall against their Original Six rivals. Boston is beat up, but not beaten down. Montreal turns to a 20-year-old goalie in Carey Price, who has proven to be a big-event performer during his short but significant recent past.

Pittsburgh, the second seed in the East, takes its shot at revenge for a five-game series loss to Ottawa last year, when the Penguins were the team just happy to get into the playoffs. The Senators come wobbling into this postseason with a shaken confidence and unknown prospects in goal. The Penguins are dealing with much higher expectations this time around.

The Rangers beat their cross-river rival Devils in all but the final of eight regular-season meetings. That cost New York home ice, but that probably doesn’t matter in this series. It figures to be a defensive, low-scoring match-up considering Lundqvist’s success against New Jersey and Brodeur’s past playoff success.

And the Washington-Philadelphia battle might be the best of the lot in the East. No one knows what to expect from the young Caps getting in for the first time with this group. The Flyers are a solid, veteran team with a hot goaltender. People don’t know a lot about Washington defenseman Mike Green, center Brooks Laich or Alexander Semin. They don’t know a lot about Flyers forwards Jeff Carter, R.J. Umberger or Mike Richards, but they will soon.

In the West, which cumulatively rang up an 83-53-14 record against the East, the competition will be hard and fast as three of the four series pits teams from the same division after already meeting eight times each in the regular season.

There will be hate galore in Colorado-Minnesota, Dallas-Anaheim and Nashville-Detroit. And the funny thing is the Calgary-San Jose matchup might be the most physical of all.

The Sharks were the trendy pick heading into the season and again now to win it all after a recent 20-game points streak. But Mike Keenan’s Flames will be no soft touch as Robyn Regehr, Phaneuf and Iginla will surely attest. The Sharks have some recent playoff demons to exorcise or there will be tough decisions to make in the offseason.

The defending champion Ducks have an emotional mountain to climb. They know the sacrifice needed to grind for two months. They have the deepest and most difficult defense to beat, and a solid winner in goal with Giguere. They don’t, however, have scoring threat Corey Perry, and that is a concern. Dallas has not proven it can win in the postseason, and this is as stern of a test as the Stars will face in an opening round.

The first-time division champion Wild wants to prove they belong when hockey becomes less artistic and more rugged. That remains to be seen. And expect the Avalanche to test Minnesota early in that department. No one has to tell Adam Foote, Ryan Smyth, Sakic or Forsberg how games this time of the year are won.

No one said it would be easy for Nashville, which has had the bad fortune of facing Detroit and San Jose twice each in first rounds.

There are no expectations for the surprising Predators, which might be the best thing working for them. The Red Wings, meanwhile, don’t get as much respect as is often afforded a Presidents’ Trophy team, but they are formidable and capable of winning their 11th Cup.

There you have it, the stage is set. Time for the NHL to show us what it’s got.