NHL is officially back

The National Hockey League is back today after the cancelled 2004-2005 season due to the lockout.

Despite the bitterness involved, many Canadians are glad to have their game back. Also, the Canadian teams will likely do better with the new salary cap. Players who would go for the higher amount of money the U.S.-based teams could better afford are now more likely to go to Canada, especially if the Canadian teams have more room under the salary cap (or toque). Understand that Canadian teams get revenues in Canadian dollars, yet must pay their players in U.S. money, which hurts them given the 21% exchange rate.

Unfortunately, what little TV coverage there is in the U.S. (OLN and NBC) won't feature Canadian-based teams too often. Still have to worry about those pesky Nashville and Raleigh, N.C. markets. Hopefully, the CBC will be on the air with announcers and, of course, Don Cherry on top. There's nothing like Hockey Night in Canada.

On the first night back, here are the Canadian teams will be:

Montreal at Boston (RDS)
Ottawa at Toronto (TSN)
Calgary at Minnesota (TSN - regional in Alberta)
Colorado at Edmonton (TSN - regional in Alberta)
Phoenix at Vancouver (TSN, HDNet)