ESPN.com - What's hot, what's not<br>for 2001-02 NHL season

ESPN.com: Page 2

Tuesday, September 25, 2001
Updated: October 3, 2:25 PM ET
What's hot, what's not
for 2001-02 NHL season

By Jim Wilkie
Page 2

We've said a fond Stanley Cup-filled farewell to Ray Bourque, and had our brief summer rest. Now it's October, so that means it's time for the start of another NHL season.

But if hockey hasn't been at the forefront of your sports thoughts lately, Page 2 has the answer to get you ready for the long season ahead. Check out our Pucks Primer to find out all you'll need to know -- at least for the first half of the season, because by January the music stops as the richer teams look for rent-a-players, and our thoughts will begin turning to the Salt Lake City Olympics.

To help you make your pool picks and show off to your friends, co-workers and dates, here's what's hot and what's not in the NHL:

Page 2's Hot 'n' Not list for NHL 2001-02
Category	Hot	Not
Art Ross favorite	Jaromir Jagr	Mario Lemieux
Irritating ailment	Tendinitis	Kasparaitis
Vezina front-runner	Olaf Kolzig	Dominik Hasek
What, he's coaching again?	Robbie Ftorek	Mike Keenan
Sweater	Blues	Blue Jackets
Hart and soul	Joe Sakic	Alexei Yashin
Organ	United Center's	Spleen
Expansion team to worry about	Predators	Blue Jackets
Original Six club	Red Wings	Blackhawks
Teen sensation	Ilya Kovalchuk	Jason Spezza
Devoted fans	Sharks	Hurricanes
Celebrity fan	Cuba Gooding Jr.	Kurt Russell
Cruel joke	"Be a Player," with Eric Lindros	Tampa Bay Lightning
Brothers	Pavel and Valeri Bure	Daniel and Henrik Sedin
Sutter	Darryl	Brian
Unstoppable force	Todd Bertuzzi	Rick Tocchet
Pest	Ville Nieminen	Claude Lemieux
Enforcer	Krzysztof Oliwa	Andre Roy
Olympic village pastime	Team-building	Room-trashing
New York team	Islanders	Rangers
Islanders dream	Making playoffs	Yashin not showing up for playoffs
Young gun finally blossoming into superstar	Joe Thornton	Rob Niedermayer
Sincere best wishes in your new home	Adam Graves	Chris Osgood
Fantasy sleeper	Mikael Renberg	Alexei Zhamnov
Fantasy owner	Charles Wang	Bill Wirtz
Big year coming, just in time for unrestricted free agency	Curtis Joseph	Tony Amonte
Cup-less sentimental favorite to root for	Ray Ferraro	Dave Andreychuk
Candidate to move to Portland, Ore.	Oilers	Islanders
Date	March 30, Lemieux scores 700th career goal, at Montreal	Dec. 21, Jagr returns to Pittsburgh
Candidate to fall back to Earth, à la Brian Boucher	Johan Hedberg	Evgeni Nabokov
Gutsy Cup prediction	Blues over Maple Leafs	Devils over Avalanche

Jim Wilkie is an editor for Page 2.