Goaltenders will determine NHL playoff berths

The puck has dropped on an NHL season of questions and new beginnings. After the lockout last year deprived fans of an entire season, the revised NHL is back.

The rule changes designed to create more scoring chances, not necessarily more goals, and a more open, innovative style of play on the ice are, at least early on, having the desired effect.

Scoring is up. The hook-and- hold penalties that bogged the game down and prevented gifted players from having the room to create are being called. Power plays are up as a result, but teams are struggling to score off advantage chances.

The size of goaltender equipment has been reduced and the area in which a netminder can handle the puck has been defined and lessened. All this has led to a discussion of scoring. While appropriate to do so, the goaltender is more important than ever.

More scoring chances and more open ice and odd-man rushes means the best of the goaltenders will still make the biggest difference when playoff time rolls around.

The best in net starts with the Devils’ Marty Brodeur. Since Patrick Roy retired, Brodeur wears the mantel of the best, and wears it well. He is the best stick-handler in net and a superb stopper.

Mikka Kiprusoff of Calgary receives less credit than deserved because of where he plays. His 1.69 goals against average two years ago is the best of the modern era. Dominik Hasek of Ottawa is the Cirque du Soleil performer of the game. A bad groin will decide how well and how much he can play.

Tomas Vokoun in Nashville will have a breakout year. He is solid and has found medication to control his obsessive-compulsive disorder. He plays for a solid team that is playoff-bound.

Roberto Luongo in Florida is blazing fast with the catching glove, if inconsistent overall, with a Panthers team that has had missing pieces. GM Mike Keenan has remade the team, jettisoning 15 players and signing 11 veterans. Luongo will have a better team in front of him.

Nikolai Khabibulin won the Stanley Cup with Tampa Bay when last we saw the NHL. He is now with the Blackhawks. He is solid, but not in the category of Brodeur. He is with a so-so Chicago team and he will have a so-so year.

The Islanders have former BU goalie Rick DiPietro. He has yet to show he is ready to be an NHL regular, much less a star. The Islanders still believe and this is his year to respond or be gone.

In the East, the Flyers, Senators, Lightning and Devils make the playoffs. The Rangers, Capitals, Hurricanes and Sabres do not. The rest fight it out for the four other spots.

In the West, the Flames, Canucks, Sharks, Predators and Oilers make it. The Coyotes, Wild, Kings and Blues will watch and the rest will seek the other three spots.

As faithful readers know, all predictions in this column are written in vanishing ink connected to software that erases mistakes automatically as they become less than fact.

Old Town native Gary Thorne is an ESPN and ABC sportscaster.