The State of the NHL

Our president gave his State of the Union address last week, and here in California, as well as in other parts of the United States, the 50 or so governors give their "State of the State" address.

It's time for some hockey fan to give the "State of the NHL" address, and I volunteer to go first.

I can sum up the "State of the NHL" for you in these simple terms -- It's not good, but it is getting better.

Even though this year's All-Star game in Florida was one of the most exciting ever, there are a few problems facing the "coolest game on earth."

We all know about the situation in Ottawa and in Buffalo (both teams have declared bankruptcy), but they aren't the only franchises in trouble.

Pittsburgh has one of the league's future Hall of Famers on their team in Mario Lemieux, who also is the owner of the team. The Penguins also play at the Mellon Arena, which happens to be one of the oldest buildings in the league.

Most of the teams today have arenas with luxury boxes, suites, corporate deals, you name it, they've got it. But, not Pittsburgh.

The Pittsburgh city council and the mayor claim there's no money to build a new arena for the Penguins. Funny. The good city fathers seemed to have found some money to give the Steelers and the Pirates a new stadium.

That's not the only trouble in Pittsburgh, however.

Two hockey seasons ago, Jaromir Jagr, AKA Mario Jr. took his act to Washington. This year, Penguin fans may see another fan favorite, Alexei Kovalev go somewhere else as well. The reason -- no money to give to give him.

And what about hockey in the land of hockey, Canada?

With the exception of Toronto and Montreal, the other Canadian teams -- Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver and Ottawa -- may locate somewhere else.

What about hockey in the Sun Belt of the United States?

Not so good. Carolina was in the Stanley Cup finals last year. This year, they might not even make the playoffs.

Tampa Bay began so promising this year, but have seem to have slipped a little. In addition, fans in Tampa couldn't care less about the Lightning. They're too excited over that other team in Tampa -- you know, Chucky and the Boys.

Having said all that, I don't want to sound like the prophet of doom. There are some good things about the "State of the NHL."

At the beginning of the 2003 season, who would have thought that Marty Turco would be an able replacement for Ed Belfour down in Dallas?

Who would have thought that the biggest name in Atlanta so far isn't a guy named Chipper, but a Canadian kid by way of the University of Wisconsin named Dany Snyder.

Who would have thought we'd be talking about the Minnesota Wild for the Stanley Cup?

And, yeah, we're still talking about those New York Rangers opening the bank and getting nothing in return.

The "State of the NHL" doesn't look so good right now, but like the economy of the United States, it will only get better.