Every team a potential champion as players anxious to start real NHL season

After an opening act in Europe the NHL is ready to raise the curtain on its 2008-09 season in North America on Thursday night. It's the time of year when every team is a potential Stanley Cup champion and all the players are anxious to get started after a series of exhibition games. Ron Wilson, the new coach charged with the task of trying to return the Toronto Maple Leafs to respectability, said now the real bullets start flying. "It (the pre-season) has been like paint ball where you can get shot and you just wipe the paint off," Wilson said Wednesday. "Now you can get killed out there." Vancouver's Daniel Sedin said he's looking forward to the Canucks' opening game at GM Place against the Calgary Flames. "After a while those pre-season games, I don't want to say you get tired, but you want to get things going," said Sedin,... [read full story]