Why should you care? Supremely talented Sidney Crosby tops the list of reasons you should give the NHL another chance

CBA 101

* Salary cap: $39 million.

* Salary minimum: $21 million.

* No luxury tax.

* The players' total salaries cannot exceed 54 percent of revenues below $2.2 billion. (That number was estimated to be between 68 percent and 75 percent before.)

* Player salary cap: no more than 20 percent of a team's payroll; this season, that's $7.8 million.

* Player salary minimum: $450,000.

* Previous salaries were cut by 24 percent.

* Entry-level salary: $850,000 per season for three seasons, plus limited bonuses.

Why Sidney Crosby is the bomb

1. He's the greatest prospect to hit the NHL since Eric Lindros, but Crosby might actually win something.

2. He shot pucks into a clothes dryer when he was a guest on The Tonight Show.

3. He'll be playing alongside Mario Lemieux and a whole bunch of new Penguins who suddenly have made this team a contender.

4. He could single-handedly save the Penguins, which is good--what would the NHL be without a building nicknamed the Igloo?

Five moves you need to know about

1. C Peter Forsberg went from the Avalanche to the Flyers.

What to say in a sports bar: "Forsberg, who was drafted by the Flyers before being dealt to the Quebec Nordiques (pronounce it Nor-DEEK to emphasize your authority) in the Lindros trade, has trouble staying healthy, so this isn't as good an acquisition as it might seem."

2. D Scott Niedermayer went from the Devils to the Mighty Ducks.

What to say in a sports bar:. "Niedermayer won his first Norris Trophy (as top defenseman) in 2003-04 and will play alongside brother Rob, who was the first overall pick in 1993."

3. D Chris Prenger was traded by the Blues to the Oilers for three defensemen who cost considerably less.

What to say in a sports bar: "This is a good move by the Oil. In 1999-2000, Pronger was the first player to win the Norris and Hart (regular-season MVP) trophies in the same season since the great Bobby Orr did it in 1971-72."

4. G Nikolai Khabibulin went from the Stanley Cup-winning Lightning to the Blackhawks.

What to say in a sports bar: "Actually, it's pronounced HAH-bih-BOO-lihn."

5. RW Dany Heatley was traded by the Thrashers to the Senators for Marian Hossa and Greg de Vries.

What to say in a sports bar. "Heatley quietly requested a trade. He'll be much better than Hossa, especially in the playoffs."

Don't forget about the Olympics

NHL players will participate in the February 2006 Olympics in Turin, Italy. That means a more compact schedule but a chance for much-needed exposure on the world stage.

"With a lot more games in a short period of time, it might hurt our team a little bit, but I think it's a good price to pay to go to the Olympics," Lightning winger Martin St. Louis says. "Nobody would turn that down."

BRETT HULL'S

Five reasons you should care

1. Wayne Gretzky is coaching the Coyotes: Fans should love seeing the greatest player in the history of the game behind the bench. Who wouldn't want to watch the Great One for 60 minutes?