The curtain on the new NHL season is being raised tonight with hopes that new rules have leveled the playing field and that the entertaining brand of free-flowing hockey seen last year continues to thrive.

But popular opinion says changes made in how the game was played and officiated allowed the speedy, skilled players to shine -- and that the clutching and grabbing matches that plagued previous seasons were dampened.

It's believed strictly-enforced obstruction rules were the reason seven players in the 2005/2006 season scored more than 100 points -- something that hasn't happened in a decade.

"The feedback we've got from all our business partners . . . is that the product on the ice has never been better," league commissioner Gary Bettman said Tuesday, "that everything we did last season seemed to work, seemed to energize the players and the fans."

Another significant new factor in the "new NHL", say analysts, are the changes made in the league salary structure.

"Wage parity is the watchword," said TSN hockey analyst Bob McKenzie, pointing to the collective bargaining agreement forged during a lockout that killed the 2004/2005 season.

Now, "hope springs eternal everywhere."

McKenzie said the teams that made it to the Stanley Cup final last season is proof that the salary cap agreement brought greater equality and unpredictability throughout the league.

"The (Carolina) Hurricanes were widely picked to place last in the eastern conference, or thereabouts. They won the cup," said McKenzie on a TSN hockey panel. "Edmonton, which got into the playoffs by the skin of its teeth, got to game seven of the Stanley Cup final.

"The weak teams are plugging the holes," he added. "The strong teams can't get to an elite level because of the salary restrictions, and everybody is being compressed into the middle."

Analysts say under the new salary structure, big market teams like the Toronto Maple Leafs and New York Rangers can no longer solve their personnel problems with money.

"So those fans who go into those buildings across Canada and across North America now understand that they've got a fighting chance," TSN's hockey insider Darren Dreger told Canada AM on Tuesday.

"It's not about the New York Rangers spending $80 million, because they can't do that anymore. So all teams have equal footing."

Predictions

As the regular season begins Wednesday night, some analysts say it's far too risky to make playoff predictions in what's become an unpredictable NHL.

Nevertheless, TSN's panel of hockey experts took their best shots at guessing which teams will pair off next June in the battle for the championship, and which one will ultimately hoist the Stanley Cup at centre ice:

"I went with the Ottawa Senators because this team has been so strong for so long," Dreger said, defending his choice on Canada AM.

"They now have good goaltending in Martin Gerber and he will silence his critics -- and Ottawa will finally win."

While Ottawa, Calgary and Edmonton will all finish strong, said Dreger, the other Canadian teams will struggle.

Dreger believes Montreal is still a few years away from making it deep into the playoffs, although he said they're on the right path with a crop of good young players to rebuild with.

The Vancouver Canucks, although landing a star goalie in former Florida Panther Roberto Luongo, had to trade away power forward Todd Bertuzzi in the process. They also lost Anson Carter to the Columbus Blue Jackets as a free agent.

As for Leaf fans, Dreger said he doubts their team has enough offence to be competitive this year. Leafs coach Paul Maurice even admitted last month it's going to be a "struggle" for his team to make the playoffs.

Ones to watch

With the shackles on skilled players easing with tighter officiating, Dreger said two rookie stars from last year -- the Pittsburgh Penguins' Sidney Crosby and Washington Capitols' Alexander Ovechkin -- should shine even brighter this season.

"Sidney Crosby had a terrific rookie campaign, scoring 39 goals. We've seen an element of his speed, but he came into (training) camp with Pittsburgh a little bit bigger, a little bit stronger -- and a lot faster.

Meanwhile, Russian phenom Ovechkin, who scored 52, should "really start to fly."

What else is new

• The Governor General's Foot Guards band will perform in Ottawa on Thursday before a Senators-Leafs match.
• National Canadian women's team star Cassie Campbell will make her debut on Friday in Edmonton as a rinkside reporter.
• Some hockey stick blades will feature three-quarters of an inch curves -- an addition of one-quarter of an inch, as part of a decision by the league for more goals.
• Some goalies will wear tributes to past stars on their heads. New Leafs goalie Andrew Raycroft will have depictions of former team greats and of Maple Leaf Gardens on his helmet; Boston's Hannu Toivonen will sport a mask that paying tribute to Denis Lemieux, the goalie in the 1977 movie Slap Shot.

Otherwise, the league didn't make any substantial changes over the summer. After all the changes last year, Bettman said it was time to step back.

"All the research we did during last season and over the summer in terms of fan approval and satisfaction with what we did was astoundingly high," said Bettman. "It was in the 80 to 90 per cent range in terms of fans approving the game on the ice -- the shootouts, the various things we had done.

"Upon review this summer, that's why there weren't a lot of changes made this year. It worked well and was well received."

With files from The Canadian Press