A year ago, the NHL was in the middle of a whirlwind. The lockout-shortened season had barely ended and the Sochi Olympics and six outdoor games were on the horizon.Last year was a season like no other, commissioner Gary Bettman said.When Alec Martinez scored in overtime to win the Stanley Cup for the Los Angeles Kings and the league faded into summer, the ice chips settled. Now well into an era of labour peace and two years away from the likely return of the World Cup of Hockey, theres nothing interrupting each team playing 82 from Oct. 8 through April 11.The last couple years have been crazy, Boston Bruins goaltender Tuukka Rask said. Playing that shortened season, shorter off-season and really compact season with the Olympics. It was kind of a long year and a half and now a really long off-season and a regular season. Things are back to normal, I guess.This is, indeed, a regular season in the strictest definition of the phrase. There are no glaring problems facing a business with $4 billion in revenues, and things are going so well that the rampant expansion rumours wont go away even as Bettman insists the NHL isnt ready to look in that direction just yet.A new Canadian television-rights deal should result in the salary cap rising next summer, and the health of the league is perhaps as good as it has ever been.The game on the ice has never been better, Bettman said. Its never been more competitive, more entertaining, more exciting, more unpredictable, and everything we do starts with that. We have a system that gives us stability and gives all teams an opportunity to compete, which is why we see such competitive balance.Calm waters all around mean theres not a crisis, but it doesnt mean the landscape is boring. In the Western Conference, the Kings and Chicago Blackhawks each have two championships over the past five years and havent shown any signs of going away.In the process of those duelling dynasties developing, the West is in the midst of an arms race to keep up. The Dallas Stars went out and got Jason Spezza and Ales Hemsky, the Anaheim Ducks got Ryan Kesler and the St. Louis Blues got Paul Stastny.The Stars had one of the busiest off-seasons and are a team to get excited about. But given the stiff competition are they even one of the best three or four teams in their conference?I think we get lost under the radar because there are some powerhouse teams in the West, Dallas centre Tyler Seguin said. Teams are only getting better, and a lot of guys and top-end guys from the East are coming over and playing in the West. I think its a lot of fun.The fun in the East is that no ones untouchable and pre-season prognostications dont matter. Again the Boston Bruins are the favourites, even after losing Jarome Iginla in free agency, but the Montreal Canadiens, young-and-talented Tampa Bay Lightning and ever-changing Pittsburgh Penguins could just as easily go to the Cup final.Of course last year the New York Rangers showed they could make a run, too.Its about getting hot at the right time, Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist said. First thing you need to get in, but after that its about peaking at the right time.The 2013-14 season was a test of endurance, specifically for the likes of Lundqvist, Martin St. Louis and the Kings Drew Doughty and Jeff Carter, who all went to the gold-medal game at the Olympics and then to the Cup final. The Rangers and Kings also each played hockey outdoors last year as part of the NHLs Stadium Series.In 2014-15, only two of the 1,230 regular-season games will be outdoors: the Winter Classic at Nationals Park in Washington on Jan. 1 between the Blackhawks and Capitals and one Stadium Series event Feb. 21 at Levis Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., between the Kings and San Jose Sharks.Cutting down from six outdoor games to two wasnt just a matter of preventing too much of a good thing, according to Bettman, who said theres still plenty of interest from cities to host in the future.Everybody wants one, Bettman said. What happened, though, this year, when we were looking at doing games, the games have gotten so big our clubs that are interested want more lead time. There were teams that didnt want to go this year. They said, Well take a game, but make it the following year because we want more lead time.Future outdoor games could be coming to Toronto, Winnipeg and Minnesota. But the Maple Leafs, Jets and Wild will have to deal with 41 indoor home games this season.Among those games, the lack of an Olympic break will allow for a more normal schedule without as many back-to-backs and stretches of three games in four nights.The biggest thing is the rest days, the time between games, the time between travel, former Canadiens captain and current Buffalo Sabres forward Brian Gionta said. Everyone looks at it and theyre like, Its a game a week difference, but it makes a big difference in your travel, it makes a big difference in your practice time or your rest time.After that 48-game condensed schedule after the end of the lockout in 2013 and 82 sandwiched around the Olympics last year, players hope a return to normalcy also means fewer injuries and better quality of play.Itll be nice to practise and work on things, New York Islanders winger Kyle Okposo said. You can really get back to a normal schedule. Thatll be big for everybody, hopefully enable us to stay more healthy than we have. Were excited for kind of a normal routine.Normal, though, is relative and could be short-term. The league and the NHLPA could as soon as this month announce plans for the return of the World Cup of Hockey in 2016, and theres still hope that players go to Pyeongchang, South Korea, for the 2018 Olympics.Thats a concern for down the line, when prospective top picks in Junes draft like Connor McDavid and Jack Eichel are blossoming NHL stars and not just prizes for the leagues worst teams. The Sabres and Calgary Flames can dream of that, but Bettman is glad that playoff hopes are the new normal almost everywhere.What we have in competitive balance now is unprecedented in our history and maybe for any sport, he said at a recent Canadian Club luncheon. Its more important that no matter what team you root for, you feel at this time of year, Boy my teams got a shot at the playoffs, and as weve seen the last few years once you make the playoffs anything can happen.---Follow @SWhyno on Twitter Authentic Tampa Bay Buccaneers Jerseys . The 22-year-old Spanish midfielder recently signed a new three-year contract with Chelsea, and after spending last season on loan with Valencia in La Liga, Romeu will move to the Bundesliga for the 2014-15 campaign. Wholesale Tampa Bay Buccaneers Jerseys .com) - Virginia is for loving Latrell Scott. http://www.cheapbuccaneers.com/. Wheeler scored at 4:58 of overtime, with Scheifele getting an assist, and the Jets beat the slumping Colorado Avalanche 2-1 on Sunday night. Custom Buccaneers Jerseys .com) - The NBA will be on display overseas Thursday with the New York Knicks taking on the Milwaukee Bucks at O2 Arena in London. Tampa Bay Buccaneers Sean Bunting Jersey .Y. - Pittsburgh Penguins star Sidney Crosby captured his second career Art Ross trophy on Sunday after leading the NHL in scoring this season.LAWRENCE, Kan. -- Naadir Tharpe scored 21 points for Kansas, and Frank Mason stripped Oklahoma States LeBryan Nash as the final buzzer sounded to preserve the 15th-ranked Jayhawks 80-78 victory over the ninth-ranked Cowboys on Saturday. Joel Embiid added 13 points, 11 rebounds and eight blocks for the Jayhawks (13-4, 4-0 Big 12), who blew most of a 47-30 halftime lead before holding on at the finish. Phil Forte hit seven 3-pointers and had 21 points for Oklahoma State (15-3, 3-2). Marcus Smart added 16 points, but he was just 3 of 14 from the field and 0 for 6 from behind the 3-point arc. Still, Smart nearly gave the Cowboys a chance. His layup with 24 seconds remaining got them within 79-75, and after Mason missed a free throw, Forte hit a 3-pointer to make it a one-point game with 5.7 seconds remaining. Mason was fouled and made the first of two free throws, and the Cowboys raced up court with the rebound on the miss. Nash tried to get off a shot from just beyond the arc as time expired, but Mason was there to pop the ball loose and preserve the victory. Markel Brown finished with 15 points for Oklahoma State while Kamari Murphy had 12 and Nash finished with 10. The testy game included six flagrant or technical fouls. The animosity between the teams really started to simmer last season, when the Cowboys came into Allen Fieldhouse and ended the Jayhawks 33-game home win streak. Smart celebrated by doing a backflip, a stunt captured on film that Kansas coach Bill Self showed his team this week. It reached a rolling boil shortly before the season, when Smart declared that Kansas Andrew Wiggins had yet to warrant the considerable hype that the star freshman had been receiving. Naturally, most figured that Smart and Wiggins would be the leading characters when their teams met. Instead, two uber-talented players expected to be chosen early in Junes NBA draft were relegated to supporting roles as their teammates stepped into the spotlight. Kansaas delivered the games first big blow midway through the first half, ripping off a 13-0 run fueled by Tariq Blacks monstrous dunk.dddddddddddd By the time Browns turnover led to a run-out basket by Black and a 29-15 lead with just under 8 minutes left in the half, a sellout crowd that included Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers was roaring its approval. In fact, the noise was so deafening that Brown didnt hear Oklahoma State coach Travis Ford call a timeout. He instead raced up court and found himself in the midst of the Kansas huddle, and wound up triggering a benches-clearing fracas that the officials had to separate. Brown and the Jayhawks Jamari Traylor were each hit with technical fouls. Things didnt cool off, either. Later in the half, Smart was hammered by Wayne Selden on his way to the rim. Selden was promptly shoved by the Cowboys Stevie Clark, drawing another technical. Kansas led 47-30 at halftime. The Cowboys tried to mount a comeback on the second half. Forte got hot from behind the arc, and Brown hit four 3-pointers in the span of a few minutes, the last of them closing Oklahoma State within 59-56 with 11:02 remaining. Kansas stoically answered the challenge. Masons 3-pointer triggered seven straight points by the Jayhawks, and when Smart finally hit his first field goal with 5:53 left in the game, Embiid answered with a thunderous jam off an alley-oop pass that left the entire goal setup trembling. As the Jayhawks slowly rebuilt their lead, Oklahoma State began to lose its poise. Brown was whistled for a foul on Embiid, and voiced his frustration within earshot of official John Higgins, earning his second technical of the game. It also resulted in him fouling out. The Cowboys got within 77-73 on a basket by Smart with 1:29 left, but Tharpe answered again with a 3-pointer from the top of the key. The Jayhawks then held on in the closing seconds to put some distance on Oklahoma State in the Big 12 race. 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