E-Mail This Article to a Friend Interesting stories abound as the NHL returns BY CHRISTOPHER YOUNG

Idiots.

That’s all you can call them. No, not the current edition of the defending champion Red Sox. I mean almost everyone involved in the labor negotiations that caused the National Hockey League to shut down for the entire 2004-’05 season.

Who’s ultimately to blame? Not enough time or space here to pin that down. But now that the league is apparently returning after a one-year hiatus for the upcoming season, here are some of the key developments worth watching — if, in fact, you do intend on coming back to see the new-look NHL.

Here in Boston, the fact that B’s ownership played possum and didn’t even compile a roster during the lock-out means that the team has plenty of dough to dole out to formerly high-priced players who will now be dumped by salary-cap-restricted teams. A cause for optimism, sure, but recent history doesn’t lie: the Bruins have been knocked out in the first round of the last three post-seasons — including blowing a 3-1 lead in games against the hated Habs in 2004 — and missed the playoffs entirely the two years before that. It’s now 33 years and counting since the Stanley Cup last found a home in Boston, and that’s a source of deep embarrassment for an Original Six club like the Bruins.

Of course, you could live in Chicago, another O-Six city, and be tallying up the 44 years since the Blackhawks polished the silver. It’s bad enough that the city’s two baseball teams are each nearing century-long championship droughts (thank God for the Bulls!), but when your hockey team has been around from the outset and claimed only three Cups in 78 years — and 40 of those years offered up only five other teams to contend with in the entire league — then perhaps you even enjoyed the absence of pro hockey. The Blackhawks haven’t even won a playoff series since 1996, and have missed the post-season entirely for six of the past seven seasons.

Things have only gone downhill on Lake Ontario from the time Dallas’s Brett Hull scored the disputed Cup-winning overtime goal against Buffalo in 1999. The Sabres qualified for the playoffs the next two seasons, but everything went irrevocably sour once franchise goaltender Dominik Hasek headed to Motown in 2001. Buffalo hasn’t reached the playoffs since, which goes to show what happens when you make a guy like Satan (Miroslav, that is) the centerpiece of your offense.

Like Atlanta’s, Columbus’s franchise will also be looking for its first visit to the NHL playoffs after wandering through the wilderness in its first four seasons. As the Ohio city’s only pro team (other than the city’s MLS soccer entity and, ahem, Ohio State football), the Blue Jackets carry a heavy burden fighting for the pride of Columbus, but have yet to crack the 30-win barrier or even to attain a winning season.

In Montreal, it’s been 12 lon-n-n-g years and counting since the Montreal Canadiens captured their 25th Cup. How in the name of Rocket Richard are the Hab Faithful supposed to put up with such annual disappointment?

It took the New York Rangers an amazing 54 years to break their Red Sox–like championship drought in 1994, which was all the more insulting when their cross-town rivals, the Islanders, racked up four Stanley Cups in their first 11 seasons after their 1972 inception. Another one of those Original Six clubs, the Rangers got off the schneid 11 years ago thanks to the mighty efforts of Mark Messier, but the Blueshirts have endured significant struggles since. Following the Bronx Bombers model, the Rangers have consistently been the league’s highest-priced team. However, their on-ice efforts haven’t reflected the massive cash influx: six straight seasons of missing the playoffs, and not even a third-place divisional finish to boast about. Let’s see what a salary cap does to alter the Rangers’ free-spending (and underachieving) ways.

Just down the pike, another perennially disappointing team returns to the ice. Philadelphia has had a long, proud hockey tradition, but despite 10 straight trips to the playoffs, the Flyers still have to go all the way back to 1975 to track down their last Cup. This season marks the 30th anniversary of that championship season (the team’s second of back-to-back titles). Five losses in the Finals since have contributed to the fan base’s impatience and surly manner. Of course, the Eagles, Sixers, and Phillies haven’t helped matters, either.

Finally, hockey-mad Toronto will also be anxious to see its beloved Maple Leafs return to the ice, despite the fact that this Original Six staple has also waited a good long time (38 seasons) to sip Champagne from the shiny goblet. Toronto’s total of 13 Cups is second only to Montreal’s 25, but the Leafs haven’t even reached the Cup Finals since their last title. For the home of the Hockey Hall of Fame, that’s absolutely mystifying.

Through it all, by the time we reach next June, the hallowed Cup itself will have resided in Tampa Bay, of all places, for two full years.

Sacré bleu, but welcome back anyway.

"Sporting Eye" runs Mondays and Fridays at BostonPhoenix.com. Christopher Young can be reached at cyoung[a]phx.com