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• Vote: Five big questions on Sidney Crosby vs. Alex Ovechkin
• Make picks: Award winners| Division, conference and Stanley Cup | Power Rankings
• Chat wraps: E.J. Hradek| ESPN Chicago on Blackhawks | Pierre LeBrun

The NHL regular season kicks off tonight, but we have to wait until Jan. 21 to get our first showdown between Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin (in either a brilliant marketing stroke that will build anticipation to untold levels or the worst bit of scheduling this side of the Emmys). By a 71-29 percent margin, SportsNation feels the league would be better served by Ovechkin evening the championship score than by Crosby winning his second title. Regardless, the individual duel will rage on.

SportsNation blogger NYandMU likes Ovechkin and the Capitals to win the Eastern Conference, but the highest individual honors go to someone else entirely.

• No. 4 Pittsburgh Penguins: Here is the thing with the Penguins, they did win the Cup last year, but they are not at their elite level in the regular season. They should be in the fight for the division until the end, but they might lose out to Philly (probably winning the regular season series of course). Not much analysis is needed on them, but Malkin is the best player in the NHL, sorry Sid. -- Read the full post.

“

The Penguins are gonna run the East for a long long time considering the best two players in the world (Crosby and Malkin) are 22 and 23 respectively. Not to mention Staal is the youngest at 21. In the four/five years they have been in the league they have won 2 Prince of Whales trophies, 2 Hart Trophies (even though Malkin has been nominated the last three years but somehow loses to Ovechkin), a Conn Smythe, Rookie of the year X2, X2 Art Ross trophies, and a little thing called the Stanley Cup.

” -- SteelMafia43

“

the only thing alexander ovechkin is good for.....fantasy hockey

” -- pitthaus

• Vote: Pick the Hart, Vezina, Norris, Calder and Jack Adams winners.
• Vote: Pick the division, conference and Stanley Cup winners.
• Your Power Rankings: Do the Penguins open the season No. 1?

Believe it or not, the start of the NHL regular season is just about a week away. No, seriously, we're not kidding. We know the leaves haven't turned and summer doesn't actually end until today, but what the heck, it's been, what, at least three or four weeks since the Penguins won the Stanley Cup, right?

Then again, maybe that short offseason helps keep the NHL fresh in SportsNation's mind. A year ago, voters correctly predicted the Red Wings to win the Western Conference and made the Penguins their second choice, behind the Red Wings, to win it all.

Blackhawks star Patrick Kane and ESPN.com writer Scott Burnside stopped by chat Monday to help SportsNation get its ice legs before jetting off to Europe (Burnside to Stockholm for the Red Wings and Blues and Kane to Helsinki for the Blackhawks and Panthers).

Jason (Ellicott City, MD)

You are only rated an 86 in NHL. What is up with that?

Patrick Kane

I think an 86 is pretty good to be honest with you. I think the highest are Crosby and 94 and Ovechkin at 92. I thought I'd be better than Teows, but I am still on the cover. I got him by that. Full transcript

AJ (Champaign, Ill.)

How do the Blackhawks avoid a lull in their performance after they return from Finland?

Scott Burnside

AJ; Good question. The European experiment has been decidedly mixed in terms of how it affects teams. All four coaches who went last year got fired although the Pens did end up winning a Cup. I think the 'Hawks' youth and the nice steady hand of head coach Joel Quenneville will keep them from going off the rails when they get back from Finland. Full transcript

Earlier this week, Tony Kornheiser joked on "PTI" that Sidney Crosby ought to pull up to Alex Ovechkin's house and honk away until his rival came out to admire the Stanley Cup. The only problem is Ovechkin could now answer the door with his arms full of Hart Trophies.

A week after the Penguins stunned the Red Wings in Detroit, NHL luminaries gathered in Las Vegas (Las Vegas?) to hand out the season's other hardware. Winners included Columbus goalie Steve Mason as top rookie, Boston's Zdeno Chara as biggest human on skates (and best defenseman) and fellow Beantown resident Tim Thomas as top goalie.

They also included Ovechkin, who became the first player since Dominik Hasek more than a decade ago to win the Hart Trophy in back-to-back years as the league's MVP. And in SportsNation's eyes, winning the top individual honor twice by the age of 23 is more impressive than captaining the Stanley Cup champions at 21.

• Then again, SportsNation would have handed the Hart to Evgeni Malkin.