Blueshirts back in business with high expectations

After a mind-numbing lockout that threatened to cancel the NHL season again, Rangers fans can finally get back to the business of following their beloved Blueshirts' pursuit of a Stanley Cup beginning Saturday night in Boston. Here are four issues/questions facing the Eastern Conference runners-up during the 48-game sprint to the playoffs.

"We have to be careful not to force feed. It's a big worry," Tortorella admitted before revealing that he would consult daily with his team leaders in regard to how hard they should be pushed leading up to the season's start.

"We're not sneaking up on anybody this season," Tortorella noted. "Before you can win, you need to believe you're going to win."

As always, the Rangers will be the most closely scrutinized of all the tri-state area hockey clubs. Their Stanley Cup-or-bust mentality will begin to weight heavily on them if they don't get off to a hot start.

Tortorella's goal is to get everyone on the same page and, most importantly, healthy before the NHL's "real season" begins.

The Devils went from a seemingly harmless six seed to the Stanley Cup Finals in 2011-12 behind first-year coach Pete DeBoer and future Hall of Fame netminder Martin Brodeur, who got some long-overdue revenge on their nemesis Rangers with a brilliant performance in the Eastern Conference Finals.

Losing Zach Parise to free agency and having to split time in net between the 40-year-old Brodeur and 35-year-old Johan Hedberg could be problematic during the condensed schedule. But budding young playmaker Adam Henrique, and returning stars such as $100 million forward Ilya Kovalchuk, Patrik Elias and Travis Zajac, will likely help the Devils return to the playoffs, albeit with another low seed.

Remember when the NHL played 48 games following the lockout before the 1994-95 season? The Devils wound up lifting the first of their three Stanley Cup trophies. Never underestimate this team's resilience, as evidenced by their near escape from an 0-3 series hole to Los Angeles in the Finals before succumbing in six hard-fought games.

The Islanders haven't made the playoffs since 2006-07, enduring five consecutive last-place division finishes during the miserable stretch that has ensued.

The good news is that they've found a new home in Brooklyn beginning in 2015, but that won't provide much immediate comfort for a franchise that, at Nassau Coliseum, has one of the lowest attendance figures in the league.

Budding stars John Tavares and Matt Moulson, along with the ever-steady presence of Frans Nielsen and a resurgent Kyle Okposo, could generate some excitement in Uniondale if the Isles catch fire in the early going. Enigmatic, oft-injured goaltender Rick DiPietro remains an albatross with nearly a decade remaining on one of, if not the worst, contracts in sports history at $67.5 million over 15 years.

As the Nets learned during their final few lame-duck years in East Rutherford and Newark, "Hello Brooklyn!" can't come soon enough when you're losing on a regular basis. Another high draft pick is likely awaiting the Isles in 2013.