NHL opens season tonight; Anaheim looks to capture first Stanley Cup title amidst high expectations.

The 2006-07 NHL regular season returns to the ice tonight with three games. The defending Stanley Cup champions Carolina Hurricanes will be hosting the Buffalo Sabres, the Ottawa Senators visit the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Dallas Stars face off with the Avalanche in Colorado.

The Anaheim Ducks enter the season as a favorite to win their first Stanley Cup. After reaching the Western finals one year ago, the Ducks got busy in the off season and picked up Chris Pronger to partner with Scott Niedermayer to anchor the defensive line. Andy McDonald and Teemu Selanne return as two of the top point producers in the NHL from last year and if the sensational young goalie, Ilya Bryzgalov can reproduce his playoff magic, the Ducks could find themselves hoisting the Cup.

The team that knocked the Ducks out last season looks to repeat their miracle run once again. The Edmonton Oilers entered last year’s playoffs as the eighth seed and picked off Detroit, San Jose and finally Anaheim to reach the finals. The Oilers didn’t have a single player amongst the top thirty point scorers. They do return Ryan Smyth who put the puck in the back of the net 36 times and Ales Hemsky who added 58 assists as the Oilersright winger. Edmonton faces some questions in goal where they didn’t have a single goalie rank among the top thirty last year in wins, yet Jussi Markkanen came up big during their play off run.

For Carolina, the unexpected Stanley Cup champions, the question will be whether or not they can repeat a miracle. Rod Brind’Amour returns and brings veteran leadership to a team with a lot of veterans. John Grahame was picked up in July from Tampa to share the goaltending duties with Cam Ward.

Buffalo is coming off a year that produced 110 points and placed them in the Eastern finals. Chris Drury returns as the Sabres center and Maxim Afinogenov will be flanking him as the right wing. Much will be expected from Ryan Miller in goal who put together a great campaign last year.