The Sean Avery era begins in the athletically troubled state of Ohio Dallas at 8:30 ET/5:30 Pacific. The main storyline is the Stars' future versus a ghost of the Stars' past.

Ken Hitchcock's Blue Jackets had quite the revolving door this off-season. They lost enigmatic Russian Nik Zherdev, perpetual project Gilbert Brule (a Golbez favorite if I remember properly) and fairly-nondescript-before-free-agency Ron Hainsey. In their place, Columbus brought in Flyers playoff sensation R.J. Umberger, the flighty Kristian Huselius, overpaid ginger Mike Commodore and premiere douche Raffi Torres. The BJs look like they'll show the scoring ability of a Klan member at a "Soul Train" after-party.

For the Stars, we'll get our first glimpse of a guy who had quite the 15-minutes of Wine and Dine fame, Fabian Brunnstrom. Hopefully Brunnstrom will ease the pain caused by the departure of the Stars' interchangeable Finns.

Can the Stars justify their newly found media darling status without Sergei Zubov? Part 1 of 82 starts tonight.