The NHL kicks off its 100th anniversary season with a four-game slate tonight. As we head into year two of the CONNOR MCDAVID era, we'll be watching a game that's faster, hopefully safer and whose goaltenders have become too big for their britches. SB NATION's MARY CLARKE charts the stories to watch in 2016-17, and we celebrate with a new REDEF SportsSET, ICE ICE BABY: BONE-CRUNCHING HOCKEY ORAL HISTORIES... Defending STANLEY CUP MVP SIDNEY CROSBY has a concussion and, alarmingly, doesn't know where he got it... Four possible reasons NFL ratings are in a tailspin this year, per THE ATLANTIC's DEREK THOMPSON: the presidential election, cord-cutting, audience fragmentation and a dearth of charismatic superstars. A fifth, per a national survey by RASMUSSEN REPORTS: While AMERICANS have never objected to quarterbacks taking a knee on the last few plays of a game, a lot of viewers, especially white ones, say they don't want to watch players take a knee during the national anthem. Common sense leads one to assume even more people aren't going to want to watch the man who started the protest movement, COLIN KAEPERNICK, make his first start of the year for the 49ERS on SUNDAY. (Or will they not be watching because the 2016 49ERS are kind of terrible?)... The KEN BONE of sports, literally... Weird things athletes are saying: "I guess you could say I'm glad that [the WARRIORS] lost" last year's NBA finals – KEVIN DURANT, speaking of his new team. "I’d love to understand how much they love their country" – ABBY WAMBACH, suggesting a patriotism test for the US men's national soccer team. Bonus non-athlete quote: "It gives people an activity to do on dates" – BLOOMBERG's CONOR SEN, suggesting one reason cities might want to spent hundreds of millions of dollars on sports stadiums even though the economics almost never work... RIP MIKE THE TIGER VI.