2-13 NHL season have been brewing for months. It's almost time to see how they develop.Will the Los Angeles Kings play like champions? How much better are the Minnesota Wild? Can Adam Oates reignite Alex Ovechkin? What will Rick Nash look like as a Ranger in Madison Square Garden? Are the Edmonton Oilers ready for prime time or is it still too soon?Also, because the season reportedly will be about 48 games in length, a new storyline has emerged about which teams will be able to get out of the gate the fastest in what will be less of a marathon and more of a sprint.Here are 13 storylines that bear watching during the next several months:NHL INSIDERUnique glimpse at historyBy Tal Pinchevsky - NHL.com Staff WriterLongtime photographer Bruce Bennett managed to save all his media credentials from almost four decades of covering hockey, allowing him to create a digital scrapbook and a unique look at history. READ MORE › Sanderson's autobiography details highs and lows Youth players raise money for Sandy relief Oilers' first-year pro Schultz a quick studyMORE NHL INSIDER STORIES ›Quick starters: Like always, we should know by mid-February which teams are positioned for a Stanley Cup Playoff run and which ones need to turn it on. The difference is the first 15-20 games take on added significance in a shortened season. How telling could this be? Consider that after 24 games last season, the Minnesota Wild were tied for first in the West and the Toronto Maple Leafs were third in the East while the Los Angeles Kings were eighth in the West and the New Jersey Devils were 10th in the East. Teams that start strong don't necessarily finish that way and vice versa, but, in a short season, slow starts have the potential to cause much greater damage to playoff hopes.Kings of the League: The Kings will get to raise their Stanley Cup banner, but quickly they'll remember they won the championship seven months ago. The time for puffing out their chests and calling themselves champs is finished -- now it's about responding to being the target. They can ask the 1995 Rangers how tough that is in a lockout-shortened season. After winning the Cup in 1994, the Rangers finished the 48-game 1994-95 season an the eighth seed in the Eastern Conference and were swept out of the second round of the playoffs by Philadelphia.Ovi under Oates: Adam Oates was hired to bring offense back to the Washington Capitals,Patrick Kane Authentic Jersey, so his No. 1 priority has to be to get Alex Ovechkin going again. Oates has said he knows the pressure is on Ovechkin to score goals, so it's his job to put Ovechkin in the best position possible to do that. It's also Ovechkin's job to finish. Ovechkin averaged 53.8 goals per season from 2005-10; he's averaged 35 goals in each of the past two seasons. Look for Oates to revamp the Capitals' power play in an effort to reignite Ovechkin.Crosby Watch: He's baaaaaaaack. Well, sort of. Sidney Crosby is healthy, which means the Pittsburgh Penguins are on track to being a Stanley Cup contender. A year ago, the hockey world was won