Q: So what's the deal with the new uniforms, anyway?  Do the players truly like/dislike them? — Kevin from Sacramento, Calif.
A: Well, Kevin, it's safe to say the new Reebok uniforms, formally known as the Rbk EDGE Uniform System, have not been nearly as well embraced as the new lightweight stick technology advanced by a litany of manufacturers the past few years.

NHL players have proven over the last decade-plus that they are anything but slow to adopt change.  The stick industry, where wood has gone the way of the Dodo Bird, has thrived in the carbon-based featherweight era.  No one seems to wonder why goal scoring has gone down in lockstep with decreasing stick weight, but hey, who is a lowly hockey scribe to ponder such basic things as the physics and related sciences of putting a small chunk of gulvanized rubber into a 24-square-foot opening.  We'll leave that to the game's major domos.

The common lament over the new uni's is simply that the sweaters don't sweat. Specifically, they don't absorb sweat or get rid of it.  At least not quickly enough.  The new sweaters were designed, according to initial reports, to act as ''wicking'' agents.  Ideally, the sweaters would allow a player's perspirtation to escape through the sweater and then evaporate.  No more heavy, soaked sweaters to drag players down through three periods or more.

Fine idea, but according to many players, the wicking isn't fast enough, and they are left with rivulets of sweat running down arms and legs, pooling in their gloves and skate boots.  Or, as the late Gilda Radner would have said, in her Rosanne Rosanna Danna character, ''If it's not one thing, it's another.''

I fully expect the players to live with the new threads, while the good folks at Reebok, one of the very few (only?) manufacturers out there who have made a true commitment to hockey, find improved methods to take sweat ''high-speed'' through those sweaters.

Q: Will Curtis Joseph return to the NHL?  Does he even want to play again? — R.B. from Philadelphia.
A: CuJo, 40, looks as if he will have to accept the idea that he has played his final NHL game, after taking the cage 1,044 times (including post-season action).  By the way, Devils No. 1 Martin Brodeur, some five years younger,  began this season with 1,055 games played, including his 164 playoff action).

But until he formally announces his retirement — as would be announced through the players' union office in Toronto — Joseph remains available for hire.  There was chat over the summer out of Toronto — the epicenter of chat — that CuJo might sign with the Leafs, but Toronto swapped for Vesa Toskala, kept Andrew Raycroft on board, and the CuJo rumors faded to the deep background.

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Joseph, despite never winning a Cup had an outstanding, lucrative run, dating back to his workhorse days with St. Louis in the early-'90s. He suited up for 60 or more games in 10 seasons.  If it comes to an end here, he finished with a 446-341-95 record and a 2.78 goals-against mark in the regular season.  In the playoffs, he had a stingier 2.44 GAA, but was slightly under .500 (62-66) in the all-important win-loss category.
      
Q: Guess it's sink or swim with Kevin Lowe in Edmonton now that he's been given a contract extension.  You like what he's done with the franchise? — Steven from Madison, Wis.
A: The Oilers have played six seasons under Lowe, 48, since he assumed GM duties in Edmonton upon Glen Sather's move to the Rangers in the spring of 2,000. Over that span, the Oil has missed the postseason three times, as well as going to the Cup finals (loss to Carolina) in 2006.

Most folks would give that record a ''mixed bag'' review.  Loyal followers of, say, the Bruins and Blackhawks, where the struggles have been epic for far too long, likely would rate him GM of the decade.

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Overall, especially given the ownership and myriad financial issues in Edmonton, I like what Lowe has done.  Most years he has iced a competitive squad and, most important from a business aspect, kept the fan base engaged.  The latter issue, of course, is a much easier job in Canada, especially in hockey-loving Alberta, than it is in many, if not most, U.S. cities.

The biggest trick in keeping the crowd engaged in Edmonton has been dealing with the long-ago heroics of the Wayne Gretzky Oilers, and the obvious  ''hangover'' of disappointment that followed in ensuing years.  Which led, in part, to Lowe going out this past off-season and offering vastly-inflated offers to restricted free agents Tomas Vanek and Dustin Penner.

On a league-wide basis, due to the financial implications those deals will have for all 30 teams, I think Lowe's offers were ill-advised, if not irresponsible.  But the CBA allows him to play with that kind of fire, and he embraced the risk, which is something we too often say GMs in this league avoid.  I give him high marks for courage.  But I also think he vastly overpaid for Penner, perhaps by a factor of 2X, and the fallout--for the Oilers and league-wide--will not be good.     

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