SI.com's David Vecsey tackles three issues from around the league:

1	Does any goalie have any more pressure on him than Curtis  Joseph?

Curtis Joseph AP No. And judging by his track record, that's just to his liking. It all starts Thursday night for CuJo. This is it. This is where his season starts to define itself. Forget the slightly inflated numbers; forget a few soft goals here and there. When Joseph takes on his former Toronto teammates at Joe Louis Arena, it will be his first chance to show Detroit fans just who they have in net to defend the Stanley Cup in a month. Joseph mysteriously sat out when the Wings played in Toronto on Nov. 16, chalking it up to the hot play of Manny Legace at the time. Fine. All the more drama for Thursday's game. Know this about Curtis Joseph: He's been a free agent twice in his career, and he has twice chosen to accept an impossible mission. Dah-dah-dah dah-da, dah-dah-dah, dah-da. (That's the theme music to Mission Impossible … obviously.) The first time, Joseph left the cozy confines of Edmonton for the big stage and big dollars in Toronto, which also just happens to be his hometown. That's the equivalent of jamming in your garage for the neighborhood kids one night and walking into the spotlight in Madison Square Garden the next. There is no bigger pressure cooker in the league than Toronto, where they haven't won the Stanley Cup since five days after Joseph was born in 1967. Every move a Maple Leaf makes is critiqued ad naseaum in the press and in the streets, and nobody more than the goalie. Joseph was good in his four years in Toronto, but not good enough. Despite two appearances in the conference finals, there was no Cup. And that meant he had to go. So where does he take his next job? Detroit, a.k.a. Hockeytown. For the defending champs. Taking over for six-time Vezina winner Dominik Hasek. Yeah, no pressure there. So far, Detroit fans have been unusually patient with CuJo's mediocre play, this from fans that used to hit panic mode every time Chris Osgood let in a floater from the blue line. The fact that Detroit has one of the best records in the league has helped mask CuJo's play. But fans at the Joe are certain to take notice against Toronto in what could be Joseph's defining moment to date.

2	What do the returns of Joe Sakic and Steve Yzerman mean out West?

Joe Sakic Brian Bahr/Getty Images It means the season is about to start. The Western Conference teams have been sizing one another up all season, never at full strength, never really as the team they will be at the end of the season. Dallas has been consistently the best team, but Vancouver has been the dominant team for a few weeks. Marc Crawford need only to be careful that his team hasn't peaked too early. Anaheim has gotten stronger and stronger, but whether the Ducks can hang with the heavyweights in the playoffs is a big question mark. And St. Louis? The Blues have had quite a season without Chris Pronger, whom they are not getting back in the way Colorado and Detroit got these late-season lifts from their captains. I'm not sure the Blues have the legs to get through the playoffs unless they pull off a nice trade before the March 11 deadline. Sakic, obviously, brings more on-ice production than Yzerman. But Yzerman's presence in the locker room and on the bench can't be underestimated. The Wings are the champs and their captain just made an improbable comeback from major surgery to be there for them. That's going to carry a lot of weight. On the other hand, if Yzerman finds out that he can't get through the season, it would be a huge blow to the team's spirits. The last 20 games of the season give the teams a nice little runway into what should be a pretty good playoff bracket.

3	Is Phoenix going to trade Sean Burke?

Sean Burke Harry How/Getty Images/NHLI It certainly sounds like it, although the Coyotes are going to have to come down in asking price. When they asked for rookie defenseman Barret Jackman recently, St. Louis GM Larry Pleau must have thought he was on an episode of Crank Yankers. The Coyotes don't have a first-round pick in the 2003 Draft, and some reports say they should be happy if they can get one in a deal for Burke. Burke has had flashes of brilliance throughout his career, but always between long bouts of mediocrity. And then there are the injuries (he's only played 11 games this year), his age (36) and his salary (more than $4 million next season). It's going to be tough for Phoenix to get as much as it thinks it can. St. Louis remains Burke's most likely destination. Goaltending has been the Blues' weak link every year in the postseason, and nobody there believes Brent Johnson or Fred Brathwaite can carry the team to a Stanley Cup. The only other playoff-bound team that might consider a goalie change is Boston, but there's no way Harry Sinden's going to take on Burke's salary.

 

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