The Trucks That Deliver Outdoor Hockey The N.H.L."s new custom-made Ice Truck will arrive Thursday in Ann Arbor to begin the official takeover of Michigan Stadium for the Jan. 1 Winter Classic. The Detroit Red Wings and the Toronto Maple Leafs are expected to play that game before 105,000 fans, the largest crowd at a hockey game. Right after the Winter Classic, the new truck, a 53-foot, 300-ton vehicle designed and built to pump coolant through piping under the ice in outdoor settings, will head for California while the league's original Ice Truck drives to New York from Toronto. This season features six outdoor games for the first time. The Stadium Series starts with the Los Angeles Kings facing the Anaheim Ducks at Dodger Stadium on Jan. 25; continues with two Rangers games at Yankee Stadium, against the Devils on Jan. 26 and against the Islanders on Jan. 29; and concludes with the Pittsburgh Penguins-facing the host Chicago Blackhawks at Soldier Field on March 1. The final outdoor game on March 2 pits the host Vancouver Canucks and the Ottawa Senators in the Heritage Classic at B.C. Place. Dan Craig, the senior director for facility operations, oversees icemaking throughout the N.H.L. "When they ask you to be in a certain place, you jump on a plane and go," he said over the phone Thursday from Los Angeles International Airport. A three-man group, including Craig's son, Mike, will lead the Yankee Stadium ice effort, and Craig will focus his attention on the warm-weather challenge in Southern California. Much of the Dodger Stadium work will be done at night, when the temperature dips into the 40s. Most harmful to making ice is direct sunlight, Craig said, even in the subfreezing temperatures of Alberta, his home province, where he made backyard ice for Mike as a child and, more recently, for the outdoor N.H.L. games at Edmonton and at Calgary. So at Dodger Stadium, the developing ice sheet will be covered by day with 20 reflective, insulated blankets. "Right now, it looks to us that the field is completely shaded in by 3:30," Craig said. We'll leave the tarp on for about another hour, hour and a half, and pull it off and we'll be ready to go to work. Craig will shuttle between the coasts while the ice is being made, and then attend each game to monitor weather conditions and make adjustments. "Going to L.A. is going to be a different experience," he added. "Going to New York is going to hopefully be similar to what we experienced in Boston" at the 2011 Winter Classic. In March, he will split time between Illinois and Canada. "We're ready to rock "n" roll," he said. TV Money From Up North Although Rangers General Manager Glen Sather denied any connection, it seemed the league's Canadian television rights deal might be related to his team's long-term contract extension for goalie Henrik Lundqvist. On Nov. 26, Rogers Communications signed a 12-year, $4.9 billion deal for the N.H.L."s Canadian television rights, worth millions annually in extra revenue for each league club. Then Sather signed Lundqvist to a seven-year, $59.5 million extension, a high price given that Sather has Ryan Callahan, Dan Girardi and perhaps two other important free agents to sign. At the Lundqvist news conference Wednesday, Sather indicated that he was not particularly worried about staying beneath the salary cap. That is where the TV money comes in. The Rogers revenue will flow next season, when the N.H.L. salary cap approaches $70 million, up from this season's $64.3 million. For 2015-16, the extra money produced by the rights deal enters the cap-setting formula. It could raise the salary ceiling to $80 million or higher by 2016-17, according to some projections. But with a rising salary cap also comes a rising salary floor, and low-revenue teams might struggle to reach the minimum figure mandated by the collective bargaining agreement. This season the floor is $44 million; by 2016-17, it could be $60 million. Jim Rutherford, the general manager of the Carolina Hurricanes, dismissed such concerns. "The Rogers deal is a good deal for everybody," he said. It's good for the players - the revenue goes toward their share and toward a higher cap - and it's good for the teams, because each team is going to receive more cash. But if you just look at a lower-revenue team, it gives us, our business model, a better chance to work. Rutherford added, "I think it is very clear with Lundqvist that there's going to be more revenue, and the cap is going to go up." Not only the rich teams will be spending under the higher cap. "A rising tide raises all boats," Rutherford said. The Next Crosby? Connor McDavid, a 16-year-old sometimes hailed as the next Sidney Crosby, was named last week to Canada's preliminary roster for the world junior tournament, which begins Dec. 26 in Malmo, Sweden. McDavid entered the weekend fifth in the Ontario Hockey League with 47 points in 29 games for the Erie Otters. If McDavid makes the cut, he will join Crosby, Wayne Gretzky, Eric Lindros, Jason Spezza and Jay Bouwmeester as the only 16-year-olds to play for Canada at the tournament.