Former NHL player and coach Terry Crisp shakes hands with Nashville Predators hopeful Yujiro Nakajima in Tokyo on Monday in front of the Stanley Cup.

If the Nashville Predators put on half the show that Terry Crisp did Monday afternoon, the National Hockey League has nothing to worry about.

Crisp, a former NHL player and coach who now does color commentary on Predators broadcasts, was in town to promote the Oct. 7-8 Game One Japan 2000 Opening Games that will pit upstart Nashville against the more seasoned Pittsburgh Penguins at Saitama Super Arena.

"This is my first time in Japan and I'm very excited to be here," exclaimed an enthusiastic Crisp at a news conference at a Tokyo hotel. "Everyone in Nashville is excited about this. It's just our third year in the league, but we've got a young, exciting team to watch." Crisp, who got his name on the Stanley Cup twice over an 11-year playing career with Boston, St. Louis, Philadelphia and the New York Islanders and once as coach of the Calgary Flames in 1989, even tried his hand at a little Nihongo, which seemed to leave the room stumped. He also put out a call for some good Japanese recipes to take back to Nashville with him.

"Terry needs a translator from English to English," piped up Ted Black, a club vice president and general counsel who was representing the Penguins.

After Black had run through a list of 10 international names currently on the Penguins roster -- led by superstar Jaromir Jagr and seven other players who took part in the gold-medal game at the Nagano Olympics between the Czech Republic and Russia -- Crisp smiled mockingly as he replied: "They do have eight world-class hockey players, and we're honored just to skate on the same ice surface with them."

The opening games at Saitama will mark the third time in the past four years that the NHL has sent teams to Japan for a pair of regular-season games. The Vancouver Canucks and Anaheim Mighty Ducks faced off at Yoyogi Gymnasium in 1997 with Calgary and San Jose making the trip the following season.

Crisp also took the opportunity to present Kokudo captain and defenseman Yujiro Nakajimaya with his own Predators jersey. Nakajimaya will take part in Nashville's training camp, which opens in a week, and then accompany the team to Tokyo.

It's not expected that the 29-year-old Nakajimaya -- who played high school hockey for the Notre Dame Hounds, one of the top programs in Canada -- will make the team, but if he is impressive enough at camp to be offered a contract, he already has an agent lined up. "I'll be his agent," quipped Crisp, who went on to say that Nakajimaya would be under pressure to perform in his capacity as the first home-grown Japanese player at an NHL camp. "Mr. Nakajimaya is carrying on his shoulders the Japanese Ice Hockey Federation's reputation."

Nakajimaya, who has been with the JIHL's Kokudo for 11 years now, was grateful for the opportunity to test himself against some of the best players in the world.

"I never pray to God and I didn't do anything special (to deserve this)," Nakajimaya said. "But life is sometimes like that and now I am very glad to have this chance."

With or without Nakajimaya in the lineup in October, one thing seems certain: with Terry Crisp in their corner, the Predators could make some noise this year.