Players around the NHL step on the ice Thursday, right around the same time of year training camps usually open up. Only this time, opening night is less than two weeks away.
“It's quick,” Philadelphia's Jamie Drysdale said. “It’s going to be really fast.”
This is the new normal with the expanded regular-season schedule making for shorter camps and fewer exhibition games. Each team will play 84 times once the pucks drop for real, but the ramp up to
the league's earliest start has even seasoned veterans unsure how it is going to go.
“Until we go through it, it’s hard to say,” said Pittsburgh captain and three-time Stanley Cup champion Sidney Crosby, who's going into his 22nd NHL season. “I don’t know how it’ll be."
Most established players are in favor of the change, negotiated by the union and owners as part of the labor agreement that is now in effect. Nearly every team has just four preseason games, and anyone who has played more than 100 regular-season career games cannot take part in more than two.
“I like it even better, probably,” Boston winger David Pastrnak said. “I’m maybe speaking (from) more of a veteran position, so it’s definitely better for us. ... With more games, it makes sense to cut it down a little bit.”
Cut out entirely are mandatory fitness tests that have haunted players for decades. They think the whole concept is antiquated, given that August informal skates have become customary and camp isn't used for getting into shape anymore.
“If you’re not coming into camp ready to go, in good shape, ready to dominate those tests, then really what are you doing?” Chicago's Frank Nazar said. “You’re responsible for your own summer and for your own body, and if you’re not coming ready to go, then someone’s going to take your spot and for a good reason. I think it just cuts that babysitting aspect of it out and you’re able to just take responsibility for your actions.”
It may be slightly worse for the five teams — Vegas, Los Angeles, Toronto, Edmonton and Vancouver — with a brand-new coach. Others, like Columbus and the New York Islanders, made mid- or late-season moves behind the bench.
“It’s a double-edged sword,” Golden Knights center Jack Eichel said. “You have a team like ours that played until the middle of June and had a shorter offseason, so it might not be a bad thing. At the same time, we have a veteran team and sometimes you utilize training camp as a few extra weeks to prepare for the season.”
Most 23-player rosters are pretty much set, but there are a handful of spots around the league up for grabs annually. Young players looking to crack the NHL unexpectedly and those on professional tryout agreements have a shorter runway to impress management and coaching staffs.
“How we adapted was a smaller camp, and we’re getting to our NHL group quicker,” Islanders coach Peter DeBoer said. “Unfortunately, the flip side of that is some prospects that in the past might have played some games and you got the chance to look at maybe don’t get that opportunity.”
Three-time Vezina Trophy-winning goaltender Connor Hellebuyck in Winnipeg and Detroit center — and now former captain — Dylan Larkin each asked for trades during the offseason. Unlike Brady Tkachuk, who got dealt from Ottawa to Florida to play with brother Matthew, Hellebuyck and Larkin are still with the teams they want to leave.
Hellebuyck went public with his trade request a few weeks ago, and the Jets said they were working through the situation. No player with a contract has refused to report to camp this century, dating to Alexei Yashin's 1999 holdout, and while Larkin said he'll be there for the Red Wings, it's unclear what Hellebuyck will do.
“He’s obviously a very good friend of mine that I’ve played with for a long time,” center Mark Scheifele said. “I just want to be there as a friend but also at the same time focus on myself and what I can do for the Winnipeg Jets.”
After Anaheim signed Cutter Gauthier on Tuesday night, there were just four restricted free agents left without a contract on the eve of camp: Columbus' Adam Fantilli, Carolina's Alexander Nikishin, Detroit's Simon Edvinsson and Calgary's Brennan Othmann.
Last season's NHL MVP, Nikita Kucherov, does not yet have an extension with Tampa Bay and could hit the market July 1 if one is not hammered out by then. Colorado coach Jared Bednar is also going into the final year of his contract, four years since guiding the Avalanche to the Stanley Cup.
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