The back-to-back champion Florida Panthers start their Stanley Cup three-peat bid without Matthew Tkachuk, Connor McDavid doesn’t have a contract beyond this season and nearly one-third of NHL teams have a new head coach.
Training camps open around the league this week with questions from Edmonton to South Florida, many of which will not be resolved by the time another banner is raised and the puck is dropped on opening night Oct. 7. It’s the final season at 82 games before expanding to 84, shortening camps and reducing exhibition play.
Also gone next year is mandatory fitness testing.
“Next year,” Carolina’s Seth Jarvis said. “I still got one more year.”
“Long overdue, Seattle captain Jordan Eberle quipped: “I wish that we did [away with] the fitness testing about 10 years ago.”
That’s all part of the next collective bargaining agreement, which maintains hockey’s fruitful era of labor peace until at least 2030. Without that looming over the sport, all 32 teams hit the ice for practice Thursday with dreams — however realistic — of playing all the way until June.
“We anticipate him being out until December-ish, but don’t hold me to that,” general manager Bill Zito said. “That’s my internet medical degree.”
That is plenty of time for Tkachuk to be ready to play for the U.S. at the Olympics in Milan, Italy.
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They cannot prove that to McDavid until this spring, and it’s more than likely he puts pen to paper on a new deal before that time. Until that happens, there is reason to wonder what his future might hold.
McDavid isn’t the only star without a contract. Minnesota’s Kirill Kaprizov and Vegas’ Jack Eichel are among players who could be unrestricted free agents July 1 if their situations don’t change.
Going into season 21, teammates see the same gap-toothed big kid playing the game he cherishes.
“If I didn’t know anything about hockey, I would have said ‘This guy, he just got here,”‘ Capitals centre Pierre-Luc Dubois said. “He shows up every day with a smile on his face, hungry, loves to talk hockey, do video — all those things.”
Craig Berube opened training camp Wednesday by telling reporters in Toronto he was excited not to hear about the “Core Four” anymore. Auston Matthews, John Tavares, Mitch Marner and William Nylander combined to win two playoff series in nine years together.
Marner, who ranked fifth in the league in scoring last season with 102 points, left Canada’s biggest market in a sign-and-trade to go to the Vegas Golden Knights.
“It’ll be a little weird, I think, just not seeing him in the locker room,” said forward Matthew Knies, who is taking Marner’s place as a core piece of the franchise. “Obviously, he was pretty loud-voiced, and he ran the music and he did a lot for us.”
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There were nine coaching changes during the of-season, including three-time Stanley Cup-winner Joel Quenneville returning from his NHL-imposed exile to join Anaheim. On the East Coast, Mike Sullivan replaces Peter Laviolette behind the bench for the New York Rangers.
Camp Sullivan is the start of the Rangers’ hope to get back into the playoffs.
“You only have like two weeks of training camp before your first game,” forward Will Cuylle said. “Just making you’re really dialled in and making sure we understand all the systems and stuff, so by game one we’re not dipping our foot in. We’re more ready to go.”
Members of Parliament honoured former Montreal Canadiens goaltender Ken Dryden in the House of Commons on Wednesday with tributes and a moment of silence.
Dryden also served as a member of Parliament from Toronto between 2004 and 2011 and was the minister of social development between 2004 and 2006.
Dryden died on Sept. 5, at the age of 78, after a battle with cancer.
In his remarks following the moment of silence, Prime Minister Mark Carney called Dryden a national hero and a personal idol, adding that Dryden was the reason he became a goalie.
“Ken Dryden challenged us to dream big and to be bold for our future,” Carney said. “As parliamentarians and as Canadians, let’s work towards that future with Ken’s values of hard work, of solidarity and ambition.”
The prime minister said some of his colleagues had the honour of working alongside Dryden in the House.
“Few Canadians, Mr. Speaker, have given more or stood taller for our country,” Carney said.
The Conservatives’ John Brassard, the Bloc Quebecois’ Martin Champoux, Green Party Leader Elizabeth May and the NDP’s Leah Gazan also stood to pay tribute to Dryden.
Brassard called him a “remarkable Canadian,” saying his contributions to Canada transcended sports and politics.
May said she got to know Dryden when he was the minister for social development working on child care files and said he was a man with a “keen mind and a heart for public service.”
House of Commons Speaker Francis Scarpaleggia called Dryden a gentleman.
“He was a man for all seasons who contributed to this country in so many profound ways,” he said.
“We are grateful for all the great moments he gave us.”
Members of Parliament also observed a moment of silence and paid tribute to late minister John McCallum in the House of Commons on Wednesday.
Dominic LeBlanc, the minister responsible for Canada-U.S. trade, said in his remarks that McCallum made a name for himself as a “courageous and outspoken advocate on pivotal issues that helped shape Canada into a more open, tolerant and welcoming society.”
McCallum, who also served as Canada’s ambassador in China, died in June at the age of 75.
