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“These rebuilds take time,” Yzerman said. “How much time, I can’t really predict.”
“These rebuilds take time,” Yzerman said. “How much time, I can’t really predict.”
Two weeks ahead of his NCAA debut with the Penn State Nittany Lions, Gavin McKenna is No. 1 in The Sports Network (TSN) preseason NHL draft rankings.
In three years with Medicine Hat in the Western Hockey League, McKenna was the WHL’s No. 1 draft pick, the CHL’s No. 1 rookie and the CHL’s No. 1 player.
He was a unanimous choice, collecting every first-place vote in a survey of 10 NHL scouts conducted by TSN and NHL draft prospect analyst Chris Peters.
Penn State will open the 2025-26 season against Arizona State at Mullett Arena on Oct. 3-4. They’ll face Michigan State at Munn Ice Arena on Nov. 7-8 before hosting Michigan at Pegula Ice Arena on Nov. 14-15.
The top 10
▶ 1. Gavin McKenna, LW – Penn State
▶ 2. Keaton Verhoeff, RD – North Dakota
▶ 3. Ivar Stenberg, LW – Frolunda
▶ 4. Ryan Roobroeck, LW – Niagara
▶ 5. Ethan Belchetz, LW – Windsor
▶ 6. Tynan Lawrence, C – Muskegon
▶ 7. Ryan Lin, RD – Vancouver
▶8. Viggo Bjorck, C – Djurgarden U20
▶9. Daxon Rudolph, RD – Prince Albert
▶ 10. Chase Reid, RD – Sault Ste. Marie
NHL training camps open
Connor McDavid doesn’t have a contract beyond this season, the back-to-back champion Florida Panthers start their Stanley Cup threepeat bid without Matthew Tkachuk and nearly a 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? 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.
Tkachuk out till December after surgery
Tkachuk’s injury from the immensely popular 4 Nations Face-Off in February cost him the final couple of months of last season. He returned to help the Panthers win the Cup again, then had surgery to repair a sports hernia and torn adductor muscle.
“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.
Oilers’ McDavid still unsigned
The Oilers have lost consecutive finals to Florida, keeping McDavid from hoisting the Cup for the first time. Hockey’s best player has said he wants to remain with the Oilers as long as he believed they could be a perennial contender and give him a chance to win it all.
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.
Ovechkin approaches 900 goals at age 40
Five or so months removed from breaking Wayne Gretzky’s career goals record, Alex Ovechkin reported to Washington Capitals camp Wednesday on his 40th birthday. He has 897 going into his final season under contract and what could be his last in the NHL.
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 center 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.”
Maple Leafs start life without Mitch Marner
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.”
Sullivan takes over as the Rangers’ coach
There were nine coaching changes during the offseason, 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 dialed 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.”
Avalanche have renewed focus, health
Denver – The Colorado Avalanche enter training camp in an unfamiliar state – with very little drama.
There are no concerns about the availability of forward Valeri Nichushkin or worries over the health of captain Gabriel Landeskog and whether he might be back. There’s no angst over the goaltender, too.
Sure, the first-round loss to Dallas in seven games still stings for Nathan MacKinnon & Co., but it also provides an anger and, of course, drive.
With a core built around Landeskog, MacKinnon and defenseman Cale Makar, they’re eager to build on their legacy, which includes several early postseason exits to go with one Stanley Cup title in 2022.
“This group we have, and the talent and the great pieces we have, if we only got one, it’d be tough,” MacKinnon said Wednesday on the eve of camp. “So looking to have a great season.”
That sentiment goes double for coach Jared Bednar.
“It feels like a lifetime ago, really,” he said of winning the Cup in 2022. “There’s a big sense of urgency to get there. We’ve had really good regular seasons. Our record speaks for itself, and when you’re having regular seasons like we’ve had, you want to make sure that continues into the playoffs, and it hasn’t for us in the past three seasons.”
The Avalanche didn’t make many offseason moves. The top additions were 40-year-old defenseman Brent Burns – he’s trying to hoist that elusive Cup in his 22nd NHL year – and forward Victor Olofsson.
“The mindset of everybody is so locked in and dialed right now,” Makar said. “That’s the exciting part, when you start building these bonds on the team. It will be fun.”
Last season, Colorado didn’t have Nichushkin until November after he was suspended and placed in Stage 3 of the NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance Program. He also missed games with injuries.
“The health part of it is probably the most important thing, because I feel like he’s been in a good head space for quite some time,” Bednar said. “But to have a full summer to now be able to train and get ready for the season, I expect him to have a big start. I’m excited about his year.”
Colorado also expects to have its captain back on the ice for the regular season. Landeskog made his return in Game 3 last May after sitting out three full regular seasons due to a chronically injured right knee. Before his return, his last game was on June 26, 2022, when the Avalanche beat Tampa Bay to capture the Stanley Cup.
“Really excited to just have an offseason in the bank now and going into training camp as if I’m just anybody else on the team,” Landeskog said. “I understand why there was so much talk about (the comeback), but at the same time now it’s nice to just come to work and try to play as well as I can to help the team win.”
Landeskog won’t be on any sort of minutes restriction, either, but will be checking in with the coaching staff.
“We just have to monitor that and make our decisions in the moment,” Bednar said. “If he has any soreness or anything’s going on with him, and he needs a day here and there, off for practice or even games, then we’ll do that. We’re looking at big-picture stuff here for Landy.”
Goaltending has been a question mark in years past. Not this season. Not with Mackenzie Blackwood and Scott Wedgewood in net.
Although, Blackwood is dinged up from an offseason injury, Bednar said. They’re hoping he will be ready for the start of the season, but “if not right at the start, then maybe the first week or two,” Bednar added.
Bruins start without leading scorer Pastrnak
Boston – Boston Bruins leading scorer David Pastrnak will miss the first few practices of training camp because of tendinitis, general manager Don Sweeney said Wednesday.
Pastrnak “won’t skate for the first couple of days,” Sweeney said, clarifying that the four-time All-Star will be on the ice but not practicing with the team. Sweeney did not elaborate on where the tendinitis was located but said it came up during his last training period.
“He’s still on the ice but he’ll be in full practice next week,” Sweeney said. “So, that’s the only surprise we have. Everybody else is fully up and running.”
Pastrnak led Boston with 43 goals and 63 assists last season, and his 106 points were nearly twice as many as his next most prolific teammate. He played in all 82 games for the third straight season.
But the Bruins missed the playoffs for the first time since 2016. Former Bruins player Marco Sturm was brought in to replace interim coach Joe Sacco, who filled in after Jim Montgomery was fired in November.
Sturm said at the opening of training camp on Wednesday that Pastrnak’s absence will create an opportunity for other players.
“Usually there’s always one surprise in training camp. And hopefully we have at least one or two,” Sturm said. “There will be opportunities, and that’s what I’m all excited about. I worked with all the young kids the last three years, so I want them to have success. And I’m going to do everything I can to put them in a good spot.”
Pastrnak and Charlie McAvoy were the alternates last season under captain Brad Marchand, who was dealt to the Florida Panthers at the trade deadline. The two returning alternates ran the offseason “captain’s practices,” but Sweeney said last week that the Bruins have decided not to elevate anyone to captain right away.
“Everything’s on the table right now,” Sweeney said at the Bruins Foundation golf outing. “We’ve got a leadership group that’s been meeting amongst themselves, and I think eventually somebody will emerge as the guy that should be the next captain.”
Marchand didn’t expect to stay with Panthers
Fort Lauderdale, Fla. – Brad Marchand did not expect to be back with the Florida Panthers this season.
That’s not to say he didn’t want to remain with the Stanley Cup champions – he did – but rather that he didn’t think it was mathematically possible. There was only so much cap space available to spend on free agents like him, Sam Bennett and Aaron Ekblad. At least one of the three would have to go, he figured.
He was wrong. Bennett – the Conn Smythe Award winner as MVP of the Stanley Cup playoffs – got eight years to stay with Florida. Ekblad got eight years as well, a deal that could give him 19 years with the Panthers. And Marchand – now a two-time Cup winner – got a six-year deal, one that could keep him with Florida until he’s 43.
“I honestly didn’t think there was a chance of it happening,” Marchand said Wednesday at the team’s media day, the prelude to the start of training camp on Thursday. “I did not expect to be a Panther this year if I’m being completely honest. I just didn’t think that it could work with everybody.”
The Panthers committed $144.3 million in those contracts – $8 million a year on average for Bennett, $6.1 million a year for Ekblad, $5.25 million a year for Marchand. The Panthers, who acquired Marchand at the trade deadline from Boston, had no problem giving him a long contract. Marchand didn’t reveal his other offers but said he went into the summer knowing he wasn’t going to even consider accepting a one-, two- or even three-year contract from anywhere.
“It’s part of why it didn’t work out in Boston,” Marchand said. “It’s the main reason it didn’t work out in Boston.”
But Florida comes with other perks. The team’s practice facility is a palace. The club has won the last two Stanley Cup titles and figures to contend for more championships for years to come. The weather is nothing to complain about. And Marchand confirmed that, yes, the fact Florida has no state income tax doesn’t hurt.
“If we we’re not in a no-tax state it wouldn’t work out, probably for two guys. Two guys probably would be leaving in that situation,” Marchand said. “That’s a benefit that this team has that we able to utilize and make work. I’m thrilled to be here for the next six years.”
Marchand had 10 goals and 10 assists in last season’s playoff run for the Panthers and immediately was a perfect fit when he joined the team.
“Guys are just willing to take less to come here and be part of it and have a great lifestyle,” Marchand said.
Mammoth part ways with Ingram
Sandy, Utah – Connor Ingram and the Utah Mammoth have agreed to part ways, and the veteran goaltender will not participate in training camp.
General manager Bill Armstrong said Ingram will be placed on waivers, clearing the way for him to sign with another team before the regular season starts in October. Ingram did not report for the opening day of training camp on Wednesday at Utah’s new practice facility in Sandy.
“We had a mutual agreement where we said, ‘Hey, listen, we have our goaltenders,’” Armstrong said. “It’s probably best for him not to come to camp and put himself in a (tough) situation.”
Ingram began last season as Utah’s top goaltender. He went 9-8-4 with a 3.27 goals-against average and an .882 save percentage in 22 games. He was hampered by injuries before entering the NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance Program on March 9 following his mother’s death from breast cancer.
Ingram, 28, had a previous stint in the player assistance program in 2021 for treatment of depression and obsessive-compulsive disorder.
“We’re excited for him and his path to recovery, that’s the biggest thing,” Armstrong said. “He will either get a chance to play for another NHL team or he will go to the American Hockey League and resume his play. But at the end of the day he will be playing and that’s what we’re so excited for.”
Although Ingram was cleared to play again on Aug. 20, Utah had already decided to move on. The Mammoth signed Karel Vejmelka to a contract extension in March and then added veteran goaltender Vitek Vanecek on a one-year deal in July.
Vejmelka posted a 26-22-8 record for Utah last season while starting 55 of 58 games. He had a 2.58 GAA and a .904 save percentage, setting a career high in wins, save percentage and goals-against average.
“He showed us he can win games,” Utah coach André Tourigny said. “He can show up for us some nights when we struggle (offensively) and win the game for us. He showed us again he can bounce back. He showed he can be consistent. So he proved a lot to himself and to everybody last year.”
Vejmelka started every game except one over the final two months of the regular season. He believes the extended ice time has prepared him well for a larger role this season.
“I feel comfortable game by game and I just feel more comfortable in every moment,” Vejmelka said.
Vanecek gives Utah another experienced option at goaltender. He has a 96-56-21 record, 2.83 GAA, .902 save percentage and 10 shutouts in 188 career NHL appearances with Florida, San Jose, New Jersey, and Washington over the past five seasons.
Sabres goalie Luukkonen listed day to day
Buffalo, N.Y. – Buffalo Sabres general manager Kevyn Adams listed Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen as day to day on Wednesday in announcing the starting goalie will miss the opening of training camp because of a lower-body injury.
Adams did not reveal the exact nature of the injury except to say Luukkonen began experiencing pain and having difficulty pushing off on his pads in preparing for camp, which opens Thursday. He said medical tests came back clean and there’s been no discussion of the sixth-year player requiring surgery.
In other injury news, Adams said hard-hitting forward Jordan Greenway will likely miss all of training camp after requiring a second operation to repair a mid-body core injury that led to him missing the final three weeks of last season. Forward Alex Tuch was listed as day to day with an undisclosed injury, which Adams termed as minor.
Despite Luukkonen’s positive prognosis, Adams acknowledged the team’s decision to sign veteran free agent goalie Alexandar Georgiev to a one-year, $825,000 contract last week was made as a precaution to provide Buffalo experienced depth. The 29-year-old Georgiev, who split last season between Colorado and San Jose, will compete for the backup job with offseason free agent addition Alex Lyon.
As for highly touted prospect Devon Levi, Adams said the 23-year-old will likely continue developing in the minors for a second full year.
Luukkonen remains the team’s projected starter, though coming off an inconsistent season a year after signing a five-year contract extension. He finished 24-24-5 during a season in which the Sabres finished 14th in the Eastern Conference standings and extended their NHL-record playoff drought to 14 seasons.
Blackhawks’ Kaiser signs two-year contract
Chicago – Wyatt Kaiser has agreed to a $3.4 million, two-year contract with the Chicago Blackhawks that clears the way for the defenseman to practice with the team at the start of training camp.
The Blackhawks announced the deal with the restricted free agent on Wednesday night. The team takes the ice for practice for the first time on Thursday.
The 23-year-old Kaiser set career highs with four goals, 93 blocked shots and 54 hits in 57 games last season. He also had four assists.
Kaiser was selected by Chicago in the third round of the 2020 draft. He made his NHL debut with the Blackhawks in March 2023.
The Minnesota native scored his first career goal on Jan. 5 against the New York Rangers. He has four goals and 14 assists in 98 career games.
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