Keep updated on all the injury news and roster updates from around the NHL with daily Ice Chips.
Toronto Maple Leafs
First-overall pick Gavin McKenna opened Maple Leafs camp on a line with John Tavares and William Nylander.
Newly-added winger Jack Roslovic was on the team’s top line with Auston Matthews and Matthew Knies.
Easton Cowan opened the first skate of his sophomore season on a third line with Nick Paul and Colton Sissons. Dakota Joshua, Teddy Blueger and Brandon Duhaime made up the fourth line with Steven Lorentz skating as an extra.
Morgan Rielly remained off the ice on defence as he continues to deal with a viral illness. Oliver Ekman-Larsson paired with Darren Raddysh on defence, while Jake McCabe and Chris Tanev were reunited and Emil Andrae skated with Ben Danford. Nick Blankenburg, who is on a PTO, skated with Troy Stetcher in the extra pairing with the main group.
Montreal Canadiens
Newly added winger Chris Kreider was on the top line with Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield as the Montreal Canadiens held their first skate of training camp on Thursday.
Kreider joined the Canadiens over the weekend after mutually terminating his contract with the Anaheim Ducks, which had one season left. He inked a one-year deal with Montreal with with $2.15 million guaranteed and another $3.25 million available in potential bonuses.
The 35-year-old played 75 games last season with the Ducks, scoring 22 goals and 50 points in his only season with the club, adding two goals and seven points in 12 playoff games.
Juraj Slafkovsky skated with Oliver Kapanen and Ivan Demidov on an apparent second line for Montreal.
Winnipeg Jets
Mark Scheifele, Kyle Connor and Cole Perfetti skated on the top line of Group A at the first day of Winnipeg Jets camp.
The top defensive pairing was Josh Morrissey and Dylan DeMelo.
Meanwhile, the top goaltender was Stuart Skinner, with 23-year-old Thomas Milic his backup. The Jets are without Connor Hellebuyck, who formally requested a trade on Aug. 27 and was subsequently suspended by the team for failing for report to camp on Wednesday.
Jets general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff spoke to reporters on Thursday and confirmed that the team is going to continue to seek a trade for their disgruntled goaltender. He also told reporters that Hellebuyck requested the trade in his exit meeting with the team at the end of the season, but asked for team management to keep the request quiet at the time.
Cole Koepke, Noah Gregor and Vladislav Namestnikov formed the second line for Winnipeg, while Danil Zhilkin centered the third line alongside Nikita Chibrikov and Parker Ford for a youthful look on the third line.
Colby Barlow, Jacob Julien and Davis Burnside skated on the fourth line in the session.
Top draft pick Viggo Bjorck skated alongside Isak Rosen and Gabriel Vilardi in his first practice with the team. The Jets selected Bjorck with the eighth-overall pick in the draft.
Edmonton Oilers
Superstars Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl skated on the same line together in the first practice for the Edmonton Oilers, alongside Vasily Podkolzin.
The session marked the first practice for the team under new head coach Mike Babcock.
Throughout their illustrious careers, Draisaitl and McDavid have alternated skating together and skating on separate lines as different Oilers coaches have tried to figure out how best to use the two impressive playmakers.
Draisaitl notched 35 goals and 97 points in 65 games last season, while McDavid scored 48 goals with a league-leading 138 points in 82 games.
Ottawa Senators
It appears Andre Burakovsky will also get the chance to open his time with a new team on the top line.
Acquired from the Chicago Blackhawks this summer, Burakovsky skated with Tim Stutzle and Drake Batherson as the Senators opened their training camp.
The 31-year-old winger posted 11 goals and 33 points in 75 games in Chicago last season, his first with the club.
On defence, Jake Sanderson paired with Carter Yakemchuk as Artem Zub remains sidelined for the next week or so.
After the session, Sens head coach Travis Green spoke on some of what he saw, saying “I thought [Claude Giroux] looked great today. Looked like he was 25 again.”
Giroux scored 14 goals and totalled 49 points in 82 games last season with the Senators, his fourth in Ottawa.
Vancouver Canucks
The top line for the Group A squad in the Vancouver Canucks’ opening practice was comprised of Jake Debrusk, Elias Pettersson and Linus Karlsson, while the top defensive pairing in that squad was Jamie Oleksiak with Filip Hronek.
The top defensive pairing in the Group B squad was the youthful pairing of Zeev Buium alongside Tom Willander.
Buium was perhaps the boon of the deal struck with the Wild during the 2025-26 season that sent superstar defenceman Quinn Hughes to Minnesota. The Canucks committed to Buium with an eight-year contract worth $75.04 million earlier in September.
Adam Novotny, the 24th-overall pick in this summer’s draft, skated on the right wing of the third line on Group A.
Minnesota Wild
The Minnesota Wild skated Blake Coleman, Joel Eriksson Ek and Matt Boldy on the top line in their Group A session on Thursday.
Quinn Hughes and Brock Faber skated as the top defensive pairing in the session, according to The Athletic’s Michael Russo.
A potential contract extension for Hughes has been one of the top storylines of the off-season for the Wild.
The superstar who won the Norris Trophy in 2023-24 with the Vancouver Canucks is slated to become a free agent next summer. While Wild general manager Bill Guerin has been working hard to sign Hughes long term, Hughes told reporters that he is comfortable taking his time.
“I don’t feel backed up against a wall,” Hughes said last week. “I’m very thoughtful. I want to make sure I’m taking my time on everything and make sure I’m making a decision that is going to be good for everyone. That’s kind of where my head has been at.”
The Wild paid a significant price to acquire Hughes during the 2025-26 season, sending top prospects Zeev Buium, Liam Ohgren and Marco Rossi along with a first-round draft pick to Vancouver for Hughes.
Detroit Red Wings
Alex DeBrincat, Andrew Copp and Lucas Raymond skated on the top line of Group A in the Detroit Red Wings’ opening practice session, while the top line in Group B featured Emmitt Finnie, Marco Kasper and Viktor Arvidsson.
The biggest story of the off-season in Detroit was the continued hold out of former captain Dylan Larkin, who requested a trade in June and has not relented in his desire to be moved out of Detroit since. He was stripped of his captaincy due to the ongoing situation, and the team has not named a replacement.
Larkin said he is “trying to be professional about it,” when speaking to reporters on Thursday, and that he did not skate in the opening practice because of an upper-body injury suffered while working out.
He declined to say whether he would rescind his trade request or if a reconciliation is possible, and went on to say that he is prepared to play for now.
Carolina Hurricanes
The Carolina Hurricanes opened camp coming off a Stanley Cup title with one noteworthy name not in attendance – restricted free agent Alexander Nikishin.
Nikishin is still without a contract as the situation is threatening to spill into the regular season.
“I don’t really know at this point,” Hurricanes general manager Eric Tulsky said when asked where he thought things would land with the Russian defenceman, according to a piece by TSN Hockey Insider Pierre LeBrun for The Athletic. “We’re working to find a resolution, and all I can say is that today he’s not under contract. We’re playing it day by day.”
Per LeBrun, there remains a possibility that Nikishin will return to his homeland Russia and play in the KHL, while a trade is also being weighed as an option. Tulsky elected to keep their conversations private, as a show of respect to the young defender.
More to come.