{"id":925769,"date":"2026-10-08T21:48:12","date_gmt":"2026-10-08T21:48:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/925769\/"},"modified":"2026-10-08T21:48:12","modified_gmt":"2026-10-08T21:48:12","slug":"shorter-nhl-training-camps-have-minimal-impact-on-early-season-hockey-but-its-still-sloppy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/925769\/","title":{"rendered":"Shorter NHL training camps have minimal impact on early-season hockey, but it\u2019s still sloppy"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Anaheim Ducks centre Leo Carlsson (91) and right wing Beckett Sennecke (45) celebrate after Sennecke scored against the Vegas Golden Knights during their game this past Friday in Las Vegas.John Locher\/The Associated Press<\/p>\n

The first three days of the earliest leaguewide start in NHL history delivered scores straight out of the 1980s.<\/p>\n

Edmonton and Vancouver played 6-5 and 9-7 games. Pittsburgh routed Philadelphia 7-0. Colorado beat Los Angeles 8-4.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of goals being scored, which tells you that there\u2019s some loose hockey still being played,\u201d New York Islanders coach Peter DeBoer said Thursday.<\/p>\n

The hockey has been sloppy and goaltenders are stopping the puck less than last season. But with the first 100 or so games in the books following shorter training camps and less exhibition action, there\u2019s little evidence to suggest that it has drastically altered the play on the ice compared to previous starts that come with gaps in fundamentals and the occasional blowout.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s been like that for the last 100 years, so I was not expecting this year to be any different,\u201d Utah coach Andre Tourigny said.<\/p>\n

What the numbers say about the first week-plus<\/p>\n

The first 110 games have featured 344 goals \u2013 led by Oilers defenceman Evan Bouchard with six. Rangers goaltender Igor Shesterkin even has one from scoring into an empty net.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s an average of 6.26, up a tick from the 6.1 over the first 112 games a year ago. Power plays are clicking at a 20.9 per cent success rate, compared to 19.8 per cent, led by Tourigny\u2019s Mammoth at 61.5 per cent.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe less time to practise special teams,\u201d said Utah\u2019s Dylan Guenther, who leads the league with six power play points. \u201cWe had a pretty big emphasis on that in camp because we did a lot of special teams, so it\u2019s good that a little bit of that is paying off.\u201d<\/p>\n

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Vancouver Canucks defenceman Tom Willander (5) and goalie Kevin Lankinen (32) react as Edmonton Oilers forward Leon Draisaitl (29) and forward Vasily Podkolzin (92) celebrate a goal scored by defenceman Evan Bouchard (2) in the first period at Rogers Arena.Bob Frid\/Reuters<\/p>\n

The average save percentage so far is .890. Netminders combining for an .896 last season was the lowest in the NHL since 1994, and it\u2019s not getting any easier for hockey\u2019s masked men.<\/p>\n

There are a similar amount of giveaways, more than 16 a game, and plenty of odd-man rushes to be found.<\/p>\n

\u201cTeams can score, like there\u2019s so much skill,\u201d New Jersey defenceman Brenden Dillon said. \u201cTeams have so much skill, so on the defensive side, all it takes is one stick being in the wrong spot or one guy being out of position and teams are going to make you pay.\u201d<\/p>\n

What changes from a shorter camp<\/p>\n

It is an annual debate every fall how to get the most out of camp, Devils coach Sheldon Keefe said, which leads to plenty of teaching early in the regular season.<\/p>\n

\u201cDo we roll out everything and then introduce it, but then you don\u2019t get good at anything?\u201d Keefe said. \u201cOr do you just roll out a few things at a time and try to really grasp onto that and then you build out from there? You have to do that even more so in the shortened camp. You\u2019ve got to kind of prioritize a few key areas you focus on, and then you just keep kind of building it out as you go.\u201d<\/p>\n

Player fitness is not a concern in this day and age when summer skates are commonplace. It may take several more weeks to determine if fewer preseason games contributed to any sort of increase in injuries.<\/p>\n

More games are slipping away from teams with big deficits, though. There have been 22 decided by three or more goals, a little more than usual.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody\u2019s pretty sharp pretty early,\u201d Islanders captain Bo Horvat said. \u201cYou get the odd game here and there where it gets a little sloppy. But I think obviously play will pick up, and things will get a little bit crispier as the season goes on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Teammate Kyle Palmieri said the Islanders discussed taking advantage of some of the sloppiness around the league, hoping that being more disciplined in the fall can pay dividends. Dillon understands coaches probably would have liked another week or two to iron some things out, but there isn\u2019t much clamouring to go back to the old ways.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s nice having a shorter camp,\u201d Guenther said. \u201cI\u2019m not going to complain about that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Good thing, then, because this is the NHL\u2019s new normal. As part of that, everyone seems to acknowledge this is how early-season fall hockey goes \u2013 a long way from playoff races in the spring and the lockdown, tight-checking intensity chasing the Stanley Cup.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think there\u2019s a lot of clean up to do from everybody,\u201d Tourigny said. \u201cAt this point, I don\u2019t think there\u2019s any team who\u2019s perfectly perfect on anything.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Anaheim Ducks centre Leo Carlsson (91) and right wing Beckett Sennecke (45) celebrate…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":925770,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[433],"tags":[901,888,902,879,877,903,49,48,876,895,896,891,878,875,46,549,295,894,887,914,880,881,893,889,890,884,904,885,909,910,448,912,907,911,905,908,882,898,899,714,897,906,82,865,61,900,892,886,883,913],"class_list":["post-925769","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-alberta","tag-arts-news","tag-bc","tag-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news-video","tag-british-columbia","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canada-news","tag-canada-sports","tag-canada-sports-news","tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","tag-canadian-breaking-news","tag-canadian-news","tag-economy","tag-education","tag-environment","tag-federal-government","tag-foreign-news","tag-globe-and-mail","tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","tag-government","tag-life-news","tag-lifestyle","tag-local-news","tag-manitoba","tag-national-news","tag-new-brunswick","tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","tag-nhl","tag-northwest-territories","tag-nova-scotia","tag-nunavut","tag-ontario","tag-pei","tag-photos","tag-political-news","tag-political-opinion","tag-politics","tag-politics-news","tag-quebec","tag-sports","tag-sports-news","tag-technology","tag-travel","tag-trudeau","tag-us-news","tag-world-news","tag-yukon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/925769","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=925769"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/925769\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/925770"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=925769"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=925769"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=925769"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}