Plenty of questions from Boston, to Utah, to Colorado with NHL camps set to open
Sidney Crosby and Leon Draisaitl have their contract extensions, Paul Maurice and the Florida Panthers have the Stanley Cup and a brief but busy summer of moving and shaking is over.
Now, back to hockey.
Less than 90 days since the Panthers beat the Edmonton Oilers in Game 7 of a thrilling final, training camps open around the league this week with plenty of questions before the puck drops next month on another season.
Boston goaltender Jeremy Swayman is the most prominent player left unsigned, camp in Columbus goes on in sorrow after the tragic death of Johnny Gaudreau and players and staff in Utah get a fresh start after the Coyotes relocated from Arizona to Salt Lake City. Colorado captain Gabriel Landeskog may be back, Washington winger T.J. Oshie may be gone and it’s anyone’s guess who will lift the Cup in June.
Sway Day?
The Bruins traded 2023 Vezina Trophy-winning goalie Linus Ullmark to Ottawa, content to give the starting job to Swayman. One problem? He’s a restricted free agent without a contract for the season.
“Those things just kind of sort themselves out as they do,” said teammate Brandon Carlo, who pointed to his own late arrival and that of fellow defenceman Charlie McAvoy in recent years as reasons not to be worried. “We have a lot of faith within our organization, in our management, to get the right deal done.”
Swayman, who turns 26 in late November, ranked fifth in the NHL with a .916 save percentage and eighth with a 2.53 goals-against average last season. He was being paid a team-friendly $3.475 million US on a one-year contract and will get a raise, but how much and for how long?
“It’s obviously a balance of going back and forth,” Carlo said. “But I’ve had some conversations with Sway. He seems pretty encouraged and in a good mindset with it all, so as long as he’s feeling OK mentally, that’s all we really care about.”
Among the other unsigned players are Detroit’s Moritz Seider two years removed from being rookie of the year, Dallas defenceman Thomas Harley and New Jersey forward Dawson Mercer. The Red Wings signed Lucas Raymond to a eight-year, $64-million contract Monday.
Mourning Gaudreau
The Blue Jackets are getting back on the ice mere weeks after Johnny Gaudreau and younger brother Matthew died when they were struck by a driver of an SUV while riding bicycles on the eve of their sister’s wedding. A candlelight vigil was held outside the arena in Columbus, players and team employees attended the tearful funeral and playing hockey was the furthest thing from anyone’s mind.
Captain Boone Jenner and general manager Don Waddell hope the rink will serve as a refuge of sorts.
“We both agreed the quicker we can get guys back in the room together, the better it would be for everybody,” Waddell said. “We all mourn and heal differently, but I think as a team, being together like that is going to be critical for them to get moving forward.”
This is the team’s second camp in recent years that follows the off-season death of a player. Goaltender Matiss Kivlenieks died in July 2021 of chest trauma from an errant fireworks mortar blast at the wedding of an assistant coach’s daughter.
New in Utah
This will be the 45th training camp for the organization that was once the original Winnipeg Jets, then the Phoenix Coyotes and until earlier this year the Arizona Coyotes. It’s the first and only season as the Utah Hockey Club after a move from the desert to Salt Lake City.
Ryan and Ashley Smith’s Smith Entertainment Group now owns the team, keeping the same hockey operations staff, coaches, players and prospects but starting over with a clean slate in the record books like an expansion franchise.
“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to play with a new organization,” said Josh Doan, who’s now with Utah after making his NHL debut with the team dad Shane captained for much of his career. “But to do it with all the guys you’ve been with and the people that you’re close with already is something that’s fun to do.”
Utah, which is expected to get permanent name and logo after the season, plays its first game Oct. 8 against Chicago at the downtown Delta Center, the home of the NBA’s Jazz.
Tryout time
Six-time 30-goal scorer Max Pacioretty is the biggest player attending camp on a professional tryout agreement. Pacioretty is in Toronto, and agent Allan Walsh has said he expects the 35-year-old winger to sign a contract prior to the start of the season.
Others with the opportunity to earn a deal include Travis Dermott with defending Western Conference champion Edmonton; fellow defenceman Tyson Barrie with Calgary; 2020 and ’21 Cup winner Tyler Johnson with Boston; and respected veteran forward Pierre-Edouard Bellemare with Colorado. Longtime New York Islanders enforcer Matt Martin is also back, hoping to stick around and get another contract.
Coming and going
Landeskog’s next game will be his first in the NHL since lifting the Stanley Cup over his head when the Avalanche defeated the Lightning in Game 6 of the final in 2022. A nagging right knee injury and subsequent cartilage replacement surgery to attempt to fix the problem have cost the Swedish forward the past two seasons.
“Seeing him around the rink, obviously being more active on the ice, seeing the progressions he’s made from when we were here for playoffs previously, it’s awesome to see,” forward Logan O’Connor said.
Oshie has played through chronic back problems for years and said after Washington lost in the first round of the playoffs he would only return if he and doctors could come up with a solution that keeps him in the lineup.
The Capitals seem to have prepared for life without Oshie, but it is not clear if the 37-year-old who was part of their 2018 Cup run intends to try to keep playing.
