Five Storylines as NHL Training Camps fully open ahead of 2020-21

Here’s five storylines to keep an eye on as NHL Training Camps open.

NHL hockey is well and truly back with Training Camps opening across the league today with the 2020-21 season getting underway next week on Jan. 13, 2021.

Training Camps for those seven teams that didn’t make the postseason in 2019-20 opened on New Year’s Eve, and we presented our seven observations from the first few days of scrimmages for those franchises.

More from Puck Prose

• Detroit Red Wings 2023 Rookie Camp Has Plenty of Ups and Downs
• This Columbus Blue Jackets rookie doesn’t want to be forgotten
• 2 trades the Boston Bruins must make to secure the Stanley Cup
• 3 reasons the Avalanche won’t win the Stanley Cup in 2024
• This is a big year for Alex Turcotte and the Los Angeles Kings

It is now back to work for the 24 other teams in the NHL with media days taking place on Sunday, while on-ice work and practices are getting underway across the league as we speak.

There will be plenty of intrigue given how weird a year the 2020-21 season will be with a 56-game shortened schedule, while the threat of the ongoing COVID-19 Pandemic looms large.

And, from new faces to potential lineup combinations and notable absentees, there will be plenty of storylines emerging from the full opening day of Training Camps today.

So, without further ado, let’s delve into the five biggest talking points we are most intrigued about as the entire NHL gets back to work…

1. New Faces in New Places

Every new season brings with it a fresh wave of new faces in different places following a busy offseason, and this year will be no different.

In fact, there will be some very familiar faces taking to the ice over the next couple of days in places we never thought we would see them, like Zdeno Chara  for example, who left the Boston Bruins after 14 stellar years to sign a one-year, $1,525,000 contract with the Washington Capitals.

Another name that fits into that category perfectly is Joe Thornton, who opted not to return to the San Jose Sharks and instead returned home to sign a one-year deal with the Toronto Maple Leafs in order to try and finally get his hands on a Stanley Cup.

Seeing both Chara and Thornton in new uniforms will be very weird to say the least, while there will also be excitement to see some of the biggest movers during the offseason settle into their new homes.

Elite defenseman Alex Pietrangelo was arguably the biggest name available in Free Agency, with the former St. Louis Blues Captain opting to sign a blockbuster seven-year, $61,600,000 contract with the already talent-laden Vegas Golden Knights. Pietrangelo will hit the ice with his new team for the first time today, and it will be fascinating to see how he fits in to what is already a stacked Golden Knights lineup.

The same applies to Taylor Hall and Eric Staal who have been at it with the Buffalo Sabres for a few days now, goaltender Matty Murray with the Ottawa Senators, defenseman Torey Krug and forward Mike Hoffman with the St. Louis Blues and power play expert Tyson Barrie with the Edmonton Oilers.

Those are just a few of the plethora of players who will be pulling on brand new jerseys and adapting to different surroundings today, and it will be intriguing to see how they all fit in and adjust with their new teams over the coming days.

3. Injuries / Absentees

We mentioned Mathew Barzal’s holdout with the New York Islanders in the previous slide, and there are other RFA’s to keep an eye on too over the first couple of days of Training Camp, most notably Winnipeg Jets forward Jack Roslovic who has reportedly requested a trade away from the Winnipeg Jets.

Then there is New Jersey Devils forward Jesper Bratt who has been absent from the first few days of Camp due to his contract situation, and all of the Restricted Free Agents will be worth keeping an eye on.

However, there will also be some other notable absentees from the opening of Training Camps across the league for other reasons than contract disputes.

For instance, we were all prepared for a weird sight in goal in Washington with Henrik Lundqvist signing with the Capitals in Free Agency, although the goaltender will now miss the entire 2020-21 NHL season with a heart issue.

Chicago Blackhawks Captain Jonathan Toews will also be absent from Training Camp due to an undisclosed medical issue, as will his teammate Kirby Dach who will miss the entire year due to a wrist injury, while Boston Bruins forward and joint winner of the 2019-20 Maurice Rocket Richard Trophy, David Pastrnak, is still recovering from hip surgery and will miss the opening month or so of the 2020-21 season.

Just today the Dallas Stars announced that forward Joe Pavelski will miss the start of Training Camp with the forward waiting on further results from medicals, while goaltender Anton Khudobin is dealing with immigration issues so will also miss the start of Stars Camp.

And, of course, lets not forget 2018-19 MVP Nikita Kucherov, who will miss the entire 2020-21 season for the Tampa Bay Lightning after undergoing hip surgery.

So, while a lot of the talking points on the opening day of Training Camps will revolve around those players on the ice, there will also be a lot of attention on those not on the ice too.

4. Rookie Class of 2020-21

Training Camps opening up are exciting anyway, but especially so for fans of those teams who have an elite stud about to embark on his rookie year.

Training Camps and the preseason always give us a first look at that year’s rookie intake, but this year those first-year players will only have inner-team scrimmages before they make their NHL debut.

And there is a lot of rookie talent to get excited about today as Camps open.

The obvious one is Alexis Lafreniere, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2020 NHL Entry Draft, who will begin his first NHL Camp with the New York Rangers today.

Expectations are incredibly high for Lafreniere who is a generational talent, and the elite winger will be looking to make a good first impression for the Rangers and nail down a top-six role heading into the 2020-21 season.

Quinton Byfield, the No. 2 overall pick in the 2020 NHL Draft, will be absent from the start of LA Kings’ Training Camp due to his current involvement in the 2021 IIHF World Junior Championship, but there will be a plethora of other rookies to keep an eye on.

For instance, stud goaltender Ilya Sorokin finally hit the ice in a New York Islanders uniform earlier today, rising star defenseman Alexander Romanov is on the ice for the Montreal Canadiens and Minnesota Wild fans will get their first proper sighting of Kirill Kaprizov.

And one under-the-radar rookie to watch is defenseman Mikko Lehtonen who, despite being 26-years-old, will make his NHL debut in 2020-21 after signing with the Toronto Maple Leafs during the offseason and big things are expected of the blueliner.

Watching how this year’s crop of rookies adapt to their first few days of NHL scrimmages will be one of the biggest storylines to keep an eye on, and Alexis Lafreniere in particular should draw a lot of attention and media coverage given the lofty expectations on his shoulders.

5. Line Combinations

There is an unwritten rule in hockey not to read too much into Training Camp lines but, for those of us in the media and for all fans, we do the opposite. Always.

That will be no different this year given that there will be no preseason games to go by, so all Training Camp lines will be over-assessed and over-dissected, especially over the opening few days.

And we’ve already had a few interesting line combinations to get overexcited about.

For instance, it emerged on Sunday that the Toronto Maple Leafs will put veteran Joe Thornton on a top line with Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner.

I mean, just wow.

Of course, this could mean nothing in the grand scheme of things and it may get broken up pretty quickly, but just imagine a trio of Thornton, Matthews and Marner out on the ice together in NHL games?

It would be utter chaos and we are all in for seeing Matthews bury one-timers from Thornton and vice-versa.

That is perhaps the best illustration of getting too hyped about early Training Camp lines, and there was also an intriguing line combination from New Jersey Devils practice today, with Jack Hughes centering a top line featuring Andreas Johnsson and Kyle Palmieri, a line that could be a hell of a lot of fun to watch.

Of course, there will be a boatload of interesting line combinations to watch come together over the coming days, and seeing coaches experiment with different players is one of the best and most fun things about Training Camp.

So, there you have it, that’s our 5 Storylines to keep an eye on throughout the Opening Day of NHL Training Camps, and we will have a lot more coverage from every team over the coming days.