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.

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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.

2. Barzal Holdout

We covered it here so we won’t go over old ground too much, but Mathew Barzal is officially a holdout with the New York Islanders star absent on Day One of Training Camp.

Barzal, who recorded 60 points (19 G, 41 A) in 68 regular-season games in 2019-20, in addition to putting up 5 goals and 12 assists for 17 points in 22 Stanley Cup Playoffs games, is a RFA and will need to be signed to an extension before he can hit the ice again.

Given that the 2020-21 NHL season is literally a week away, coupled with the fact that there are no preseason games, every on-ice scrimmage will be vital so the Islanders will be keen to get this situation resolved as quickly as possible.

It isn’t exactly straightforward, however, given that Barzal will likely want a short-term deal with anywhere between a $6-7.5 million AAV, while the Isles only have $3,905,833 in cap space to play with.

Now, granted, Islanders General Manager Lou Lamoriello can put defenseman Johnny Boychuk on the LTIR to free up an extra $6 million in cap space, which would certainly help, but goaltender Cory Schneider, defenseman Andy Greene and forwards Matt Martin and RFA Dmytro Timashov all need to be officially signed too.

So, basically, it sounds like there is still a lot of work to be done by the New York Islanders in order to get their most prized asset re-signed and back on the ice, with time of the essence as the new season draws closer and closer.

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.