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.