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TRAIKOS: 10 burning questions heading into NHL training camp

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Will Jack Eichel get traded? Will Zach Hyman discover chemistry with Connor McDavid? And can Brady Tkachuk, Elias Pettersson and Quinn Hughes finish their contract holdouts?

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Coaching camps opened throughout the Nationwide Hockey League on Wednesday, with medical exams and physicals. However except for who confirmed up with too many kilos round their midsection, the massive questions are what’s going to the subsequent two weeks appear like as groups put together for a full season of (considerably) normalcy.

From profitable a roster spot to naming a captain as to whether COVID-19 will trigger a quarantine, listed below are 10 urgent questions as we head in the direction of the beginning of the season:

Will the COVID-19 rear its ugly head?

It was final week when deputy commissioner Invoice Daly instructed reporters that the league expects 98% of its gamers to be absolutely vaccinated by the beginning of the season. That’s nice information for the NHL, which shall be opening up its borders to journey between Canada and the U.S. for the common season, and seems to be taking the pandemic extra severely than the opposite main sports activities leagues. A number of groups have already introduced they’re absolutely vaccinated, together with Toronto, Calgary and Columbus, with the latter sending dwelling assistant coach Sylvain Lefebvre, as a result of he declined to be vaccinated, in addition to dumping unvaccinated Zac Rinaldo to its minor-league affiliate. “The ball is in his courtroom now,” GM Jarmo Kekalainen instructed reporters. “We do every thing as a workforce. That’s a requirement of being a Blue Jacket.” This sort of strategy nonetheless may not stop a optimistic case of COVID from popping up. However with an increasing number of gamers now double vaccinated, the possibilities of one other outbreak occurring are slim to none.

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Will Jack Eichel present up at coaching camp?

The Sabres captain, who has been out since March with a herniated disc in his neck, is reportedly planning to indicate up for his pre-training camp bodily on Thursday. What occurs subsequent continues to be very a lot up within the air. Eichel has made it clear that he needs out of Buffalo, which is within the early levels of one more rebuild. However the Sabres have additionally made it clear that they gained’t merely give him away for nothing. Additional complicating the difficulty is that Eichel is in favour of a considerably experimental type of neck surgical procedure that the workforce hasn’t signed off on. In different phrases, don’t anticipate to see him on the ice anytime quickly. That’s, except he’s carrying one other workforce’s jersey. And the probability of that occuring will lower if he fails to go his bodily.

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Who’s going to be traded between now and the beginning of the season?

Whether or not it’s Eichel or St. Louis’ Vladimir Tarasenko, there seems to be lots of big-name gamers sitting on the buying and selling block. Cap house could possibly be a motivating consider any deal. Heading into coaching camp, 10 groups had been above the $81.5-million restrict, that means one thing should give between now and the beginning of the season. Of the groups having to make a transfer, search for Boston to be fairly lively. The Bruins enter coaching camp with about $80-million in cap house — and that’s with out them having a security internet in place for goalie Linus Ullmark or a second-line centre to switch David Krejci. Additionally they have a ahead in Jake DeBrusk, who has acquired curiosity up to now from Edmonton and Calgary, and who grew to become much more expendable after the workforce signed Taylor Corridor. A deal for San Jose’s Tomas Hertl would seem to make lots of sense.

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Will Kirill Kaprizov, Brady Tkachuk and the opposite RFAs get offers accomplished?

One other 12 months, one other crop of proficient, younger gamers are nonetheless unsigned. You may partially blame William Nylander for this development. When the Toronto winger sat out for 2 months in 2018-19 earlier than lastly agreeing on a deal, he helped shift the stability of energy from the homeowners to the gamers. Two years in the past, Mitch Marner, Brayden Level, Brock Boeser, Patrik Laine, Kyle Connor and Mikko Rantanen signed their extensions after coaching camps had opened. This 12 months, don’t be stunned if Minnesota’s Kirill Kaprizov, who gained the Calder Trophy final season, Buffalo’s Dahlin, Ottawa’s Tkachuk and Vancouver’s Elias Pettersson and Quinn Hughes all appear prepared to use do the identical. In any case, everybody is aware of that the Canucks gained’t even get near sniffing a playoff spot with out Pettersson and Hughes within the lineup.

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Who will play on a line with Toronto’s Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner?

Zach Hyman was not technically a part of the Maple Leafs’ core. However anybody who paid consideration to the workforce over the previous a number of years will let you know that he was fairly necessary piece. As a top-six winger, he twice scored 21 objectives alongside Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner. With him gone to Edmonton, quite a lot of gamers shall be auditioned to fill that position, together with Nick Ritchie, Ondrej Kase, Michael Bunting and Ilya Mikheyev. Another choice could possibly be rookie Nick Robertson, who has comparable pace and forechecking skill to Hyman, and who has additionally proven top-line potential in junior.

The place will Zach Hyman slot in with the Oilers?

By all accounts, the Oilers signed Hyman in order that McDavid lastly had a wingman not named Leon Draisaitl to get him the puck. And but, although the 2 gamers hung out figuring out collectively this summer season, don’t assume Hyman and McDavid will essentially be spending the season collectively. In any case, the argument could be made that if McDavid was in a position to rating 105 factors on a line with a few Common Joes, then perhaps it makes extra sense to stability out the lineup and put Hyman on his personal line, the place he can present secondary scoring for when McDavid and Draisaitl aren’t on the ice. Then once more, you in all probability don’t pay a man $5.5-million simply to play third-line minutes.

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The place will Jonathan Drouin slot in with the Habs?

The Habs misplaced Jesperi Kotkaniemi to the Hurricanes. However the workforce appears like it will likely be including Jonathan Drouin again to its roster after the 26-year-old ahead took a go away of absence final season as a consequence of anxiousness. “It wasn’t a straightforward factor to do, however I’m happy with what I’ve accomplished and I’m completely happy I did it,” he instructed RDS this week. “It’s exhausting to step away and watch all the blokes. However at the moment, I made my resolution and caught with it.” Can a rejuvenated Drouin, who scored simply two objectives in 44 video games final 12 months, get again to being the participant who had 18 objectives and 53 factors for Montreal in 2018-19? Maybe. However with Mike Hoffman signed as a free agent and Tyler Toffoli coming off a 28-goal season, Drouin should earn his spot again within the top-six.

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Will any of the 2021 draft picks step into the NHL?

Owen Energy’s resolution to return to school slightly than play for the Sabres signifies that for the primary time since 2006, the No. 1 total choose gained’t be stepping proper into the NHL. It’s not simply Energy who’s taking himself out of the Calder Trophy dialog. Matty Beniers, who Seattle chosen at No. 2, shall be becoming a member of Energy on the College of Michigan. That leaves Anaheim’s Mason McTavish, who was the third-overall choose and performed in opposition to males final season within the Swiss league, as maybe the one participant out of this 12 months’s draft with an opportunity at cracking an NHL roster this 12 months. Different rookies trying to make the full-time soar are Minnesota’s Marco Rossi (ninth total, 2020), Winnipeg’s Cole Perfetti (tenth, ’20) and Vancouver’s Vasily Podkolzin (tenth, ’19). After all, with Montreal’s Cole Caufield (fifteenth, ’19) technically nonetheless a rookie, the Calder appears to be his to lose.

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Will James Neal and the opposite gamers on PTOs be capable of win a job?

The 34-year-old Neal had simply 5 objectives and 10 factors in 29 video games final season. So it is sensible that his cellphone wasn’t ringing off the hook when free company opened in the summertime. As an alternative, the previous 40-goal scorer who had 19 objectives a few years in the past signed knowledgeable tryout with the Blues, the place he’ll attempt to present that he can nonetheless produce. He’s not the one one who’s enjoying for a job. Tyler Ennis is again with Ottawa, Brian Boyle is in Pittsburgh and a pair of ex-Leafs (Frederik Gauthier and Jimmy Vesey) are on PTOs in New Jersey.

Will Thomas Chabot be named captain over Brady Tkachuk?

Six groups (Arizona, Calgary, Columbus, the New York Rangers, Ottawa and Seattle) are getting into coaching camp with out having a captain this 12 months. And whereas a few of these groups are in all probability content material to go your entire season with out naming one — we’re taking a look at you, Arizona — the Rangers have made it clear that they consider having a captain is important for playoff success. For that purpose, anticipate the vacancies to get stuffed in a well timed style. Chris Kreider and Mark Giordano are the plain decisions in New York and Seattle, respectively, whereas Matthew Tkachuk looks like the sort of participant Darryl Sutter would wish to put on the ‘C’. As for Ottawa, Brady Tkachuk’s contract holdup could lead on the Senators turning to Thomas Chabot. “It will be honour for certain. I’d like to have it,” Chabot mentioned throughout final week’s NHL Participant Media Tour. “However that’s not a choice I’m making. That’s a choice from different folks. Whether or not I get it or not, it’s not going to vary the individual I’m.”

mtraikos@postmedia.com

twitter.com/Michael_Traikos

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