NHL training camps open with
Swayman's status with the Bruins among the many questions
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[September 18, 2024]
By STEPHEN WHYNO
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 defenseman 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 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 defenseman
Thomas Harley and New Jersey forward Dawson Mercer. The Red Wings
signed Lucas Raymond to a $64 million, eight-year 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
offseason 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.
[to top of second column] |
Columbus Blue Jackets line up at their blue line for the national
anthem with Boston Bruins before the Sabres Prospects Challenge
hockey game in Buffalo, N.Y., Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024. (AP
Photo/John Wawrow)
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
defenseman 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.
___
AP Hockey Writer John Wawrow, AP Sports Writer Pat Graham and AP
freelance writer W.G. Ramirez contributed.
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