Welcome to the 2023-24 NHL training camp buzz. Training camp is underway for all 32 teams and NHL.com has you covered with all the latest news.
Toronto Maple Leafs
Matt Murray will require "significant surgery" general manager Brad Treliving said and will not be available for the Maple Leafs when training camp begins Thursday.
"The surgical procedure will be (to do with) something he's been dealing with," Treliving said. "It wasn't an event, but he aggravated some stuff over the summer."
Treliving said it is unclear at this point whether Murray will be available to play at all this season.
"We are going to have to see," the GM said. "It's going to be significant. Matt is a good goalie. We are not necessarily focused on time frames right now. Let's get it done, get it done correctly and start the process of rehabbing and then we will see. This is months, not days or weeks."
Defenseman Jake Muzzin, who sustained a cervical spine injury Oct. 17 last season in a collision with Clayton Keller of the Arizona Coyotes, is expected to miss the entire season.
"There is no change with Jake Muzzin," Treliving said. "Jake won't be participating this year."
Murray and Muzzin each can be an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season. -- Dave McCarthy
Edmonton Oilers
Mattias Ekholm will miss the start of training camp because of a hip flexor injury.
The 33-year-old defenseman said he sustained the injury shortly after getting on the ice in the offseason, but it is not serious.
“I've been here all summer and we started to skate, and I started feeling it a little bit, but it’s nothing more than that,” Ekholm said Wednesday on the first day of medicals and physicals. “It’s more maintenance right now. Knowing that we have a couple of weeks to spare -- you don’t have that in the regular season, you just have to go at it. So we just looked at it that way to just play it safe until I’m 100 percent, whenever that is, within the next couple of weeks.”
The Oilers acquired Ekholm and a sixth-round pick in the 2024 NHL Draft in a trade with the Nashville Predators for defenseman Tyson Barrie, forward prospect Reid Schaefer, a first-round selection in the 2023 NHL Draft and a fourth-round selection in the 2024 NHL Draft on Feb. 28. -- Derek Van Diest
Colorado Avalanche
Gabriel Landeskog is progressing from a cartilage transplant in his right knee but will likely still be out the entirety of the season.
"First and foremost, I feel really good. I think we're about four-and-a-half months into this, and it's been a really good process so far," Landeskog said Wednesday. "I'm not skating yet, but I think it's in the somewhat near future. I haven't seen my surgeon yet. Six-month checkup is coming up, starting in November. So at that point, we'll see what the surgeon has to say and we'll reassess at that point."
Landeskog, a forward, missed last season following knee surgery in October 2022 and underwent transplant surgery May 10.
"I'm excited about where I'm at," he said.
Defenseman Cale Makar won't be on the ice for the start of training camp Thursday due to a lingering lower-body injury. He is day to day.
"The summer was obviously key in terms of getting back to normal and things have lingered quite a bit longer than I'd liked them to have," Makar said. "I'll probably miss the first few days of camp on the ice here and then should be ready to go. I'll hopefully start skating by the weekend."
Makar was out the final six games of the regular season with a lower-body injury before returning for the playoffs. -- Ryan Boulding
Boston Bruins
Jake DeBrusk wants to remain with the only NHL team he's played for, and the Bruins are hoping to make that happen, according to Bruins general manager Don Sweeney.
"We're going to have communication with Jake and his representation, and we'd like to know if Jake indeed does want to be here and hopefully we can find common ground," Sweeney said. "We'd like to see Jake remain with the Bruins."
The 26-year-old forward is entering the final season of a two-year contract ($4 million average annual value) he signed with the Bruins on March 21, 2022. He can become an unrestricted free agent after this season.
Prior to signing that contract, DeBrusk had requested a trade from Boston.
"Jake deserves a lot of credit," Sweeney said. "He just went out and performed and was on pace for a really good year and had a really good year. Even more, he battled through a couple of different injuries and came back and played well again."
Vancouver Canucks
Ilya Mikheyev will wear a non-contact jersey Thursday.
The 28-year-old forward hasn’t played since Jan. 27, when the Canucks announced after Mikheyev scored in a 5-2 win against the Columbus Blue Jackets that he would have surgery to repair a torn ACL.
Mikheyev, who had 28 points (13 goals, 15 assists) in 46 games, had partially torn his ACL during a preseason game Sept. 25, 2022, but decided to play through the injury before being shut down.
“He is going to start skating with the non-contact jersey with the C group I believe, and then we basically go day by day,” Vancouver general manager Patrik Allvin said Wednesday. “But with his work ethic, commitment and where he is at, it will be not far for him to be joining the big team.”
Allvin also announced that Tucker Poolman won’t play at all this season.
The 30-year-old defenseman only played three games last season because of his ongoing struggles with migraines that caused him to miss 42 games during the 2021-22 season.
“Tucker is not going to play,” Allvin said. “We're supporting him and helping him in any way to get his life back and feel good about himself. Obviously, when you're coming into a situation like this, over the last couple of years haven't played much, hockey becomes secondary.”
Ottawa Senators
Josh Norris will start training camp in a non-contact jersey.
General manager Pierre Dorion said that the 24-year-old forward "tweaked something" last week during a captain's skate.
Norris missed 74 games last season because of a shoulder injury, which required surgery. When asked if the "tweak" was related to the shoulder injury, Dorion said, "yes and no."
"He'll be taking full part in practice," Dorion said. "Josh doesn't want to wear a yellow jersey. [Coach] D.J. [Smith] doesn't want Josh wearing a yellow jersey. But we've made the decision that he'll wear one for a very short period of time. If the regular season was starting in a few days, he'd be playing. We're just being extra cautious here with his ongoing rehab."
Tyler Boucher is still dealing with a groin injury that kept the forward out of the rookie tournament last week. Dorion said Boucher "will be ready in a short period of time." -- Callum Fraser
Montreal Canadiens
Paul Byron retired from the NHL after 12 seasons.
The 34-year-old forward last played April 19, 2022. He missed last season and the first half of 2021-22 after having left hip surgery.
"After many months of processing what is best for my health and the future of my family, I have decided to retire as a professional hockey player," Byron wrote on the Canadiens website. "Through many extended attempts of rehabilitation, therapy, visiting and speaking to different doctors, and trying everything to make it back to the game I love, the decision had become clear."
Byron had 208 points (98 goals, 110 assists) in 521 regular-season games for the Buffalo Sabres, Calgary Flames and Canadiens. He had 11 points (five goals, six assists) in 38 Stanley Cup Playoff games.
"For my whole life I was able to overcome odds and prove people wrong," Byron wrote. "For a long time, I held up hope that I could do it one more time, which in turn has made this decision so difficult, but the reality is, I can no longer train, skate, or push myself to the level required to be a professional hockey player due to injuries suffered during my last game and seasons prior."
Columbus Blue Jackets
Forwards Kirill Marchenko and Mathieu Olivier, defenseman Jake Bean and goalie Daniil Tarasov will be limited in their participation at the start of training camp because of injuries, the Blue Jackets announced Wednesday, one day before their first on-ice session.
Olivier, who has a leg injury, and Bean, who has an abductor strain, are listed as week to week. Marchenko, who has a back strain, and Tarasov, who has a knee injury, are day to day.
Bean is trying to return after missing the final 67 games last season with a shoulder injury.
Olivier missed the final 11 games of last season with what the Blue Jackets called a lower-leg bone bruise at the time. -- Tom Gulitti
