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FILE – St. Louis Blues center Robert Thomas reacts after scoring an empty-net goal during the third period of an NHL hockey game against the Minnesota Wild, March 1, 2026, in St. Paul, Minn.<\/p>\n
Ellen Schmidt\/AP Photo\/Ellen Schmidt<\/p>\n
FILE – Winnipeg Jets goaltender Connor Hellebuyck stands by the net during a time out from play against the Dallas Stars in the first period of an NHL hockey game, April 2, 2026, in Dallas.<\/p>\n
Tony Gutierrez\/AP Photo\/Tony Gutierrez<\/p>\n
FILE – Detroit Red Wings center Dylan Larkin celebrates his goal against the Columbus Blue Jackets in the first period of an NHL hockey game in Detroit, April 7, 2026.<\/p>\n
Paul Sancya\/AP Photo\/Paul Sancya<\/p>\n
In this photo taken with a smartphono, Chicago Blackhawks players, from left, Patrick Kane, Connor Bedard and Tyler Bertuzzi pose during a news conference introducing Bedard as the new captain of the NHL hockey club, Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2026, in Chicago.<\/p>\n
Jay Cohen\/AP Photo\/Jay Cohen<\/p>\n
FILE – New York Islanders new head coach Peter DeBoer speaks after an NHL hockey game against the Carolina Hurricanes, April 14, 2026, in Elmont, N.Y.<\/p>\n
Frank Franklin II\/AP Photo\/Frank Franklin II<\/p>\n
Players around the NHL step on the ice Thursday, right around the same time of year training camps usually open up. Only this time, opening night is less than two weeks away.<\/p>\n
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\u201cIt’s quick,\u201d Philadelphia’s Jamie Drysdale said. \u201cIt\u2019s going to be really fast.\u201d<\/p>\n
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This is the new normal with the expanded regular-season schedule making for shorter camps and fewer exhibition games. Each team will play 84 times once the pucks drop for real, but the ramp up to the league’s earliest start has even seasoned veterans unsure how it is going to go.<\/p>\n
\u201cUntil we go through it, it\u2019s hard to say,\u201d said Pittsburgh captain and three-time Stanley Cup champion Sidney Crosby, who’s going into his 22nd NHL season. \u201cI don\u2019t know how it\u2019ll be.”<\/p>\n
Who benefits from a shorter camp<\/p>\n
Most established players are in favor of the change, negotiated by the union and owners as part of the labor agreement that is now in effect. Nearly every team has just four preseason games, and anyone who has played more than 100 regular-season career games cannot take part in more than two.<\/p>\n
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\u201cI like it even better, probably,\u201d Boston winger David Pastrnak said. \u201cI\u2019m maybe speaking (from) more of a veteran position, so it\u2019s definitely better for us. … With more games, it makes sense to cut it down a little bit.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cut out entirely are mandatory fitness tests that have haunted players for decades. They think the whole concept is antiquated, given that August informal skates have become customary and camp isn’t used for getting into shape anymore.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you\u2019re not coming into camp ready to go, in good shape, ready to dominate those tests, then really what are you doing?\u201d Chicago’s Frank Nazar said. \u201cYou\u2019re responsible for your own summer and for your own body, and if you\u2019re not coming ready to go, then someone\u2019s going to take your spot and for a good reason. I think it just cuts that babysitting aspect of it out and you\u2019re able to just take responsibility for your actions.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Who could be hurt by a shorter camp<\/p>\n
It may be slightly worse for the five teams \u2014 Vegas, Los Angeles, Toronto, Edmonton and Vancouver \u2014 with a brand-new coach. Others, like Columbus and the New York Islanders, made mid- or late-season moves behind the bench.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a double-edged sword,\u201d Golden Knights center Jack Eichel said. \u201cYou have a team like ours that played until the middle of June and had a shorter offseason, so it might not be a bad thing. At the same time, we have a veteran team and sometimes you utilize training camp as a few extra weeks to prepare for the season.\u201d<\/p>\n
Most 23-player rosters are pretty much set, but there are a handful of spots around the league up for grabs annually. Young players looking to crack the NHL unexpectedly and those on professional tryout agreements have a shorter runway to impress management and coaching staffs.<\/p>\n
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\u201cHow we adapted was a smaller camp, and we\u2019re getting to our NHL group quicker,\u201d Islanders coach Peter DeBoer said. \u201cUnfortunately, the flip side of that is some prospects that in the past might have played some games and you got the chance to look at maybe don\u2019t get that opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hellebuyck and Larkin are two of the biggest story lines<\/p>\n
Three-time Vezina Trophy-winning goaltender Connor Hellebuyck in Winnipeg and Detroit center \u2014 and now former captain \u2014 Dylan Larkin each asked for trades during the offseason. Unlike Brady Tkachuk, who got dealt from Ottawa to Florida to play with brother Matthew, Hellebuyck and Larkin are still with the teams they want to leave.<\/p>\n
Hellebuyck went public with his trade request a few weeks ago, and the Jets said they were working through the situation. No player with a contract has refused to report to camp this century, dating to Alexei Yashin’s 1999 holdout, and while Larkin said he’ll be there for the Red Wings, it’s unclear what Hellebuyck will do.<\/p>\n
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\u201cHe\u2019s obviously a very good friend of mine that I\u2019ve played with for a long time,\u201d center Mark Scheifele said. \u201cI just want to be there as a friend but also at the same time focus on myself and what I can do for the Winnipeg Jets.\u201d<\/p>\n
After Anaheim signed Cutter Gauthier on Tuesday night, there were just four restricted free agents left without a contract on the eve of camp: Columbus’ Adam Fantilli, Carolina’s Alexander Nikishin, Detroit’s Simon Edvinsson and Calgary’s Brennan Othmann.<\/p>\n
Last season’s NHL MVP, Nikita Kucherov, does not yet have an extension with Tampa Bay and could hit the market July 1 if one is not hammered out by then. Colorado coach Jared Bednar is also going into the final year of his contract, four years since guiding the Avalanche to the Stanley Cup.<\/p>\n
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See AP\u2019s full NHL coverage here<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FILE – St. Louis Blues center Robert Thomas reacts after scoring an empty-net goal during the third period…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":663950,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5110],"tags":[1942,28,10108,536,6188,1171,2178,599,595,800,5,122,1041,4182,1117,3522,3328,159,5190,5189,4,33666,1335,10617,3494,2087,3492,10615,10616,3493,29952,52361,10019,60588,768,598],"class_list":["post-663949","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-islanders","tag-adam-fantilli","tag-alexander-nikishin","tag-alexei-yashin","tag-brady-tkachuk","tag-brennan-othmann","tag-connor-hellebuyck","tag-david-pastrnak","tag-detroit","tag-dylan-larkin","tag-frank-nazar","tag-hockey","tag-islanders","tag-jack-eichel","tag-jamie-drysdale","tag-jared-bednar","tag-mark-scheifele","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-islanders","tag-newyork","tag-newyorkislanders","tag-nhl","tag-nhl-training-camps","tag-nikita-kucherov","tag-package-100024-ap-online","tag-package-100502-member-choice-sports-option","tag-pete-deboer","tag-product-30599-ap-sports-news-s-wire-only","tag-product-32002-ap-online-hockey-news","tag-product-32562-ap-online-other-sports-news","tag-product-40780-ap-florida-sports-only","tag-product-40792-ap-michigan-sports-only","tag-product-40803-ap-new-york-state-sports-only","tag-product-40804-ap-north-carolina-sports-only","tag-product-40809-ap-pennsylvania-sports-only","tag-sidney-crosby","tag-simon-edvinsson"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/663949","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=663949"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/663949\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/663950"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=663949"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=663949"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=663949"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}