Connor McDavid is "working towards getting to camp" after suffering a season-ending knee injury during the final game of the 2018-19 campaign, he told reporters on Monday, according to TSN.
The Edmonton Oilers superstar isn't participating in the on-ice portion of BioSteel Camp this week, but he's been skating for at least "a couple months," the three-time All-Star said.
McDavid tore his PCL when he crashed hard into the post while driving to the net. The 22-year-old said he hasn't endured any setbacks during his recovery.
The Oilers play their first preseason game on Sept. 16 against the Winnipeg Jets. That tilt could mark the debut of James Neal, Edmonton's biggest offseason acquisition who was brought over in a trade with the Calgary Flames for Milan Lucic. McDavid's feelings about the move are mixed.
"Obviously disappointing to see a good friend in 'Looch' go," McDavid said. "He was someone that I got close with on the team, great guy, great family as well, definitely gonna miss them.
"But Nealer has a lot of upside. He's a guy that's won a lot in this league, scored a lot in this league ... obviously a down year last year but he's training (with Gary Roberts) and he's working as hard as I've ever seen him work."
Edmonton and Calgary square off twice this preseason, but the provincial rivals will wait until Dec. 27 before clashing in a meaningful game.
Mattheos was diagnosed with testicular cancer in June - two days after helping the AHL's Charlotte Checkers claim the 2019 Calder Cup. He underwent surgery to remove one testicle and has since completed multiple courses of chemotherapy over the past two months.
The 20-year-old is expected to return to full health and will resume training for the 2019-20 season once his treatments are complete and he receives clearance from doctors.
"I'd like to thank everyone who reached out to offer support and well wishes since the diagnosis," Mattheos said. "I've had amazing support from my friends, family, teammates, coaches, and all of the hockey organizations I've been a part of, including the Hurricanes, Checkers, and Brandon Wheat Kings.
"I owe a debt of gratitude to my surgeon, Dr. Sabeer Rehsia, and all of the staff at Grace Hospital, as well as Dr. Piotr Czaykowski at Cancer Care Manitoba and all of the nurses on the chemotherapy ward."
Mattheos, a 6-foot-1, 200-pound right-winger, was the Hurricanes' third-round pick in the 2017 draft. After tallying 96 points in 65 WHL games in 2018-19, he joined the Checkers down the stretch, skating in 11 regular season contests and 14 playoff tilts, recording a total of seven points.
The longtime NHL enforcer was an alcoholic. On Nov. 11, 2015, his blood pressure was spiking and his liver was about to explode. His addiction to beer and Jack Daniels led to four stints in rehab, ended two marriages, and was threatening to take his life.
"For me, growing up, you were either a jock or stoner, so I never smoked pot growing up, but I've been drinking since I was 12 or 13 years old. That was acceptable in the hockey circles, it's just culturally what was accepted,” McCarty told Kathleen Gray of the Detroit Free Press. "So I would always say no to pot, until after my first surgery in 1999. I was on all these pills, and it was driving me crazy. And I'm an insomniac, so I can't sleep, and that had a lot to do with all the drinking."
A friend suggested he try some marijuana and "something went off in my head and it was like my body said yes."
This 1999 incident didn't stop him from drinking to the point of collapse. So in 2015, several of his friends, including a medical marijuana caregiver who supplied him with weed, isolated him, and for a full week, gave him "gram after gram" of Rick Simpson Oil - a potent marijuana concentrate created by Simpson in 2003 to treat his skin cancer.
"I was in a coma and when I woke up after seven days, I didn't have a physical addiction," McCarty said. "I dropped to my knees and said, 'Thank God.'"
McCarty hasn't had a drink since, has lost 60 pounds, has quit smoking cigarettes, and is off most of his prescription medications.
"If you've seen my progress over the past 10 years, you've seen me go through different stages from the alcoholism, which led me to this plant saving my life," he said. "I feel like I’m 35. I'm not lying. I feel like Benjamin Button."
McCarty, now 47, is smoking pot every day, but doesn't believe he ditched one addiction and picked up another.
McCarty played 15 seasons in the NHL, winning four Stanley Cups with the Detroit Red Wings. The rugged winger racked up 288 points and 1,477 penalty minutes in his 758-game career. He's now partnered with a cannabis company called Pincanna.
There's growing speculation the Toronto Maple Leafs will name a captain for the first time since Dion Phaneuf's departure in 2016. Auston Matthews, the face of the franchise, is one of a handful of logical candidates to don the "C," and he understands its importance.
"The captaincy in hockey, in general, is a huge honor, but especially in Toronto," Matthews told The Athletic's Craig Morgan. "You see the names of the guys that have come before you. We have all the captains' banners lined up for us in our practice rink. You know the names, what they brought to the team, their competitiveness, what they did throughout the community, so it’s a bit of a bigger honor, in my opinion, to bestow that in Toronto.
"Whether it's me or it's someone else, it comes with a lot of responsibility, but whether I get it or not, I feel comfortable regardless. We've got a lot of good candidates, guys that have been in the league for a while, guys that have been captains before like John Tavares, and guys that have worn letters for quite some time."
Matthews, Tavares, and Morgan Rielly are generally considered to be in the running. Tavares was the captain of the New York Islanders before signing a seven-year deal with his hometown team in the summer of 2018. Rielly is the longest-serving Leaf and has worn an "A" as an alternate captain for the past few seasons.
Asked if he thought it might be odd for Tavares to be passed over for the honor - given he's the elder statesman of the group and has a been a captain before - Matthews dismissed the theory.
"I don't think it would be awkward," he said. "Everybody has the same goal in mind. Everybody wants to contribute in their own way and do what's best for the team. When somebody is ready, (GM) Kyle (Dubas) and the staff will make a good choice. No matter who it is, you move forward, do your thing and put in the work."
Faced with similar questions about the captaincy prior to the start of last season, Matthews said he's never won the "C" in his life; since he consistently played a level or two higher than his own age group growing up, he was always one of the youngest players on his team.
"The prohibited substance was found in a doping control which occurred on 26 May 2019 at the 2019 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship," the IIHF stated in its release.
Kuznetsov did not require the analysis of his B-sample - a secondary procedure to verify the accuracy of the initial test - and was provisionally suspended June 13, 2019, the IIHF said. His suspension will conclude June 12, 2023. If the NHL goes to the Olympics in 2022, he will not be eligible to participate.
A video surfaced on May 27 showing Kuznetsov sitting at a table next to two lines of white powder.
Following the release of the video, Kuznetsov claimed he had "never used drugs" and said the footage was taken after the Capitals' Stanley Cup victory in 2018.
The NHL issued a statement on the matter in May, saying, "while we certainly do not condone or endorse some of the decisions he made on the night in question, Mr. Kuznetsov's account of the events that transpired aligns with other information we have been able to gather, and we have found no basis to question his representations with respect to what did - and what did not - occur. We consider the matter formally closed."
NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly addressed Kusnetsov's suspension Friday morning, noting, "cocaine isn't considered a performance-enhancing drug and is therefore not a prohibited substance under the NHL/NHLPA Performance Enhancing Substances Program."
The 27-year-old center helped lead Russia to a bronze-medal finish at the 2019 worlds after the Carolina Hurricanes bounced his Capitals in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Kuznetsov was phenomenal during the Capitals' postseason run in the spring of 2018, leading all players with 32 playoff points en route to Washington's first championship. He followed that up with a 72-point campaign in 2018-19.
Brock Boeser's agent, Ben Hankinson, is seeking a four-year contract with an average annual value of $7 million for his client, reports The Province's Ben Kuzma.
The Vancouver Canucks forward is one of several high-profile restricted free agents who remain unsigned as NHL training camps draw near.
Aside from Sebastian Aho, who inked a five-year, $42.27-million deal with Carolina after the Hurricanes matched an offer sheet from the Montreal Canadiens, San Jose Sharks forward Timo Meier is arguably the most significant RFA to come off the market so far. Meier signed a four-year, $24-million contract July 1 and, along with unsigned Winnipeg Jets restricted free agent Kyle Connor, has been used as a comparable in negotiations between Boeser's camp and the Canucks.
"Those are some of the names we've used," general manager Jim Benning said of Meier and Connor. "They (Boeser's camp) have been reasonable and we're continuing to talk to get to some common ground. I'm hopeful to get something done before camp, but we're not there yet."
While Meier's $6-million AAV would be reasonable for the Canucks, Benning has no intention of handing out a similarly structured contract. The base salary in the final year of Meier's contract is $10 million, setting him up for a $10-million qualifying offer as a restricted free agent when it expires. Boeser would also be an RFA after a four-year deal.
"That scares me a bit," Benning said.
Vancouver prefers a salary structure more closely resembling that of Bo Horvat's contract, Kuzma adds. The Canucks pivot signed a six-year pact with an average annual value of $5.5 million shortly before training camp opened in 2017. Horvat's deal does not include any signing bonuses and he'll earn a base salary of just $4.45 million in the final year of the contract.
"We're looking at all of our options and are talking what long and short deals look like," Benning said.
Boeser, 22, scored 26 goals and added 30 assists in 69 games for the Canucks last season. Meier had 30 goals and 36 assists in 78 games, while Connor potted 34 tallies and 32 helpers in 82 contests.
The Canucks have just over $5 million in projected cap space with 24 players signed, according to CapFriendly. They could create additional cap space by placing Antoine Roussel on long-term injured reserve and optioning players to the minors.
Nichushkin was originally drafted 10th overall by the Dallas Stars in 2013. He then played in the NHL right away as an 18-year-old, tallying an impressive 14 goals and 20 assists in 79 games. However, injuries held him to just eight appearances the following season, and he struggled to recapture his rookie form in 2015-16, scoring just nine goals.
After two campaigns in the KHL, Nichushkin returned to the Stars in 2018-19 but didn't enjoy much success. In 57 regular-season contests, the Russian failed to score a single goal and was scratched for all but one of Dallas' 13 playoff games.
Despite the lack of offensive production, the 24-year-old winger boasts a tantalizing combination of size (6-foot-4, 210 pounds) and speed.
A report of Benning's extension surfaced on Friday but the length was unknown at the time.
Benning was heading into the final year of his previous deal, so the extension will keep him in Vancouver through the 2022-23 season.
The Canucks made the postseason in Benning's first year at the helm during the 2014-15 campaign, but they've missed the playoffs in the four years since.
Benning is responsible for rebuilding the organization's farm system by drafting the likes of Brock Boeser, Elias Pettersson, and Quinn Hughes. However, he's drawn criticism from the fanbase for certain signings, such as Loui Eriksson's six-year, $36-million deal in 2016, and Jay Beagle and Antoine Roussel's matching four-year, $12-million pacts in 2018.
The restricted free agent said contract talks with the Jets have been non-existent all summer, and he isn't sure what it means for his future with the organization, according to Sportsnet's Chris Johnston.
Laine said he'll be playing "somewhere" next season; he just doesn't know where.
"Well, you never know. It's still business, you've got to be prepared for anything," Laine said. "But yeah, you never know where you’re going to play next year so I’m just prepared for anything."
Laine did admit he wants to be back in a Jets uniform next season.
"Well I’ve got nothing bad to say about Winnipeg, you know? It's been good so far. But you never know, so that's kind of my comments."
With news that the NHL is "cautiously optimistic" that current CBA talks might lead to a World Cup in February 2021, we've decided to predict what each team's roster could look like should the tournament take place.
We adopted the NHL's format for the 2016 World Cup. Canada, the United States, Sweden, Finland, Russia, and the Czech Republic all send teams, while Team North America (players aged 23-and-under from Canada and the U.S.) and Team Europe (players from other European countries) round out the field.
Teams are comprised of any combination of 20 skaters and three goalies. Any Canadian or American player under 24 years old on Feb. 1, 2021, is automatically assigned to Team North America. However, we've added our own caveat: If a player suited up for Team North America in 2016, he is eligible to represent Canada or the U.S. this time around, even if he's still under 24.
In this edition, we project Team Canada's roster.
Head coach: Mike Babcock
Babcock may draw criticism from Toronto Maple Leafs fans, but his record with Team Canada is flawless. Until he proves otherwise, he's the man for the job.
Forwards
Dennis Pajot / Getty Images Sport / Getty
LW
C
RW
Brad Marchand
Sidney Crosby
Patrice Bergeron
Steven Stamkos
Connor McDavid
Mark Stone
John Tavares
Nathan MacKinnon
Mark Scheifele
Taylor Hall
Ryan O'Reilly
Tyler Seguin
Jonathan Toews
Notable omissions: Logan Couture, Brayden Point, Claude Giroux, Jonathan Huberdeau, Sean Monahan, Sean Couturier
The Marchand-Crosby-Bergeron trio was unstoppable at the 2016 World Cup and is essentially unbreakable, even though all three players are already in their 30s. Stone and his puck-retrieving prowess would be an excellent complement to offensive dynamos McDavid and Stamkos. MacKinnon, Tavares, Scheifele, Hall, and O'Reilly are all virtual locks.
Choosing the last couple of forward spots was difficult, but a more proven Seguin got the nod over Point; if the Lightning phenom puts together another 40-goal season, that could change. Leaving off Couture, a proven clutch performer, was tough, but Toews, who had an offensive resurgence in 2018-19, got the nod instead.
Giordano was the most difficult cut from this team. If the tournament took place today, the reigning Norris Trophy winner is undoubtedly on it, but he will be 37 by 2021 and it's unlikely he'll be playing at his 2018-19 form. Chabot, Rielly, and Morrissey will all be in their primes.
Leaving Letang off the team was also difficult. However, he brings many of the same elements that Doughty and Burns do, while the 6-foot-6 Parayko offers more defense and penalty-killing prowess.
Goalies
Minas Panagiotakis / World Cup of Hockey / Getty
G
Carey Price
Marc-Andre Fleury
Matt Murray
Notable omissions: Braden Holtby, Devan Dubnyk, Jordan Binnington
Unless injuries catch up to Price, there won't be much debate as to who should start between the pipes.
