NHL Training Camps Day 3 Recap: Leafs up competition, Pastrnak back with Bruins

Maple Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe and forward Alex Kerfoot discuss what they saw from the team's first scrimmage, Keefe thought it looked a bit sloppy, but is a very important part of the process.

We’re three days into the third phase of the NHL’s return-to-play protocol, with 24 clubs preparing to vie for the Stanley Cup later this summer.

As teams continue to hit the ice, we’ve got plenty of news and notes from rinks around the league:

Leafs holding their own best-of-five series

What’s the best way to prepare to play a best-of-five series? Play one.

The Maple Leafs are putting on their own five-game series of scrimmages, beginning today, pitting roommates and besties against each other with Team Matthews vs. Team Andersen:

Ahem, Team Matthews’ offence is looking stacked… and yet:

For some, the best-of-five format of the qualifying round starting in August will be a bit of a throwback — Maple Leafs GM Kyle Dubas suggested as much during an appearance on Tim & Sid Tuesday evening, saying head coach Sheldon Keefe and several former Marlies will be accustomed to the format as the AHL’s first round is always a best-of-five.

 
Kyle Dubas: We have a chance to be a distraction during this time, do something special together
July 14 2020
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NHL rules Leafs can’t use officials after all

Well, that didn’t last long. The Maple Leafs brought in officials to make Wednesday’s scrimmage as real as possible, but the league quickly ruled against it.

Minnesota finally meets its top prospect (virtually)

Wild fans likely know his name well, but not his face. Well, they finally got a glimpse of their newly signed top prospect Wednesday morning:

Minnesota management announced Monday morning that they’d signed the 23-year-old Russian star to a two-year entry-level deal that includes the 2019-20 season. It’s been a long road to get to this point, with Kaprizov remaining in Russia after being drafted in the fifth round back in 2015. His development in the KHL has been remarkable — he’s coming off back-to-back seasons of leading the league in goals and finished third in overall points this year.

Kaprizov’s path to the NHL isn’t quite complete — he still needs to get over to North America, which will take a bit of juggling. Once here, he’ll be permitted to practise with the Wild but will not be eligible to participate when the Wild resume play against the Vancouver Canucks in August.

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Bowness back on the ice

A welcome sight in Dallas Wednesday morning: Interim Stars head coach Rick Bowness on the ice with the players at practice.

Bowness, 65, opted to take a cautious approach to the first few days of training camp as players’ test results from Monday continued to come in. The longtime coach, who told reporters he had not seriously considered opting out of the NHL’s restart altogether, wore a mask and coached from the bench on Days 1 and 2.

Kovalchuk says Capitals feel “like a big family”

After being away from teammates for almost four months, we’re seeing a lot of quotes come out about how happy players are to be back with their sports families. Players like Ilya Kovalchuk and others traded at the deadline back in February didn’t have much time with their new clubs before the hiatus, making this mini training camp that much more important in terms of building chemistry.

Of course, being reunited with teammates means many players have already had to say goodbye to their families for what could be a few months. That comes with plenty of hardships and, as we found out yesterday, some special circumstances. Kovalchuk’s teammate, Lars Eller, said (via ESPN’s Greg Wyshynski) on Tuesday that he’s planning to leave the NHL bubble in Toronto to be with wife Julie for the birth of the couple’s second child early August. There will likely be a similar plan in place for Carl Hagelin as his wife is due in September.

Meanwhile Maple Leafs forward Kyle Clifford, who has family in Edmonton, plans to reunite with his wife and children there…

Samsonov not skating yet

Another note from Washington: Rookie goaltender Ilya Samsonov, who’s making us all think twice about whether Braden Holtby is Washington’s goalie of the future, did not practice on Wednesday. That’s now three straight days for the netminder, who has yet to lace ’em up at camp.

Rangers have a battle for No. 1

Just as they have all season, the New York Rangers have a bit of a battle in the blue paint as three net minders compete for the top spot. Rookie Igor Shesterkin, who has garnered plenty of excitement in The Big Apple with his performances this year, put on a show Wednesday:

Head coach David Quinn liked what he saw from all three, making for a particularly intriguing outlook in the crease.

Laine feels his game is “still kind of far away” from being playoff-ready

Following Wednesday’s session, the Winnipeg Jets forward was hard on himself when assessing his current state of readiness.

“It’s kind of hard to see myself playing playoff hockey in two weeks, but I just try to make the most out of it and try to be as well-prepared as I — and as we — can,” he told reporters. “Just try to work hard these next couple weeks so we’ll be ready when the puck drops.”

Laine is often critical of his own play, and has struggled at time with confidence.

Jets head coach Paul Maurice had a more positive assessment:

“He looks good. He’s shooting the puck right, he’s running his routes. Today we had a pretty darn good pace and we got some battling in today,” Maurice told reporters. “He looks right on. I guess, I don’t think anybody looks the way they’re going to in about two weeks — we all expect that, right? That’s part of building. But he is, relative to the rest of the hockey team, where they are all. So he looks good.”

Pastrnak’s back

The Bruins welcomed back one of their biggest stars on Wednesday, as David Pastrnak joined the club at camp for the first time. Like many European players, Pastrnak went home to Czech Republic during the league hiatus, and his return was delayed slightly because of international quarantine rules.

He doesn’t look like he missed a beat:

How much value should we really put on playoff experience?

NHL.com reporter Dan Rosen captured these interesting quotes from Hurricanes head coach Rod Brind’Amour on why playoff experience might not mean as much as we think this year:

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