GOLDEN KNIGHTS

NOTEBOOK

The Knights spent their first full day in the NHL’S secure zone in Edmonton, Alberta, on Monday after arriving Sunday. Their initial impressions of their digs at the JW Marriott Edmonton ICE District hotel appear to be largely positive, which is important because they might be spending more than two months there.

“It’s been good,” Stone said. “Landed yesterday, got through customs nice and smoothly. Got comfortable with the hotel. They’ve got a great setup here.”

Coach Pete Deboer said he was impressed by the level of detail the NHL put into the area since the league didn’t have much time to prepare. Stone, for instance, said a picture of him and his fiancee was waiting in his hotel room when he arrived.

Deboer also liked Terwillegar Recreation Centre, the practice facility the Knights skated at Monday about 25 minutes away from their hotel.

He was even happier with his new coaches’ office in a Rogers Place suite. The NHL is giving each coaching staff one since locker rooms will rotate throughout the competition. Deboer said he went to see it immediately after checking in and dropping his stuff off.

“It’s fantastic,” Deboer said. “Everything’s been first class.”

Deboer and right wing Alex Tuch said they felt safe in their new surroundings.

The NHL said Monday that zero players tested positive for COVID-19 during the last week of training camp, and the league hopes that won’t change now that its personnel is separated from the outside world by fencing.

“There were a lot of skeptics,” Deboer said. “I’ll be honest, I had some skeptical days through the pause where you wondered if you would ever get to this point. I think the fact that we’re all here now, you see everybody skating, game prep (is) starting to ramp up, you feel like you’re in a safe environment, it looks to me like we’re going to get this done. That’s an exciting feeling.”