Absences not easy to ignore
ARLINGTON, Va. — Sidney Crosby’s injured left wrist and Evgeni Malkin’s right knee are keeping them off the ice in Pittsburgh. Jack Eichel and the Sabres cannot agree on a course of action for his back problems. Evander Kane and the Sharks agreed it’s best he stay away.
Training camps got under way around the NHL on Thursday with several big-name stars nowhere to be found. From the Capitals’ Nicklas Backstrom being considered week to week while rehabbing a hip injury to the Canucks not knowing how long they’ll be without unsigned Quinn Hughes and Elias Pettersson, the absences overshadowed the attendance in many places on the first day of on-ice workouts.
With more than two weeks until the regular season, there’s also no reason to rush.
“I think you see with the compressed schedule that we’ve had over the last couple seasons that there’s injuries that need to be maintained,” Caps GM Brian MacLellan said. “Especially if you’re an older player, (it’s important) that you take the time to get it healed properly and don’t insert the player into the lineup too early.”
The archrival Penguins will have at least a couple of weeks to see how they play without Malkin and Crosby. Malkin is expected to return in late November at the earliest and Crosby will miss at least the first two weeks of meaningful games.
“They are two generational talents, arguably the best players of their generation, and so those guys aren’t easy to replace,” coach Mike Sullivan said. “Having said that, I think whenever players go down from an injury standpoint, it’s going to provide opportunity for others and others need to step up.”
Someone else will — eventually — step up as the Sabres captain after Eichel was stripped of the title amid his stalemate with the team over how to treat a herniated disk that has sidelined him for six months. Under the NHL’s new collective bargaining agreement reached last year, teams now have the final say on how players can treat injuries, so the Sabres could eventually opt to suspend Eichel, which would likely lead to him filing a grievance.
In San Jose, Kane was cleared of allegations he gambled on his own and other hockey games, but the league is still investigating allegations of sexual and physical abuse made by his estranged wife.
The Sharks said a mutual decision was made for him not to attend camp.
“I don’t think it’s any different than guys getting hurt, not being there for lineup,” Sharks defenseman Brent Burns said. “We don’t worry about that stuff. We can’t. There’s too much other stuff.”
Asked if Kane would be welcomed back, captain Logan Couture said, “What happens in the dressing room stays in the room.”
Some returns Thursday were happy ones. Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews is practicing with teammates again after missing all of last season and said with a smile, “It feels really good to be back.”