Today marks the opening day of the Vancouver Canucks training camp, leaving many fans with excitement and jitters to get a sneak peek into what the 2024-25 edition of the club will look like. While Canucks fans had to wait an extra day, many teams around the National Hockey League kicked off their camps yesterday.

And, oh boy, there’s been no shortage of headlines to kick off the camp.

Buffalo Sabres fans had a scare on day one of training camp as their cornerstone defenceman, Rasmus Dahlin, left the ice with an apparent injury.

The injury must have occurred early in practice, as Dahlin exited just a few minutes after hitting the ice. Head coach Lindy Ruff did not have an update on Dahlin’s status after practice.

Dahlin, 24, has been the heartbeat of this Sabres blueline since being drafted first overall in the 2018 NHL draft. Last season, the Swedish defenceman posted a 20-goal, 59-point season and is just one year removed from his career-high season of 73 points. Dahlin has stayed relatively healthy throughout his six-year NHL career, only missing more than four games in one season.

If Dahin’s absence extends into the regular season, Owen Power and Bowen Byram will be expected to carry the load on the Sabres blueline. Buffalo open up their season on Friday, October 4, as part of the NHL’s Global Series in Prague, Czech Republic.

Back-to-back general manager of the year award winner Jim Nill announced that star forward Jason Robertson will miss most of training camp. The Stars’ leading scorer over the last two seasons will be out after having a cyst removed midway through the offseason. However, don’t fret, Stars fans; Robertson is expected to be ready for the start of the season.

“He will not skate with the main team just because of we’re going to restrict his activity and monitor his foot to make sure everything is healed properly,” Nill said. “The plan is maybe late in camp to get a little bit more action. … It’s just really a healing process now.”

Robertson, 25, is coming off a down season, scoring 29 goals and 80 points and is just one season removed from a 46-goal, 103-point campaign. Dallas makes their season debut on Thursday, October 10, against the Nashville Predators.

The Tampa Bay Lightning have a new man wearing the ‘C’ on his sweater, and you probably could have guessed who it would be as soon as Steven Stamkos left the club: Victor Hedman.

Hedman, 33, was drafted second overall by the Lightning in 2009 and has spent his entire NHL career in Tampa Bay. In over 1,000 NHL games, Hedman has accumulated 156 goals and 728 points — good for 27th on the all-time points by a defenceman and fourth among active blueliners.

The 6’7″ Swedish defenceman became the first Lightning to win the Norris Trophy as the NHL’s top defender in 2018, where he had 17 goals and 63 points in 77 regular season games. The leading point-getter by a defenceman in Lightning history has served as an alternate captain since the 2018-2019 season, well deserving of the captain’s role.

“We are thrilled to have Victor leading our team as the 11^th captain in franchise history,” said Lightning GM Julien BriseBois. “Victor is a cornerstone player that is extremely well respected by his teammates, coaches and peers across the NHL. Over the past 15 seasons, he has been a world-class representative for our organization both on and off the ice. Victor embodies what it means to be a member of the Tampa Bay Lightning and is more than ready for this exciting opportunity. We are looking forward to watching him flourish in his new role as we continue to work towards our goal of winning the Stanley Cup.”

In the same announcement, Tampa Bay listed Nikita Kucherov and Ryan McDonagh as alternate captains.

This one made headlines Wednesday morning as Boston Bruins general manager Don Sweeney informed us that goaltender Jeremy Swayman would not report to training camp without a contract extension.

Swayman, 25, is coming off a great season and an exceptional playoff run. In the regular season, Swayman had a 25-10-8 record, boasting a 2.53 goals against average (GAA) and a .916 save percentage (S%), with three shutouts. But it was the playoffs where Swayman took flight, finishing with a 6-6 record, a 2.12 GAA and a .933 S%.

“Every day that Jeremy is out,” Sweeney explained. “It hurts our team and it hurts him, because of the preparation that we’d like to do and he needs to do.”

Earlier in this offseason, the Bruins traded their 1A to Swayman’s 1B, Linus Ullmark, to the Ottawa Senators in exchange for goaltender Joonas Korpisalo, Mark Kastelic and the 25th overall pick in the 2024 draft (Dean Letourneau). When they made this move, the Bruins were expecting to get a deal done with Swayman well before training camp. Now, the organization may be paying for it.

The former fourth-round draft pick is coming off a one-year $3.475 million deal. According to AFP Analytics, Swayman is projected to earn $6.43 million per season on a five-year contract. The Bruins have $8.64 million of available cap space. According to the rumour mill, Swayman is asking for upwards of $8 million per season. However, these rumours are to be taken with a grain of salt.

Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman chimed in, saying the Bruins GM was optimistic the two sides would come to an agreement before December 1 – which would be Game 26 into the season…

Boston kicks off their season on October 8 against the Florida Panthers.

The New Jersey Devils have had quite the offseason, bringing in what they hope to be the star goaltender they’ve been looking for, Jacob Markstrom, while also addressing help on the backend, signing defenceman Brett Pesce and Brenden Dillon. However, forward Dawson Mercer remains unsigned as training camp starts.

Mercer, 22, has been a consistent player since becoming a mainstay in the Devils lineup during the 2021-2022 season. He’s played all 82 games in each of the three seasons of his career, scoring 64 goals and 131 points in 246 games. Last season was a bit of a down year as he flirted with time on all three lines in the top nine, but he still managed to produce 20 goals and 33 points.

The 2020 first-round pick is coming off his three-year entry-level contract that paid him $894,167 per season. According to AFP Analytics, Mercer is projected to earn $6.52 million on a long-term deal and $3.79 million on a short-term contract. The Devils have $4.98 million of available cap space remaining.

The two sides remain far apart in negotiations, but a deal is believed to be done at some point during training camp. The Devils will have until Friday, October 4, to get Mercer signed before their season kicks off against the Buffalo Sabres in the NHL’s Global Series in Prague, Czech Republic.