Good morning everyone.  Feels like autumn is here, and this time of the year used to mean hockey was about to start. I should be whining about how bored I am with preseason games not drumming my fingers for a pre-draft trade.

Starting Up

Some leagues are starting though. The KHL began first and is so determined to carry on that they insist teams just replace the sick and infected with juniors and callups. If you see a lot of talk about teenage prospects making their debut, that’s why. The last man standing gets the trophy, I guess.

The SHL began, and they play to nearly empty rinks and no problems so far. The Leafs have two prospects there Filip Hållander and Pontus Holmberg, and both are doing well.

The Liiga starts up in Finland tomorrow, and after some well-handled infections with Coronavirus on junior teams that lead to some shutdowns in pre-season, everything seems okay so far. Mikko Kokkonen should play for Jukurit and Kalle Loponen will likely play in the junior league.

USA hockey announced their roster for their WJC selection camp:

Which begins next week right after some of these players will be drafted. I assume Nick Robertson will be loaned to the team if available in December.

Start date of the WJC is unknown still, but the goal is to finish on January 5 as usual.

Cancelled

All NHL rookie camps and prospect and development camps were, of course, cancelled.

The Spengler Cup has been cancelled this year.

The KHL cancelled their all-star game.

Some minor hockey organizations in Ontario have cancelled their entire seasons.

NHL news

Teams continue to send players to European teams, and in some cases — Edmonton, New Jersey, Detroit, Los Angeles — in large numbers. The Leafs have not loaned every player they conceivably could, with only Mikko Lehtonen, Yegor Korshkov and Filip Kral loaned to teams when they would normally be in training camp right now. Filip Hållander was already on loan by the Penguins. All of these players will return if there is a training camp this calendar year.

Henrik Lundqvist is to be bought out today, per reports.

That’s a lot of cap space.

The Draft is Tuesday in case you’ve forgotten, and we should expect some details this week on how exactly they’re going to handle a virtual event.

But before the draft comes trades, and last year two days after the cup final is when they began, so today? Maybe?

Just remember, they’re never as exciting as they’re rumoured to be.

Have a good day everyone!

From The Branches