The 2019-20 season is essentially underway as the United Kingdom kicked off its exhibition schedule in the Elite Ice Hockey League (EIHL) over the weekend.
That means the North American games are not far behind and we are under 50 days to the start of the season.
There are still a number of players who are about to enter training camp in the NHL who are without new contracts including Patrik Laine of the Winnipeg Jets. The presence of these new-old players will affect greatly the whole league. We can expect many surprises in the upcoming games. As we are getting closer and closer to the beginning, the number of fans who look for NHL betting pundits and sites are increasing. With so many surprises ahead, with the possibility of success and failure, there are always fans ready to gain.
Laine opened last season with a hot streak that cooled off in mid November, and he never really regained the form. The Jets challenged for the Western Conference crown late in the season, but with so many players ghosting the lineup late they were bounced in the first round of the playoffs by the eventual Cup winners, St Louis Blues.
Laine played himself out of a lucrative new contract and now sees himself as a maybe for the Jets this season.
“You never know. It’s still business, you’ve got to be prepared for anything,” Laine said via Sportsnet. “You never know where you are going to play next year, so I am just prepared for anything.”
Laine was in Finland this week for a tournament.
“[A contract] would have to happen pretty quickly,” Laine said. “It happens on its own time, and I’m not in any rush about it.”
In a part of the season where everyone is waiting on the first restricted player to sign, Mikko Rantanen is also sitting in the waiting room with the Colorado Avalanche, but his status is different from Laine.
It’s not likely Rantanen will be moving away from Denver. In fact, it’s likely he will suit up for the training camp schedule with or without a contract.
“Nothing’s wrong; there’s still one month until [training] camp starts,” Rantanen said from Lahti, Finland. “I know what’s happening, but I’m not stressful. There are a lot of players who are in the same situation.
“[It’s] nice that I’m trusted and the club wants to make a [long-term] deal. Let’s see what happens … The situation hasn’t bothered me.”
Rantanen was a crucial piece of the Avs’ run to the playoffs this past season where they knocked off the Calgary Flames in the first round.
“Looking forward to the opportunity to have Mikko back,” Avs general manager Joe Sakic said, “and I’m sure he’ll be back here.”
It’s difficult to imagine the Avs letting Rantanen go anywhere, so look for both sides to come to an agreement ahead of the opening of camp.
“I’m a leading player, and I want to lead this team all the way,” Rantanen said. “We need to be constant as a team. We had a good start but then we won six or seven games in [our next] 30 games. Those dips can’t be there if we want to be a winning team and go far in the spring.”
The one big name still not re-signed is Mitchell Marner, of the Toronto Maple Leafs. Bad decisions and loose purse strings have led the Leafs to a a restricted budget. They’ve jettisoned expensive players like Nazim Kadri in a trade but they still need to find a cache of significant dollars to keep Marner, at least for two years until the salary cap goes up sufficiently to retain his services more long term.
“There’s a lot of restricted free agents unsigned still, a lot of guys in a similar position as him,” John Tavares said on the TSN website a week ago.. “So there’s still some time here and I think we all believe the right thing will happen and something will get worked out. I think that’s what both sides obviously want.
“Sometimes it takes a little bit longer than others, and Mitch is obviously an important player for our team, just the type of guy he is as well. We really count on him, so obviously we want to get him there for Day One of camp and get moving forward and continue to kind of build this thing and work toward the ultimate goal.”
Toronto is in the red on cap space according to capfriendly.com.
The Leafs need a plan or a printing machine to solve the Marner issue.
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