Gifted young players like Jeff Skinner and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins will report to training camp this week, but it will be in the American Hockey League and not the locked-out NHL.
Most of the 30 teams in North America's top minor league will start with physical testing either today or Friday before beginning on-ice workouts to get ready for what could be a wild season in the AHL. The regular season opens Oct. 12.
The last NHL lockout in 2004-05 saw some youngsters like Jason Spezza, Michael Cammalleri and Eric Staal sent back to the AHL for the season, but that was a trickle compared to the flood of talent this time around.
Jordan Eberle, Adam Henrique, Adam Larsson, Sean Couturier, Brayden Schenn, Jake Gardiner, Alex Burmistrov and Slava Voynov are among players already established, at least to some degree, in the NHL who have been assigned to AHL clubs.
Top prospects who likely would have started the season in the NHL but will instead play in the second-tier league include Ryan Johansen, Sven Baertschi, Cody Hodgson, Oliver EkmanLarsson, Zack Kassian, Nino Niederreiter, Nazem Kadri, Brett Connolly, Louis Leblanc and Ryan Ellis.
Depending on how long the NHL lockout lasts, it could be a spectacular season for the 77-year-old AHL, which had a big boost in attendance during the last NHL lockout.
"I look at the names on some of the rosters and this has to be the best crop of players the league has ever seen," said Julien BriseBois, general manager of Syracuse Crunch, the Tampa Bay Lightning's top farm club.
"We're excited to see how much the level goes up and which teams take best advantage of the players that have fallen into their laps."
The big winner should be the Edmonton Oilers' affiliate, the Oklahoma City Barons, where coach Todd Nelson will have Nugent-Hopkins, Eberle and top U.S. college free agent Justin Schultz join a club already wellstocked with skilled skaters, including speedy Magnus Paajarvi.
Nelson said adding three top talents to his 16 returning players should make for a very competitive team. It could have been four if 2010 first overall draft pick Taylor Hall was not exempted due to injury.
"We felt we had a strong team going in," Nelson said. "With the addition of these three high-level players, it's exciting."
The puzzle for all AHL coaches and managers is that they have no idea how long they will have their best players. The lockout could end at any time and the Skinners and Eberles will then go back to the NHL.
"It's the AHL, so it's like that anyway," Nelson said. "Guys get called up during the season and it's not that much different."
