1 question facing each Canadian NHL team as training camps near

NHL training camps open the week of Sept. 15, with the first preseason game (St. Louis at Dallas) going Sept. 20. In other words, hockey's almost back. Here's one question facing each Canadian team two weeks from camps.

Calgary Flames

When and how does the Rasmus Andersson saga conclude?

An Andersson-Flames breakup feels positively inevitable.

It's a matter of when a trade happens, where the pending unrestricted free agent goes, and what level of distraction the situation causes in the interim.

Andersson's a two-way defenseman who can play in all situations and log a ton of minutes. The right-shot Swede is entering the final season of a six-year deal carrying a $4.55-million salary cap hit - an attractive number for a UFA of his caliber. Andersson owns a six-team no-trade list, according to PuckPedia.

The Kings were rumored to be a landing spot a few months ago, but GM Ken Holland signed free agent Cody Ceci to round out the right side of his blue line. The Stars and Golden Knights make sense as Stanley Cup contenders who should upgrade their right-handed defense corps soon (and definitely before March's trade deadline).

One intriguing wrinkle: If 19-year-old righty Zayne Parekh makes the opening-night roster and impresses to start the season, Flames GM Craig Conroy will be further incentivized to move Andersson ASAP. In that scenario, Andersson and Parekh would battle for top-four minutes with MacKenzie Weegar.

Edmonton Oilers

Who mans Connor McDavid's and Leon Draisaitl's wings?

McDavid told reporters last week that he has every intention to win in Edmonton. Yet the world's best player, eligible to sign a contract extension since July 1, hasn't put pen to paper on a new deal with the Oilers. It's not a stretch to suggest No. 97 is underwhelmed by the front office's offseason work.

Goaltending went unchanged (another year of Stuart Skinner and Calvin Pickard, yikes) and nobody of note was added to the blue line. The forward group, meanwhile, experienced a fair amount of turnover. Evander Kane, Viktor Arvidsson, Corey Perry, Jeff Skinner, and Connor Brown are out; Andrew Mangiapane, Isaac Howard, Trent Frederic, and Curtis Lazar are in.

The top six will feature McDavid and Hart Trophy finalist Draisaitl at center and Zach Hyman on the wing. The three remaining spots are ostensibly up for grabs. Howard, the reigning Hobey Baker Award winner acquired from the Lightning in July, could potentially fit on the first line alongside McDavid and Hyman. He's a quick, competitive goal-scorer with good vision and handles.

Matthew Savoie, picked up in a 2024 trade with the Sabres, is a similar player to Howard. He's also 21 years old, but he's more experienced with 77 NHL/AHL games under his belt.

The bigger issue is filling out the second line. Vasily Podkolzin and Arvidsson were Draisaitl's most frequent linemates last season - not good enough. Forechecker Podkolzin probably stays. Mangiapane (career-high 35 goals in 2021-22) or Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (versatile skill set but also a strong 3C option) can take Arvidsson's spot to inject reliable finishing chops.

Montreal Canadiens

What's Martin St. Louis' plan for their defensive woes?

The upstart Canadiens finished 17th in goals scored in 2024-25. A full season of offensive dynamo Ivan Demidov and organic growth from Juraj Slafkovsky, Lane Hutson, and other youngsters will surely bring Montreal into the top 15, if not top 10. Put another way, the Habs' offense is on an upward trajectory.

The defensive puzzle is trickier. Last year, Montreal finished 22nd in goals against for the lowest rank among all playoff teams. Part of the issue was goaltending - starter Sam Montembeault showed well but wasn't spectacular. The rest of it was what happened (or didn't happen) in front of the goalie.

Check out how poorly the Canadiens ranked in six key defensive metrics:

Coach St. Louis installed a hybrid defensive-zone system (mix of man-on-man and zone coverages) to start 2024-25 but bailed on it following a rocky October. It's hard to tease out exactly how much of the failure came down to the strategy itself versus the scheme being too much, too soon for a young roster.

There's no one-size-fits-all answer to defense. NHL teams can win by playing man-on-man, zone, or hybrid. St. Louis, who's entering his fourth full season as coach, must find the right approach for Montreal's specific collection of players.

Ottawa Senators

Can Carter Yakemchuk crack the opening-night roster?

Yakemchuk, the seventh overall pick in the 2024 draft, was the final cut at Senators training camp last fall after leading the squad in preseason scoring with five points in three games. The 6-foot-4, 207-pound right-handed defenseman was then inexplicably left off Team Canada's world juniors roster.

Yakemchuk, who turns 20 in late September, didn't allow those two setbacks to derail his fourth and final season in the WHL. While the offense-first blue-liner's production dipped year over year, he made significant strides on the defensive side of the puck, improving his gap control, stick work, D-zone positioning, and more. He can now pair his bold offensive game with reliability.

Yakemchuk is set to begin his pro career, and the native of Fort McMurray, Alberta, will be given every opportunity to earn an NHL job. The organization is very high on him. If he's cut again, plenty of ice time awaits in the AHL.

Ottawa has done a terrific job of building out its defense corps. The sky's the limit for stud Jake Sanderson; Thomas Chabot and Tyler Kleven fill out the left side nicely; Artem Zub, Nick Jensen, and Jordan Spence patrol the right in complementary ways; and Nikolas Matinpalo, another RHD, is solid insurance.

Toronto Maple Leafs

How do the Leafs line up without Mitch Marner?

The top of Toronto's roster was predictable for the better part of a decade: Auston Matthews and Marner on the first line, and John Tavares and William Nylander on the second. Each line's third wheel would change periodically.

Marner's off to Vegas, which leaves a gaping hole at right wing and a general sense that ice time will be distributed more evenly. Three other members of the 2024-25 Leafs forward group - Pontus Holmberg, Connor Dewar, and Max Pacioretty - aren't returning, while Matias Maccelli, Nicolas Roy, and Dakota Joshua arrived through trades.

Here's one logical configuration (newcomers in bold):

Line 1 is all about putting Matthews in a position to succeed. Both wingers have chemistry with the captain, who bagged 69 goals in 2023-24; Knies can use his power game and puck-hounding skills to win battles, and Domi can execute high-end passes. The trio outscored the opposition 3-1 (and destroyed them in expected goals 2.3-0.8) in 43 five-on-five minutes last season.

Maccelli can assume a similar role to Domi's for Line 2, playing maestro with the puck to feed Nylander off the rush and Tavares in the net-front area. The Finn is by no means a Marner replacement (career high 57 points); however, his craftiness and slipperiness with the puck have a Marner-like quality.

Vancouver Canucks

What's the dynamic in a competitive goalies room?

Everybody knows this coming season is massive for Elias Pettersson. But enough has been written recently about the NHL's biggest underachiever.

Vancouver's heavy investment in goaltending is far more interesting. Thatcher Demko and Kevin Lankinen are signed through 2028-29 and 2029-30, respectively. The duo accounts for $9.5 million against the cap this season before jumping to $13 million in 2026-27 as Demko's extension kicks in. That isn't a burdensome amount of money - the cap's rising - but it isn't nothing either.

Demko, a 2024 Vezina Trophy finalist, is the No. 1 guy. However, Lankinen didn't sign a five-year deal in February to be a traditional backup. It's safe to assume Canucks head coach Adam Foote and goalie coach Marko Torenius will aim for a games-played split of around 50/32. (St. Louis, with 1A Jordan Binnington and 1B Joel Hofer, is a good template - 54/28 last season.)

Demko was limited to 23 appearances in 2024-25 due to multiple injuries. He's back to full health and worked closely with renowned goalie trainer Adam Francilia this summer. The 29-year-old won't be hurting for motivation after he didn't receive an invite to Team USA's Olympic orientation camp in August.

Winnipeg Jets

How does Jonathan Toews look after two full seasons off?

Every pundit under the sun noted the Jets' second-line center problem last season. Mark Scheifele at 1C and Adam Lowry at 3C - fantastic. But Vlad Namestnikov at 2C alongside Cole Perfetti and Nik Ehlers was underwhelming for a club with Cup aspirations like the Presidents' Trophy-winning Jets.

GM Kevin Cheveldayoff may have found a short-term solution this offseason, inking Toews to a one-year, $2-million deal (which includes $3 million in potential bonuses). On the surface, the signing's a home run: A decorated Manitoban athlete returns home to help Winnipeg win its first Cup and his fourth personally. Hold on a second, though. Toews is 37 and has appeared in only 124 games since the start of the 2020-21 season - zero since April 2023! - due to health issues. He spent five weeks detoxing in India last year in an attempt to recover from long COVID and chronic inflammatory response syndrome.

Assuming he doesn't encounter any setbacks, does Toews realistically settle in as an overqualified bottom-six center? Do the Jets roll with Scheifele-Namestnikov-Lowry-Toews down the middle and it works because Toews is well-insulated by the others?

John Matisz is theScore's senior NHL writer. Follow John on Twitter/X (@MatiszJohn) or contact him via email ([email protected]).