Despite the fact he's currently not under contract, restricted free-agent defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen participated in Buffalo Sabres practice Thursday after asking permission from general manager Tim Murray.
Ristolainen played out the final year of his entry-level deal last season, and showed up for the morning skate as a gesture of "goodwill," according to John Vogl of the Buffalo News.
While negotiations may be at a standstill, the 21-year-old showing a desire to practice with his teammates is smart, at least in the eyes of head coach Dan Bylsma.
"It's great that he wants to," Bylsma said. "The contract negotiation is between Tim and the agent, and obviously Rasmus is involved, but he wants to be back on the ice with his teammates, and that's a good thing."
As a member of the Sabres' top defensive pairing last season, Ristolainen amassed a career-high 41 points, suiting up for all 82 games.
Buffalo's regular season begins Oct. 13 versus Montreal.
William and Alexander Nylander will take the ice as opponents for the first time in their lives Thursday night.
The talented brothers are set to meet when William's Toronto Maple Leafs play Alexander's Buffalo Sabres in preseason action in St. Catharines, Ontario.
"I think (my mom) will be wearing a half-Toronto, half-Buffalo jersey," William told the Toronto Star's Kevin McGran. "(Alex has) great vision and he can score goals. Likes to shoot the puck. He's developed in every way possible."
Other than off-ice battles, this is unfamiliar territory.
"It's time to face each other. Not friends anymore," William said.
Both Nylanders were eighth overall picks: William in 2014, and Alexander this past June.
The Leafs prospect centered the top line at the morning skate, and the Sabres draft pick joined Evander Kane and Derek Grant on Buffalo's second line.
If Pekka Rinne can rebound from a disappointing season, the Predators should contend for the Central Division title, but that's a big "if."
Here's how their roster looks heading into 2016-17:
Forwards
LW
C
RW
Filip Forsberg
Ryan Johansen
Craig Smith
Colin Wilson
Mike Fisher
James Neal
Calle Jarnkrok
Mike Ribeiro
Viktor Arvidsson
Austin Watson
Colton Sissons
Miikka Salomaki
Unlike the blue line, not much will change up front for Nashville barring a last-minute move. The top-six is solid, and the only real weakness is the fourth line.
Defense
LD
RD
Roman Josi
P.K. Subban
Mattias Ekholm
Ryan Ellis
Anthony Bitetto
Yannick Weber
Subban gives the Predators a younger, more mobile, and more productive version of Shea Weber, which should pay dividends at even strength and on special teams.
Another Weber, Yannick, signed a one-year deal with Nashville on July 1.
Goalies
G
Pekka Rinne
Marek Mazanec
Rinne is still the starter, but the 33-year-old appears to be on the decline after struggling last season.
Mazanec has the edge in the battle for the backup job due to his experience, but Juuse Saros could eventually work his way into the role. Carter Hutton left to become Jake Allen's backup in St. Louis.
On the Fly, theScore's wildly successful NHL roundtable series, continues with another - and perhaps final! - World Cup installment. With its end in sight, we're reflecting on what we loved and hated about the tourney.
Love: Select teams
Craig Hagerman: What began as a gimmick appears to have been an overwhelming success.
Many pegged Team North America and Team Europe to be the weaker clubs entering the tournament, but that was quickly put to rest. North America proved it was arguably the most skilled team outside of Canada, and left fans in awe and wanting more while showing off the future of the game.
Europe, meanwhile, proved two underwhelming exhibition games meant nothing, as they rose from underdogs to finalists and served to remind the hockey world there's far more talent across the pond than only what's found in Russia and the Nordic nations.
Canada's likely to finish things up Thursday, but there's no doubt the select teams made the tournament more exciting.
Hate: No North America-Canada matchup
Navin Vaswani: How. How do you put this tournament together and not guarantee a Canada vs. North America matchup. Why. How!
The kids were always going to be the tournament's most intriguing team, and Canada the best, and a matchup between the two was one we deserved. Connor McDavid against Sidney Crosby! It could've happened in the semifinal, but Finland decided to sleepwalk through the tourney and ruined everything.
But the point is: it shouldn't have been up to the Finns to make it happen. North America did what it could, playing three entertaining games and winning two, but if this format doesn't return, if the select teams are one-and-done, the World Cup will be remembered more for what could have been: Canada versus The Kids.
We saw - and were delighted - by North America versus Sweden. Now imagine 3-on-3 overtime against the Canadians.
In the end, even a pre-tournament game would've done.
Hate: Haters
Sean O'Leary: The World Cup was nitpicked and criticized consistently leading up to its return, and the negativity didn't stop once the tournament began.
The format, uniforms, and even the participating teams caught flak, but above all else, the first best-on-best competition in more than two years was criticized as being a "cash grab."
Well, in case you're just learning, the entire premise of pro sports is to generate revenue, so bashing a league for experimenting with a refurbished idea is hardly a worthwhile argument.
A Canada-Europe final is a little anticlimactic, sure, and omitting the quarterfinal round can be called a mistake, but this tournament captivated all of us at some point, one way or another. So unless you'd rather tune into a preseason game, quit complaining.
Love: Sid the God
Justin Cuthbert: It doesn't matter where you stand on Sid; the NHL is far better off when the best player on the planet is performing like it.
Returning from a season where he went from lost to reliving championship glory, Sidney Crosby has sustained his momentum, displaying the unmatched quality from last season's title run at the NHL's curtain-raising international competition.
From the pre-tournament to the best-of-three final, he's been spectacular, and largely responsible for bringing Canada to within a win of another major title - and another trophy exchange with Gary Bettman.
Crosby has three goals and a World Cup-leading nine points, centering easily the tournament's most dominant line, a unit that's accounted for 45 percent of Canada's total offense.
We all took the time to revel in the future at this World Cup. Just don't forget to enjoy the present.
Hate: September pain
Josh Gold-Smith: We hated seeing the many injuries sustained at the tournament, particularly the ones suffered by impact players.
Tyler Seguin broke his foot; Aaron Ekblad got either a concussion or a stiff neck, depending who you ask; Matt Murray broke his hand; Marian Gaborik is going to need two months to recover from a foot injury.
Calgary Flames forward Mikael Backlund was also diagnosed with a concussion, while three of the four Dallas Stars players selected to World Cup rosters sustained some sort of ailment.
Injuries are inevitable, and there's really no better time to hold the tourney, but NHL clubs have to be thrilled it's nearing an end.
David Poile may or may not have clinched the General Manager of the Year award before the season began, but several concerns could jeopardize what many expect to be another relatively successful campaign.
The Nashville Predators' GM pulled off an indisputable heist in late June, landing 2013 Norris Trophy-winner P.K. Subban from the Montreal Canadiens for Shea Weber, but how Poile's prized acquisition fits in Nashville is only one one of the factors that will help determine whether the club takes the next step.
The Predators advanced to the second round of the playoffs last spring before being eliminated by the San Jose Sharks, but they've never qualified for the conference final in their 18-year history.
Here are three significant subplots for the Predators heading into the 2016-17 season:
Will Subban get them over the hump?
The analytics community certainly believes he'll make them better, given his superiority over Weber in many categories including puck possession, shot suppression, shot generation, playmaking, and point production.
Subban is younger than Weber, more mobile, and - even with a $9-million annual cap hit for the next six years - much more affordable.
He has a reputation for taking unnecessary risks, but the numbers don't lie. Subban is a significant upgrade and should stabilize the Predators' top defensive pairing alongside Roman Josi for the foreseeable future.
Is Rinne regressing?
This should be a bigger concern.
Pekka Rinne's workload last season (66 regular-season games and a career-high 14 playoff contests) was his largest in nine campaigns with the Predators, and it showed.
The 33-year-old posted a 2.48 GAA and a .908 save percentage, while looking at times like a league-average goaltender.
Head coach Peter Laviolette can't always afford to limit Rinne's workload, because his backup options - Marek Mazanec and Juuse Saros - are less experienced, and that's on Poile.
Rinne played for Finland in the World Cup of Hockey, and he turns 34 in early November. That doesn't bode well for a potential bounce-back season, but Roberto Luongo is still effective at age 37, so it's not unprecedented.
Can Johansen flourish in his 1st full season down south?
Ryan Johansen's production improved after his midseason trade from Columbus to Nashville in January, but even over the full campaign, his goal-scoring decreased dramatically compared to his two previous seasons.
Johansen posted eight goals and 34 points in 42 games with the Predators, and while he notched 60 points combined in 2015-16, he scored only 14 times.
The 24-year-old winger can score in bunches, collecting 59 goals in a two-year span with the Blue Jackets. If Nashville is going to take another step forward, the Predators need Johansen to produce at his previous clip..
It appears as though it won't be hugs, fist bumps, or even low fives for the Detroit Red Wings. They're bringing back good ol' fashioned, and often difficult to execute, hand slaps.
In their 5-1 preseason win over the Boston Bruins on Wednesday, Red Wings players were removing their gloves after goals, uncomfortably exchanging high fives, and just generally having a good time.
We're sure someone will take great offence to this.
His camp hasn't issued a press release, and no formal announcement has been made, but restricted free agent Tobias Rieder looks to be taking the Jacob Trouba route.
Rieder's agent, Darren Ferris, wrote in an email to Arizonasports.com's Craig Morgan that a trade from the Arizona Coyotes seems like the only way his client's contract impasse could be resolved.
"I think it would be best for both parties if they just traded him. He is really disappointed with them," Ferris stated.
Rieder, currently representing Team Europe at the World Cup of Hockey, is reportedly seeking a two-year contract worth a total of $5 million. Coyotes general manager John Chayka and his staff are reportedly unwilling to go beyond $2.2 million annually.
"It's unfortunate that a good kid gets treated this way," Ferris added. "He never balked at the defensive role they made him play, and they don't seem to value the intangibles he brings to the team."
When contacted, Chayka told Morgan that Rieder will not be dealt.
The 23-year-old scored 14 goals and 37 points, appearing in all 82 games last season.
The 34-year-old will be sidelined after suffering a lower-body injury in Tuesday's preseason game against the New York Islanders, general manager Ron Hextall confirmed on Wednesday.
The injury shouldn't keep Schultz out of any regular-season games, with the team not opening the season until Oct. 14 against the Los Angeles Kings.
Schultz played in all but one game for the Flyers last season, contributing one goals and 10 points from the back end.
