Columbus Blue Jackets head coach John Tortorella still isn't sure why Pierre-Luc Dubois wants to be traded, and he offered the budding forward some advice.

"(Dubois) hasn't given a reason why he wants to leave," Tortorella said Wednesday, according to 1st Ohio Battery. "He should get in front of it. That's the way I think you should go about your business and be the best team you can be."

Dubois, 22, signed a two-year, $10-million deal with the Blue Jackets on Dec. 31 as a restricted free agent, avoiding a long-term pact. He reportedly made it known prior to signing that he preferred a change of scenery.

The relationship between Dubois and the club apparently deteriorated during offseason negotiations. The Quebec native said recently that he doesn't want his situation to be a distraction for his teammates.

Tortorella's demanding approach was on full display in the bubble last summer when he and Dubois had a heated exchange on the bench during Game 2 of their qualifying-round series against the Toronto Maple Leafs. The 6-foot-3 pivot responded the next game, potting a hat trick in Columbus' victory.

The Blue Jackets selected Dubois third overall at the 2016 draft. He's tallied 65 goals and 158 points through 234 career contests.

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San Jose Sharks forward Evander Kane has filed for bankruptcy with $26.8 million worth of debt, according to The Athletic's Daniel Kaplan.

Kane reportedly has assets of only $10.2 million, largely from his three homes. The filing also said Kane may not play this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic and birth of his first child.

"Debtor may terminate his contract and he may opt out of the season, as allowed under current rules, because of health concerns given the recent birth of his first child," the bankruptcy petition said. "Should he terminate his contract or opt out at a point in the season, Debtor will not receive his salary."

The NHL opt-out deadline for the 2020-21 season was Dec. 24, however, and the bankruptcy petition is dated Jan. 9. It hasn't been clarified how Kane could still opt out at this point.

Centennial Bank filed a lawsuit last week against Kane and the Sharks seeking $8.3 million. It's one of six active lawsuits, court actions, and administrative proceedings with lenders listed in the complaint.

Kane inked a seven-year, $49-million pact with the Sharks in 2018 and has earned $52 million over 11 NHL seasons.

The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas settled a lawsuit against Kane for unpaid gambling bills last year.

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Philadelphia Flyers forward Nolan Patrick will be in the lineup for the first time in over 21 months when the club opens its season against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Wednesday.

Patrick, 22, missed the entire 2019-20 campaign due to a migraine disorder. The 6-foot-2 pivot said he felt good during the Flyers' scrimmage Sunday and is ready to return.

"Made a couple mistakes out there, but my energy level felt good, thought our line created quite a few scoring chances," Patrick said, according to NHL.com's Adam Kimelman. "Lot of fun being back out there. ... I feel really good and I'll be ready for Wednesday."

Head coach Alain Vigneault complimented the play of Patrick, who centered a line flanked by James van Riemsdyk and Jakub Voracek.

"I thought he did a lot of the right things on the ice," Vigneault said. "Thought that line had some chemistry and some good moments. For him and for our team, that's a step in the right direction."

The Flyers selected Patrick with the second overall pick of the 2017 draft, but the Manitoba native has had tough injury luck since, including a sports hernia issue ahead of his rookie campaign.

Patrick has amassed 26 goals and 61 points while averaging 14:24 of ice time in 145 career outings.

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Ottawa Senators rookie Tim Stuetzle reflected on his first taste of the NHL after making his training camp debut Sunday.

"An unbelievable day," Stuetzle said, according to TSN's Brent Wallace.

"To be on the ice with NHL guys … for me it's just very excited for sure," he added. "I was nervous at the beginning, but like I said before, the boys did all the best to get the nerves away from me, so I felt good, and I felt very comfortable on the ice with them."

Stuetzle, 18, enters camp fresh off a strong showing for Germany at the world juniors in Edmonton. He mustered five goals and 10 points through five games and helped the nation reach the quarterfinals for the first time at the tournament.

The 6-foot-1 pivot was selected third overall by the Senators at the 2020 draft in October and will play a key role in the club's rebuild. Stuetzle understands the pressure of being a lottery pick and is hungry to live up to expectations.

"I mean, it's great for me, obviously, but first I need to prove (myself) here on that level," he said, per Wallace. "And that's my goal. I hope I'm going to have a good training camp and play a good season."

Ottawa isn't expected to be a playoff contender in 2020-21, but adding Stuetzle, along with offseason pickups Evgenii Dadonov, Braydon Coburn, Matt Murray, and several others, gives the club a more competitive lineup.

Stuetzle is slated to make his NHL debut Friday at home against the Toronto Maple Leafs.

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The New Jersey Devils signed forward Jesper Bratt to a two-year deal with an average annual value of $2.75 million, the team announced Sunday.

Bratt, 22, becomes a restricted free agent when the deal expires.

The 5-foot-10 winger tallied a career-high 16 goals - including a team-leading 15 at even strength - and 16 assists through 60 games in 2019-20.

New Jersey selected Bratt in the sixth round of the 2016 NHL Draft, but he ranks eighth in scoring among all skaters picked that year. He's amassed 37 goals and 100 points over 185 career outings.

The Devils have no outstanding restricted free agents and own $9.61 million in projected cap space, according to CapFriendly.

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Edmonton Oilers forward James Neal skated with the club for the first time Saturday but likely won't be available to start the season.

Neal, 33, quarantined for 14 days after being deemed unfit to play. The Oilers begin their season against the Vancouver Canucks on Wednesday.

"It's 14 days. It's a long time," Neal said, according to NHL.com's Tim Campbell. "You just have to go by the rules and be safe here. It's frustrating but you have to keep your team safe and yourself."

The winger enjoyed a bounce-back campaign in 2019-20, his first with the Oilers. He ranked fourth on the club with 19 goals and added 12 assists in 55 contests.

Neal got off to a torrid start with 11 goals in 14 games last October, but head coach Dave Tippett doesn't anticipate the veteran being available to provide the Oilers with the same early season boost this year.

"He basically was off the ice for almost a month so it's going to take him some time to get up and going here," Tippett said. "But he's got a great attitude. He jumps in there and he's been working hard. But he's got a ways to go yet."

Neal was on pace last season to hit the 20-goal mark over 82 games for the 11th time in his 12-year career.

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Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid is excited to watch teammate Jesse Puljujarvi excel at training camp after the winger's roller-coaster NHL journey.

"He's a huge part of our team," McDavid told reporters Friday.

He added: "I think if he can make strides like he looks like he has then that's big for our team ... I think (it's) just communicating with him, keeping his confidence up."

The Oilers selected Puljujarvi fourth overall in 2016. He's struggled to carve out a permanent role with the club and spent last season playing overseas.

The 22-year-old led Karpat of the Finnish League with 53 points through 56 games in 2019-20. Oilers head coach Dave Tippett expressed his confidence in Puljujarvi's growth, calling him "a different player" in the fall.

McDavid believes the 6-foot-4 winger will thrive if he can maintain his positive demeanor on the ice.

"He's got the biggest smile and is such a happy guy playing hockey," he said. "He loves the game, loves to be out there so you've just got to keep that love for the game.

"I mean you could see he was probably losing it a little bit at the end of his time with us in his first stint, so it's great to see him come back and look so excited and so happy playing the game."

Puljujarvi has amassed 17 goals and 20 assists over 137 career contests and should get an opportunity in the Oilers' top-six forward group to begin the season.

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Anaheim Ducks head coach Dallas Eakins condemned the violent protests by supporters of President Donald Trump at the United States Capitol on Wednesday.

"When I was young, 18 or 19 years old, it was like this pause and you'd look up at these buildings and how long they had been there and what they meant to this country and what they have endured over the years and all the unbelievably important decisions that went on there," Eakins said Thursday, according to The Orange County Register's Elliott Teaford.

"And what happened yesterday is something we usually see on TV, and it's a reporter very far away in another country showing us what's going on in another country," he added. "And to me, the amount of sacrifice that all these people who have put their lives on the line, around the world, in the military to keep us safe, to keep us safe from something like that, it literally sickens me."

Eakins was born in Florida and has coached in both the United States and Canada. He voiced his frustration with how divided the U.S. is and the violence that has arisen as a result.

"It makes me want to tear up. It makes me angry that we don't have the common sense to debate, talk, use your vote, anything peaceful to get change," he said. "You might see things one way. I might see things another. That doesn't mean we've got to stand there and punch the crap out of each other."

The Ducks began their training camp last week, and Eakins said Wednesday's events were "a big topic" in the club's dressing room.

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The NHL's landscape looks slightly different this season as clubs have been temporarily realigned into new divisions to restrict travel amid the pandemic.

With so much parity in today's game, the balance of talent remains rather consistent across the four groups, but some will inevitably be tougher than others.

After evaluating each division's talent pool, we've ranked them from weakest to strongest.

4. West

The West may be headlined by a trio of elite Stanley Cup contenders, but there's a pretty steep drop off after that.

The Avalanche, Blues, and Golden Knights will likely jockey for the top three seeds while the other five teams - who each finished among the bottom 11 clubs in the NHL last season - will look to seize a playoff opportunity that may not have existed without the realignment.

Hockey has seen brighter days in California. The 2019-20 campaign marked just the second time - and first since 1995-96 - that the Ducks, Kings, and Sharks all missed the postseason. Neither of the three will be much of a threat this year, either, and the increased number of late-season matchups between the clubs will make the draft lottery picture all the more interesting.

The Wild enter the campaign with one of the league's slimmest depth charts at center ice, and the Coyotes fell backward into the playoffs last season even with Taylor Hall on the roster. When it comes to competitive balance, it doesn't get any more lopsided than the West.

3. Central

The Central is led by last year's Stanley Cup finalists in the Lightning and Stars, with the budding Hurricanes hoping its young talented cast can take another leap this season. Six of the eight clubs finished in the top half of the league in 2019-20, and five of them advanced to the Round of 16 in the playoffs.

The Blue Jackets, Panthers, and Predators are clubs with relatively high floors but questionable ceilings. Nashville has a ton of talent and vastly outplayed Arizona in its best-of-five series last summer despite losing in four games. It'll be interesting to see how the club responds with a fresh start. Florida and Columbus made some key lineup changes over the offseason and will be competitive on most nights.

Detroit will continue its rebuild and are likely to finish at the bottom again. Other than that, however, the division is pretty open. If the Blackhawks were entering the season healthy, we could've seen any four of the top seven clubs clinching a playoff berth.

North

The Canadian division will be an absolute treat for fans across the country, and every game will be worth tuning into. Outside of the rebuilding Senators, who will be much harder to play against this season, the division is completely up for grabs.

The other six clubs have high expectations for the season ahead. Though neither team is a heavy Stanley Cup favorite, all can author deep postseason runs and perhaps even capture a championship. The Maple Leafs and Canadiens are improved on paper. The Flames and Jets have a ton of potential. The Canucks and Oilers look to continue to build off of promising 2019-20 campaigns.

There's no shortage of star power in the division. The group includes some of the best under-25 talents in the league, including Connor McDavid, Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, Patrik Laine, Kyle Connor, Elias Pettersson, Quinn Hughes, Nick Suzuki, Thomas Chabot, and the Tkachuk brothers, to name a few.

The North is full of parity and the most difficult to call. However, the fact it's the only realigned group with seven teams slightly increases each club's odds of a playoff berth, so it can't claim the top spot.

East

The East is absolutely stacked. It's home to five of the NHL's top 11 teams from a season ago, and one of those clubs is guaranteed to miss the next playoffs.

The Bruins may take a slight step back after losing Torey Krug and Zdeno Chara this summer, but their championship window isn't shut just yet. The Capitals, Penguins, and Islanders have established themselves as perennial contenders. The Flyers finally appear to have found their identity with netminder Carter Hart providing the long-missing ingredient between the pipes.

Both the Sabres and Rangers added franchise-altering pieces in Hall and Alexis Lafreniere, respectively, and each team must be taken seriously. The clubs have two of the most dangerous top-six forward units in the league, and although depth and defense remain a question mark, Buffalo and New York are capable of knocking off any opponent on any given night.

New Jersey appears to be at least another year away from being back in the playoff picture, but the team made noteworthy improvements toward the end of 2019-20 and won't roll over for any opponent this season.

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Team USA defeated Canada 2-0 to capture its fifth gold medal at the World Junior Championship and first since 2017.

More to come.

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