It’s often taken for granted that hockey players will come to training camp fully healthy and ready to go. After all, they’ve had several months off by that point. The grind of an NHL season has melted away and they’ve had time to rest nagging injuries or correct bigger problems.
However, last season the Dallas Stars learned that you really shouldn’t take healthy players coming into training camp for granted.
At no point during camp and throughout the season did they have a fully healthy roster. Injuries sustained during offseason training (a la Jamie Benn) or at the World Cup of Hockey (a la Ales Hemsky), and even those sustained during training camp itself (a la Cody Eakin), set the team up for a rocky start from day one.