Russian NHL players from the San Jose Sharks and Nashville Predators will be permitted to play games in Prague, despite the Czech government having previously said they weren't welcome there due to the war in Ukraine.

Nashville and San Jose are set to play regular-season games Oct. 7 and 8 at Prague's O2 Arena as part of the 2022 NHL Global Series in Europe. The Sharks' Alexander Barabanov and Evgeny Svechnikov, as well as Nashville's Yakov Trenin, are Russian-born players.

The Predators have brought back former goaltender Pekka Rinne in a new role as a special alumni advisor.

General manager David Poile announced the move Thursday. Rinne is the only player in franchise history whose number has been retired.

Young 40-goal scorer Jason Robertson is expected to miss the start of training camp for the Dallas Stars because the team and the restricted free agent haven't agreed on a new contract.

General manager Jim Nill said Wednesday there has been steady, ongoing negotiations over the last couple of weeks with Robertson and his representatives. Nill wouldn't say what has kept the two sides from reaching a deal, adding there have been "very good discussions."

Toronto Maple Leafs general manager Kyle Dubas said he does not have a contract beyond the 2022-23 NHL season but doesn't see that becoming a distraction for himself or the team.

"I'm more than happy to go through the year and be evaluated on the year and then have the decision made, because I believe in our group," Dubas said on the first day of Toronto Maple Leafs camp on Wednesday.

David Quinn has two more days of blue skies and ocean waves and sandy sidewalks before he sets to the task ahead of him: coaching the San Jose Sharks.

It's been a whirlwind of a summer: preparations for the complete rebuild of his beach house, 23 rounds of golf, and a second chance at coaching in the NHL after a year away, a year that nearly saw him go stir crazy after he was fired by the New York Rangers on May 12, 2021, after three seasons as coach. It might have happened had he not been handed the reins to the U.S. men's national team for the 2022 Beijing Olympics and 2022 IIHF World Championship.

"It was very odd," Quinn said. "You can't prepare for it. You know when you get to this level you're going to get fired eventually. You've got to stay mentally strong and stay involved. You're always asking your team to be mentally tough and your players to be mentally tough and I think that tests a coach when you get fired for the first time in your life."

The San Jose Sharks and former forward Evander Kane have settled a grievance over his contract termination last season before the matter went to arbitration.

The NHLPA filed a grievance on behalf of Kane in January after the Sharks terminated his deal, citing a breach of his contract and a violation AHL COVID-19 protocols. Kane was in the fourth year of a seven-year, $49 million contract that paid him $7 million on average annually.

Kane signed a free-agent contract with the Edmonton Oilers last season and then signed a four-year extension with the Oilers this summer.

An NHL source tells ESPN that the settlement is expected to bridge the gap between the money owed Kane by the Sharks and the money he's making on his new deal with the Oilers.

The Winnipeg Jets will not have a captain at the start of the season, the team announced Friday.

Forward Blake Wheeler had been captain for the past six seasons; he was named to the role Aug. 31, 2016. Forward Mark Scheifele and defenseman Josh Morrissey were alternate captains last season, as was forward Paul Stastny, who signed with the Carolina Hurricanes on Aug. 23.

"It is the determination of the coaching staff that we will enter the 2022-23 season without a specific captain, but rather a group of assistants still to be determined," Jets coach Rick Bowness said. 

Brad Marchand will skate Friday for the first time since the Boston Bruins forward had surgery in May.

Marchand was expected to need six months to recover from a hip arthroscopy and labral repair on each hip and is on track to return in late November.

"It's pretty much like learning how to skate again," Marchand told the Bruins website at the Bruins Foundation Golf Tournament in Plymouth, Massachusetts, on Thursday. "Very light for this next little while and then hopefully progress each week. … The last few days of November is kind of the target date (to return)."

Nathan MacKinnon expects to sign a contract extension with the Colorado Avalanche soon, and it could make him the highest-paid player in the NHL.

MacKinnon wants to get something done before the season starts next month, adding he'll shelve talks if an agreement isn't reached by Oct. 12 when the reigning champions raise their Stanley Cup banner and begin their title defense.

Alexandra Mandrycky has been promoted by the Seattle Kraken to assistant general manager, becoming the sixth woman elevated to that position this offseason and the first to specialize in analytics.

Mandrycky, 31, joins a growing group of women in assistant general manager roles.