Biggest Early Takeaways from 2013-14 NHL Training Camps

The arrival of NHL preseason games means that NHL training camps are in full swing. Although these are meaningless preseason games in terms of the outcome, there are players that are fighting for roster spots and position battles for fans to watch for.

The storylines may be limited as far as any real action is concerned, but there are a few takeaways from training camps thus far.

Here are five early takeaways from NHL training camps.

All sources from NHL.com or CapGeek.com unless otherwise specified.

1. Don't Exceed the Salary Cap

There are plenty of teams that stocked up on players via trades or free agency this past offseason.

NHL franchises have until September 30 to become cap compliant and finalize their 23-man rosters. For some teams, this means clearing both contracts as well as cap space.

Mid-September is the time when teams reconsider their roster moves from July, which might prevent certain clubs from re-signing their former players for the next season. Alternatively, a team's management could make a move and pay for it later.

Such is the case, according to CapGeek, with the Detroit Red Wings, Philadelphia Flyers, Boston Bruins, Pittsburgh Penguins and a couple other teams that are either over the salary cap or have too many players on roster.

The takeaway from this slide—although seemingly painfully obvious to readers—is that teams shouldn't spend over the cap or sign too many players to NHL-level contracts.

If teams fail to comply with the salary cap, they will have to trade roster players or lose them to waivers in order to become cap compliant.

2. Turning the Page on Older Players

It has become abundantly clear that the league is moving in a younger direction.

The premium placed on veteran players seems to have gone down over the past five seasons. This is evidenced by the extensive list of free agents, per CapGeek, that remain without a team for the 2013-14 season.

While it would be unwise to assume that all of the remaining veteran NHL free agents remain unsigned—as some of them are still very productive—the fact still stands that it appears the door is closing on some players' NHL careers.

While it would be justified to "move on" from some players, other players are still very capable of helping younger teams qualify for the playoffs and make a run for the Cup.

3. The Dawn of Bridge Contracts

The implementation of the new NHL collective bargaining agreement and shorter contract lengths has become the new dominant mindset of "bridge" contracts.

These contracts are two- or three-year deals that hold a player over until the next contract discussion. The in-between kind of money has shown to be enough usually to hold a player (usually a restricted free agent) in a city until the next time he hits the market.

These bridge contracts are a cop-out of sorts in that a team can retain a player without breaking the bank on him.

The idea of a bridge contract is one of two things. Either a team isn't completely sold on what a player can do on the ice, so it doesn't want to lock him up, or the player doesn't want to be locked up for a long time at a lower cap hit.

With contracts like Nazem Kadri's being signed right before training camp, teams can afford to wait for a player who is a restricted free agent because they know that the bridge-contract option is still on the table.

Some of these contracts are signed with unrestricted free agents as well but are usuallly one-year deals offered to players like Dan Cleary, who also signed during training camp.

4. Headshots Are Still an Issue

Whether the NHL wants to change the way that shots to the head are defined—per the NHL Public Relations Twitter account—or not should not matter as far as getting them eliminated from the game completely.

The fact remains that they still exist.

Rusty Klesla (pictured above) of the Phoenix Coyotes left the ice on a stretcher in Sunday night's game against the Los Angeles Kings after Jordan Nolan hit him in a vulnerable position.

Craig Morgan of Fox Sports Arizona stated that "the hit could be grounds for suspension under Rule 48." The only mitigating factor was that Klesla was skating with his head down (a possibly vulnerable position), but the angle of his head does not appear to change before the hit is made.

Regardless of the fine or suspension that may result from this hit on Klesla, the NHL has still been unsuccessful in the attempt to eliminate concussions from that standpoint.

5. Hockey Is Back

It may be only preseason hockey and it may seem obvious, but hockey is back.

While there may be only fourth-string players playing in the preseason, the fact that hockey is a mere two weeks from kicking off the regular season has to bring life to hockey fans.

The games don't matter for the standings, but the future of the organization is on the ice. That in and of itself should be enough reason for fans to get excited for the impending regular season.