TSN’s Hockey Insiders discuss Carter Hart going to the Golden Knights, how the Sens make up for the loss of Brady Tkachuk, Keith Pelley’s expectations for the Leafs, the Devils and Jacob Markstrom’s mutual interest in an extension, Canada and the U.S.A.’s Olympic approach, and arena construction for the Games.

James Duthie: You know your Insiders well, Chris Johnston, Pierre LeBrun and Darren Dreger. CJ, you speculated on this last week and now it is official. Carter Hart will make his return to hockey with the Golden Knights organization. So, why Vegas, and what’s the timetable for his return to the NHL?

Chris Johnston: Well, ultimately, this was all about opportunity for Carter Hart. A place where he believes he can play behind a top team and there’s a path to him getting into the net. And officially he joins the Golden Knights organization on a tryout agreement, but this is no tryout. The expectation here of course is that he will be signed to an NHL deal here at some point before Dec. 1, which is the earliest where he can play back in that league. And in the meantime, there’s been a lot of discussion. Does he start in the AHL? What does his comeback look like? It’s been almost two years since he’s played in the league. But there is a high degree of confidence as he skated in Vegas already on Thursday that he will be able to ramp himself back up likely to get a short-term deal initially from the Golden Knights. But certainly the goal is to reestablish himself as a top goaltender in the league and eventually sign a longer-term contract.

Duthie: Early season concern in the nation’s capital. The team hasn’t been very good, they’ve had some ugly goaltending and now the captain is gone six-to-eight weeks after surgery on his thumb. So, what’s the plan going forward, do they have to go out and get somebody right away?

Darren Dreger: Well you can’t replace Brady Tkachuk. I mean, that’s pretty obvious. So the fix has to be internal and that’s the hope of hockey operations in Ottawa. Drake Batherson is back, he’s healthy. So that’s an injection of talent. They’re going to give Arthur Kaliyev an extended look, at least in this regular season to see if he can be a short-term fix. But again, you’re not replacing Brady Tkachuk. What the Ottawa Senators need is the chemistry that they believe that they have within the group amplified in the regular season. They need better execution, and yeah, longer-term, I think you could see Steve Staois, the general manager, look for and perhaps add something bigger.

Duthie: Down the 401 to Toronto. Pierre, I know you chatted with Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment president Keith Pelley, who is basically running the Leafs now. What is his message to the Leafs this season?

Pierre LeBrun: Yeah, he twice referred to this, saying ‘It’s go-time’ in our interview at the Board of Governors. And what he means by that is that look, look at the age of our team. I mean, they’re deep in their window here and the bottom line is Brad Treliving has the full green light to take a swing here between now and the March 6 trade deadline if he can. Now, the reason that came up is after Mitch Marner’s exit, the Leafs have more cap flexibility and as Pelley said, the cap itself is going up, so Toronto would like to swing here before March 6. Having said that, they don’t have a first-round pick the next two years. They traded those for Brandon Carlo and Scott Laughton, respectively. So, easier said than done, but the big boss says the general manager can go for it.

Duthie: The short-term news in Jersey is Jacob Markstrom is out a couple weeks with a lower-body injury. But the long-term news is they’re trying to sign him long-term?

Dreger: Yeah they are. I mean, they’ve exchanged some ideas. They’ve had recent discussions on what an extension might look like. I’m told that the talks have been healthy and they’ll resume negotiations in the very near future. There is a mutual interest between the veteran goaltender and the New Jersey Devils to get something done. I’m told the Devils absolutely love Jacob Markstrom, he’s great in the room. But there is a negotiation that still has to take place here and with everything there’s always a gap. So until that gap closes, the deal isn’t done.

Duthie: The Olympic Games are still almost four months away. But it’s already Olympic season in the sense of Olympic-type stuff like drug testing for possible players?

Johnston: Absolutely. The expanded drug testing window opened this week formally. Which means every player officially under consideration for this event now knows about it. They’ve been told they’re on the long list for their countries in order to be subjected to that kind of testing. They have to agree to it, of course. And it’s interesting because the two co-favourites for this tournament have taken different approaches. In Hockey Canada’s case, they have 90 players on the long list from which they can eventually choose the Olympic team at the end of December. The U.S. has gone with a number of about half that much, somewhere in the 50-range. So, they have a smaller group of players that are possible in terms of playing for them in February. But the first of many checkboxes here as those countries get closer to naming their rosters.

LeBrun: Well and CJ, whatever players are picked to make those respective rosters hope to have an arena to play in at the Milan Olympics. Gary Bettman expressing his concern after the Board of Governors Wednesday about construction delays in Milan. Which came up because they’ve cancelled a test event that was slated for December. But I reached out to the International Olympic Committee on this day, and they insist they believe the arena will be completed by mid-December. And now there’s a test event for that arena set for early January. There is no Plan B, by the way. There’s not another rink they think they can go to. They have to get this arena built for the Milan Olympics.

Duthie: There are very few Olympic Games, Summer or Winter where a couple of months out we’re wondering if some stadium or venue is going to be ready on time. Usually, they get ready on time. Usually. We’ll see in Italy.