We'll start to see rookie camps get going by the end of this week, but no veterans will be officially in camp until next Tuesday when the four teams headed overseas for preseason games — Ottawa, Pittsburgh, Tampa Bay and the Rangers — get things going.

For everyone else, training camp starts a week from Friday or Saturday, Sept. 19 and 20.

Twenty days may seem like a long time for teams to gear up for the season, but once you factor in five to 10 preseason games, there really isn't going to be much downtime. Consider also all of the strange journeys NHL clubs will take in exhibition and we may have some weary souls on our hands come puckdrop on Oct. 4.

One of the real quirks of the NHL heading to Europe this time around will be the fact that preseason games will be taking part after the regular season has started. When games get underway in Prague and Stockholm on the afternoon of Oct. 4, for instance, there's a slate of six exhibition games taking place later that night.

There are then eight more preseason matchups scheduled on the Sunday and one final exhibition game between the Islanders and Panthers on Monday, Oct. 6.

Three days later, the North American portion of the schedule begins on a Thursday night in Detroit, Denver, San Jose and Vancouver.

In all, there will be 110 preseason games, including five in European cities against local club teams from the German, Swiss, Finnish, Swedish and Russian leagues.