CHICAGO -- It took longer than Marcus Kruger hoped, but the Chicago Blackhawks center officially arrived at training camp.

Before he could fly to Chicago, Kruger had to wait in Stockholm for his United States work visa to be approved, a process that's usually done during the summer. Kruger, who was a restricted free agent, didn't sign his one-year contract until Sept. 11.

"[It was] just getting my visa [that delayed things]," Kruger said Saturday at United Center prior to a preseason game against the St. Louis Blues. "That's always the deal. It takes a little bit. You can't get it before you sign a contract. That's just how it is. Unfortunately, I [missed] the first week here, but I'm here now and happy to be back."

Tampa Bay Lightning forward Jonathan Drouin has been skating on a line with Steven Stamkos in training camp with the hopes it will form one of the more dynamic 1-2 punches in the NHL this season.

Drouin, the third player selected at the 2013 NHL Draft, scored four goals in 70 games for the Lightning last season and played six games during the 2015 Stanley Cup Playoffs. But the 20-year-old could take a big step this season if he gets the chance to skate on a line with Stamkos, a four-time 40-goal scorer.

"Stammer is a smart player, and his shooting ability, if you put the puck in a good spot, it's probably going to end up in the back of the net pretty soon," Drouin told the Tampa Tribune. “He skates really well, he sees the play nice, so it’s definitely easy to play with him."

The battle for the No. 1 goaltending job with the St. Louis Blues remains an open competition with the season less than two weeks away.

Jake Allen, who finished the season as the Blues' starting goaltender and struggled in the 2015 Stanley Cup Playoffs, is vying for the job with Brian Elliott, who started 13 more games than Allen last season but missed a month with a knee injury and was outplayed by Allen down the stretch.

"We're starting clean and fresh," Blues coach Ken Hitchcock told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. "We've got two good goalies. If someone goes out and grabs it, we're going to give him the job. We're going to give him that responsibility. If both guys play equal, we're back down the same path. But if one guy does jump and go, we're going to go with him.

"When the season starts, we're going to let whoever takes the job evolve. So we're not going to anoint anybody. We're just going to let it evolve and hopefully somebody grabs it. I don't know that we want to get into where we're creating the sharing. We want the play of the goalies to determine who gets more, who gets less."

MONTREAL -- Chicago Blackhawks center Marcus Kruger likely will make his preseason debut Oct. 1 against the St. Louis Blues, coach Joel Quenneville said Friday.

Kruger signed a one-year contract with the Blackhawks on Sept. 11 but was unable to join them until late this week due to a visa issue.

Quenneville said Kruger, who has played all 287 regular-season games of his NHL career with Chicago, has looked good in practice and is eager to get into a game.

"We'll probably play him in the last two [preseason games]," Quenneville said prior to a preseason game against the Canadiens at Bell Centre on Friday. "But he was flying out there today. He's happy to be back here and ready to go."

Detroit Red Wings center Pavel Datsyuk said Thursday he is on schedule in his recovery from ankle surgery.

"Great News! Had a good doctor visit," Datsyuk wrote on his verified Twitter account. "... See you soon back in Detroit."

GREENBURGH, N.Y. -- New York Rangers defensemen Dan Girardi and Marc Staal are scheduled to make their preseason debuts Saturday against the New Jersey Devils at Prudential Center (7 p.m. ET, NHLN).

Girardi and Staal did not play in the Rangers' first three preseason games. They were held back out of precaution at the start of training camp; each had ankle surgery after the Rangers were eliminated from the Stanley Cup Playoffs last season.

Girardi (22:41) and Staal (21:08) were second and third, respectively, in average ice time per game for the Rangers last season.

Nashville Predators right wing James Neal is day-to-day because of a lower-body injury, the Tennessean reported Friday.

Neal left the game Wednesday against the Tampa Bay Lightning with 6:13 left in the second period and did not play in the third.

Boston Bruins defenseman Zdeno Chara sustained an upper-body injury in a 4-3 shootout win against the New York Rangers at TD Garden on Thursday.

Chara left the game less than five minutes in after a hit by Rangers forward Ryan Bourque. He had 1:57 of ice time and one shot on goal.

Bruins coach Claude Julien said Chara would be re-evaluated.

Forward Patrik Elias may not be able to play when the New Jersey Devils open their season against the Winnipeg Jets on Oct. 9 because of a knee injury.

Elias, 39, will not play in the preseason, Devils coach John Hynes told Northjersey.com on Thursday.

"That's why it's really up in the air," Hynes said. "We'll probably know more in two or three days where he's going to be at for the beginning of the season, but (for the) preseason he's not going to be available."

The Philadelphia Flyers reassigned defensemen Travis Sanheim and Ivan Provorov and forward Travis Konecny to their respective junior teams Wednesday.

In addition, the Flyers loaned 12 players to their American Hockey League affiliate in Lehigh Valley, including defenseman Samuel Morin, the 11th pick in the 2013 NHL Draft.