SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- The Chicago Blackhawks went through their first day of scrimmaging at training camp on Friday at Notre Dame's Compton Family Ice Arena without captain Jonathan Toews.

After he went through a practice session with his assigned group in the morning, the decision to pull him from the scrimmage was made in order to rest an undisclosed lower-body injury.

"He practiced this morning and [being] precautionary, we kept him off for the game," Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville said. "It's not serious, but we decided we'd give him a little [time], see how he is [Saturday] and maybe give him a couple days off the ice."

BELLEVILLE, Ontario – Good news for those who will be in town for the 2013 Kraft Hockeyville festivities: Alex Ovechkin will be in town.

NHL.com has learned that the Washington Capitals superstar will be among those in Stirling-Rawdon and Belleville when the team arrives here Saturday morning. The Capitals will face the Winnipeg Jets at Yardmen Arena on Saturday at 7 p.m. ET (CBC, NHLN-U.S.).

It is not known yet if Ovechkin will play in the game, but he will definitely be in town. The 27-year-old right wing won the Hart Trophy last season as the NHL's Most Valuable Player. He had 32 goals and 24 assists in 48 games, leading the Capitals to the Southeast Division title.

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Philadelphia Flyers forward Claude Giroux made another step in his recovery from surgery to repair two tendons in his right index finger Friday, shooting pucks for the first time since Aug. 15 surgery.

Giroux had injured his hand in a golf outing when a club sliced two tendons in his finger, and after surgery the same day, his prognosis for recovery was five to six weeks. But during his on-ice session Thursday he handled pucks and made some passes, and Friday saw him start shooting pucks.

"When I got on the ice I started to stickhandle and it was feeling really good," Giroux told reporters in Philadelphia. "I know I can't be rushing it, [but] I really wasn't shooting hard. I was just trying to see what I can do."

BOSTON -- Although the Boston Bruins' run to Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final made for an abbreviated offseason, Zdeno Chara's summer mostly was uneventful.

The 36-year-old defenseman said he stuck to his same offseason workout regimen, despite rehabilitating a hip-pointer injury. He still refuses to speak about the injury or admit it hindered his performance in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Chara also mixed in plenty of family time and a brief vacation in Florida. However, even when relaxing Chara couldn't escape a little modern-day controversy. As a devoted friend to and Slovakian Olympic teammate of Chicago Blackhawks forward Marian Hossa, Chara agreed to attend his countryman's Cup championship celebration party.

No one should think that Chara completely enjoyed that experience.

GREENBURGH, N.Y. -- Defenseman Dylan McIlrath is well aware of the challenge he'll have to overcome if he is to make the New York Rangers' opening-night roster.

"They've got a lot of veteran [defensemen], a lot of guys with a lot of years, and if I'm going to make this team I'm going to have to beat a good player out," McIlrath said Friday. "That's going to be a lot of hard work, but I just want to make the coaches and the management have a tough decision at the end of the day."

Rangers coach Alain Vigneault and general manager Glen Sather would like to see the team's first-round pick (No. 10) in the 2010 NHL Draft make the jump, but with at least six veteran defensemen ahead of him on the depth chart at the start of training camp, McIlrath still seems like a longshot to make the club.

NEWARK, N.J. -- New Jersey Devils right wing Jaromir Jagr is dealing with lower-body soreness and will not rejoin the team until he is 100 percent, general manager Lou Lamoriello told reporters at AmeriHealth Pavilion on Friday.

"There's no timetable," Lamoriello told the (Newark) Star-Ledger. "But we're not concerned."

Jagr did not participate in Friday's scrimmage during the second day of training camp. Lamoriello said the 41-year-old will continue to skate lightly on his own until he feels good enough to rejoin the team for contact. According to The (Bergen) Record, Lamoriello acknowledged there is no indication from the player or team trainers that the soreness will sideline him very long.

The Dallas Stars announced Friday that center Rich Peverley will miss three weeks after having a procedure to correct an irregular heartbeat. 

"It turns out he had an 'a-fib' [atrial fibrillation] condition," Stars general manager Jim Nill said. "He'll be out three weeks and should be available close to the start of the season. He might miss one or two games."

Nill said the issue was caught by the team's training staff, which noticed an irregularity in Peverley's EKG during his physical. 

The agent for free agent goaltender Tim Thomas informed the Columbus Dispatch on Friday that his client is "not likely" to join the Columbus Blue Jackets.

"We haven't even really discussed it with the Blue Jackets," Markus Lehto, who represents Thomas with ACME World Sports, told the newspaper's Aaron Portzline. "But he does have offers on the table, and there has been interest from clubs. It's just finding the right situation for him."

Thomas, who sat out last season, reportedly is considering an offer to join the Florida Panthers on a professional tryout.

The Ottawa Sun reported Friday that negotiations between restricted free agent defenseman Jared Cowen and the Ottawa Senators have reached a stalemate.

The report said the Senators have offered Cowen a four-year contract worth $2.8 million per season.

Senators assistant general manager Tim Murray is quoted in the newspaper saying the team offered Cowen a fair proposal and the player's camp is asking for too much. Murray said the team offered an eight-year contract and the sides are discussing the four-year offer.

NEWARK, N.J. -- New Jersey Devils right wing Jaromir Jagr reportedly will sit out Friday's scheduled controlled scrimmage on the second day of training camp at the AmeriHealth Pavilion.

Jagr left the ice on the first day of on-ice activity Thursday with soreness. At the time, coach Peter DeBoer didn't seem worried.

"I'm not overly concerned about it, but because time is definitely on our side we'll err on the side of caution," DeBoer said Thursday.