NHL Stars Sound Off on Texas Teams, the 84-Game Season and Summer Memories

Training camps are opening this week, and ESPN's interviews at the NHL/NHLPA player media tour in Las Vegas offered a rare window into what some of the league's biggest names think.

On the question of what to call a potential expansion team in Houston or Austin, the answers ranged from earnest to absurd. Cole Caufield lobbied for the Houston Aeros, reviving the old AHL name. Jack Hughes went rodeo: "Bull Riders. There you go." Filip Forsberg offered the Butt-Kickers. Logan Cooley liked Cowboys. Brady Tkachuk floated Wranglers, then remembered that is already Calgary's AHL club and shrugged it off.

The 84-game regular season drew mostly measured reactions. Tage Thompson said the math mostly evens out given the shorter preseason. Quinton Byfield predicted a chaotic, offense-heavy start to the year. Zach Werenski called it a net positive: fewer preseason games, less drag. Matt Coronato kept it short: "My life will not be impacted by it."

On summer highlights, the range was wide. Jaccob Slavin described his day with the Stanley Cup, including what he called a "Slavin Sundae." Gabriel Landeskog returned to Stockholm with his two older children, who had last visited when they were 1 and 2, and showed them his hometown. Brock Boeser got married and admitted he was nervous. Jack Eichel and Werenski both welcomed newborns. Matthew Schaefer went to a Luke Combs concert, met him afterward and called him "an amazing guy" despite objecting to his Hurricanes fandom.

ESPN's survey also covered fan culture and possible rule changes.