* NodeController waits for informer sync before doing anything ([#34809](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/34809), [@gmarek](https://github.com/gmarek))

* Skip safe to detach check if node API object no longer exists ([#30737](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/30737), [@saad-ali](https://github.com/saad-ali))
* Nodecontroller doesn't flip readiness on pods if kubeletVersion < 1.2.0 ([#30828](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/30828), [@bprashanth](https://github.com/bprashanth))

* Only wait for cache syncs once in NodeController ([#34851](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/34851), [@ncdc](https://github.com/ncdc))
* NodeController waits for informer sync before doing anything ([#34809](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/34809), [@gmarek](https://github.com/gmarek))

### Taints and Tolerations
* Add a manager to NodeController that is responsible for removing Pods from Nodes tainted with NoExecute Taints. This feature is beta (as the rest of taints) and enabled by default. It's gated by controller-manager enable-taint-manager flag. ([#40355](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/40355), [@gmarek](https://github.com/gmarek))

    *   Extends the gpu_device_plugin e2e_node test to verify that scheduled pods can continue to run even after a device plugin deletion and kubelet restart.
*   The NodeController no longer supports kubelet 1.2. ([#48996](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/48996),[ @k82cn](https://github.com/k82cn))