NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – May 30, 2025
The Oilers return to the Stanley Cup Final, the Islanders introduce Mathieu Darche as their new GM, the Kraken hire Lane Lambert as their new coach, plus the latest on Alex Ovechkin, Jonathan Toews, and more in today’s NHL Morning Coffee Headlines.
OILERS RETURN TO THE STANLEY CUP FINAL
NHL.COM: The Edmonton Oilers are going back to the Stanley Cup Final after defeating the Dallas Stars 6-3 in Game 5 of the best-of-seven Western Conference Final.
Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid (NHL Images).
Oilers captain Connor McDavid scored what proved to be the winning goal on a breakaway in the third period and collected an assist on Corey Perry’s game-opening goal. Leon Draisaitl and Jake Walman each had two assists, and Jeff Skinner scored his first-ever Stanley Cup playoff goal.
Jake Robertson scored two goals while Wyatt Johnston and Thomas Harley each had two assists for the Stars. Goaltender Jake Oettinger was pulled early in the first period after giving up two goals on the only two shots he faced. Backup Casey DeSmith finished the game, making 20 saves.
The Oilers will face the Florida Panthers in the first Stanley Cup Final rematch since the 2009 Final between the Detroit Red Wings and the Pittsburgh Penguins.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: McDavid picked up his 100th career NHL playoff assist, becoming the second-fastest player to reach that milestone. Wayne Gretzky did it in 70 games while McDavid needed 90 games.
Oilers defenseman Mattias Ekholm made his debut in this postseason after being sidelined by an undisclosed injury since Apr. 11. He played 15:52 minutes, collecting an assist and blocking two shots.
Stars coach Pete DeBoer’s decision to pull Oettinger bewildered many observers, including the goalie himself. DeBoer explained he was trying to give his club a spark after a slow start, adding that Oettinger had lost six of his last seven playoff games against the Oilers going back to last season.
Some pundits felt DeBoer overreacted or panicked. Meanwhile, Oettinger’s teammates blamed themselves for playing poorly in front of him.
Oettinger didn’t have a good series, but he wasn’t the sole reason why the Stars were eliminated from the Western Conference Final for the third straight year. This was on the entire team. They gave up the first goal in 15 of their 18 postseason games, their penalty-killing was ineffective, and they struggled to produce in five-on-five situations.
Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final between the Panthers and Oilers is Wednesday, June 4, in Edmonton at 8 pm ET. Game 7 (if necessary) will be Friday, June 20, in Edmonton.
HEADLINES
NYI HOCKEY NOW: The Islanders formally introduced Mathieu Darche as their new general manager and executive vice president. Darche confirmed Patrick Roy will return as head coach, but assistant coaches John MacLean and Tommy Albelin were let go.
Darche confirmed that center Bo Horvat recently injured a minor ankle playing for Canada at the 2025 IIHF World Championship. He’s already rehabbing the injury and will need four to six weeks to recover.
THE SEATTLE TIMES: The Kraken named Lane Lambert as their third head coach in franchise history. Lambert was an associate coach with the Toronto Maple Leafs this season. He spent two seasons as head coach of the Islanders.
THE HOCKEY NEWS: The Washington Capitals stated that an alleged e-mail sent to season ticket holders claiming that 2025-26 would be Alex Ovechkin’s last in the NHL is not accurate. The team claimed no decision has been made on Ovechkin’s future.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Next season is the last one of Ovechkin’s current contract. It’s rumored he intends to finish his career in Russia, but that doesn’t mean he won’t sign an extension with the Capitals. That could depend on his performance and willingness to continue his NHL career.
TSN: Former Chicago Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews is committed to returning to the NHL next season. His agent will begin taking calls from interested teams leading up to July 1.
Toews, 37, stepped away from the game in 2023 for health reasons. He indicated in March that he was unhappy with how his career ended and was working his way toward a comeback.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: TSN’s Darren Dreger believes Toews will have a long list of suitors, including the Winnipeg Jets.
TSN: Toronto Maple Leafs general manager Brad Treliving was noncommittal about the club re-signing pending free agent Mitch Marner. He indicated that he spoke with the 28-year-old winger during the club’s recent exit interviews, saying they decided to take a step back briefly.
“We’re going to meet as a staff, I’m going to be in touch with Mitch’s representative,” said Treliving. “We’ll have to see how this all works…And he’s got a say in the process.”
HOCKEY SVERIGE: Calgary Flames defenseman Rasmus Andersson played with a fracture in one leg during his final games of the regular season and at the recent World Championship. He said his leg is at 80-85 percent but won’t require surgery.
PHILLY HOCKEY NOW: The Flyers signed winger Tyson Foerster to a two-year bridge contract with an average annual value of $3.75 million.
THE MONTREAL GAZETTE: Canadiens winger Ivan Demidov was named the 2025 KHL Rookie of the Year.
THE MERCURY NEWS: The San Jose Sharks re-signed defenseman Shakir Mukhamadullin to a one-year, $1 million contract.
Flames fans already new about Raz injury.
Flames fans new about his injury at the end of the season so it’s not news.
It is to those of us who don’t follow the Flames closely.
“already new”, good one!
Thumbnail Comparisons between the two finalists:
EDMONTON
Season: 3rd in the Pacific Division – 6th in the Western Conference
48 29 5 101pts .616 – 259gf (3.2gpg) 236ga (2.9gapg) +23 Home: 25 13 3 (.646) Away: 23 16 2 (.585)
Playoffs: 16gp Won 12 Lost 4 65gf (4.1gfpg) 45ga (2.8gapg)
19 players with 1 or more goals: 7 by Draisaitl. Perry; 6 each by Bouchard, McDavid; 5 each by Kane, Hyman, Nugent-Hopkins, Connor Brown; 4 by Henrique; 3 each by Janmark, Kapanen; 2 by Nurse; 1 each by Klingberg, Arvidsson, Podkolzin, Kulak, Walman, Frederic, Skinner; zero by each of Joshua Brown, Stecher, Emberson
FLORIDA
Season – 3rd in the Atlantic Division – 5th in the Eastern Conference
47 31 4 98pts .598 – 252gf (3.1gfpg) 223ga (2.7gapg) +29 Home: 27 12 2 (.683) Away: 20 19 2 (.512)
Playoffs: 17gp Won 12 Lost 5 66gf (3.9gfpg) – 39ga (2.3gapg)
19 players with 1 or more goals: 10 by Bennett; 6 each by Barkov, Verhaeghe., 5 each by Tkachuk, Lundell; 4 each by Marchand, Luostarinen, Reinhart; 3 each by Ekblad, Schmidt, Jones, Mikkola; 2 each by Boqvist, Greer, Gadjovich; 1 each by Kulikov, Forsling, Balinskis, Rodrigues; zero by each of Samoskovich, Sturm, Nosek
Ya, going to be a close series IMO. Expect it to get a bit nasty, very physical and fast hockey.
Both teams can score and defend with both tenders currently playing well. Will it come down to special teams? Health? Who knows, but should be entertaining.
Edmonton has home ice for the first time in these playoffs which is kinda weird.
GO OIL!
The loss of Hyman certainly won’t help.
No it won’t help George. But just got Ekholm back, which is a plus.
Betting markets have the Oilers as a very slight favorite. Basically a saw off, which seems about right.
Their records – both seasonal and playoffs (so far) – are almost identical. Would not surprise me to see 2 or 3 OT games.
Toews is 37 and hasn’t played in 2 1/2 seasons. Not sure can expect much. I guess someone will invite him to camp
PTO would be the smart way to go about seeing what Johnny Toes can do!
He will not need a PTO
Several teams are supposedly ready to offer him a deal. I expect an incentive deal with contender. Like Peg Avs. Stars. TB. FL
He’d be a good injection of leadership for a team that needs direction in the locker room. I can name a few. But I wouldn’t expect much in the ice.
Slick62, if he can repeat Ted Lindsay’s feat, whoever signs him will be happy.
Lindsay had “retired” after the 1959-60 season with Chicago … and 4 years later un-retired to come back with Detroit in 1964-65 at age 39, scoring 14g 14a 28 pts AND 173 penalty minutes. In 7 playoff games, he added 3 goals (0 assists) AND 34 penalty minutes.
Nasty to the end.
Last summer Tulsky described this season as a transition season. Carolina chose to not sign Pesce and Skjei to the new long term contracts that they had earned and deserved. They were Carolina’s 2nd pair defense and best shutdown pair. As much as Carolina fans hated to see Skjei and Pesce go they knew the future D of Morrow and Nikishin was on the way at much less of a cap hit. I think a lot of fans thought that at this point in Pesce and Chatfield’s career Chatfield was already a better defenseman than Pesce. With increased minutes Chatfield quickly established himself as the second best defenseman on the team. Chatfields speed and chemistry with Orlov masked some of Orlov’s mistakes and allowed Orlov to be more aggressive. Carolina knew that Orlov was not as good as defenseman as Skjei but Nikishin was seen as the future #2 LD. Orlov only had 1 year left on an expensive contract, his ability to play RD & LD and the fact that he could mentor Nikishin went into the decision to not sign Skjei.
Morrow played most of the season in the AHL at an all star level. When he eventually got called up at the end of the season it became clear he needed another year in the AHL to work on his defensive game and that he would not be playing in the playoffs. Nikishin never had a chance to play in the regular season. He got off to a shaky start against Washington but by the time the series with Florida was over it was clear he is NHL ready.
Chatfield’s injury in the playoffs had a major impact on Carolinas defensive pairings. Walker moved up to 2 RD putting Gostisbehere and Morrow (Carolina’s weakest defenders) together. Consequently Slavin and Burns had to play excessive minutes.
What Carolina learned this season is that the transition period on defense would not be as smooth as they thought. Carolina needs to address the right D position in the off season. They may try to sign Burns at a reasonable cost for 1 more year or trade for a top 4 right D.
The other issue Carolina has to address is whether Kochetkov is still the goalie of the future. He is talented enough to be a good number 1 goalie but he is running out of time to prove it.
Personally I think this was Brind’Amour’s most challenging and best season as a head coach. To take this team to the ECF after the massive roster changes, GM change, and the distraction of the Rantanen trade is remarkable.
Gp,your GM is trying to cover his ass by calling it a transition season. I Don t think trading for Rantanen was part of a transition move.He has looked bad after Waddell left. They had the easiest road to the conference finals by beating NJ and Washington.They didn t have to face the Rangers who took a year off.Correct me if I m wrong but Brinda mourns conference final record is 2-16.What Carolina learned this year is that they are a little light in Goal,one and up front. And to top it off this GM gave Taylor Hall at 33 yrs old a 3 year contract. He hardly touched the puck the entire series against Florida.
I’ll give you Jersey Sr, but Washington was the top seed in the East and a very good, big physical team. Not sure how that is an easy road.
Nobody is trying to cover their ass, they are making difficult roster decisions to try and keep the team competitive long term in the salary cap world and keep giving themselves chances to win it all. Not sure if it was your intent but you make it sound like getting to the conference finals, again, was a failed season. It isn’t, even though they likely feel like it right now.
The are a very good team and Brind’Amour is an excellent coach, problem for them is Florida is a great team. They had a say in how that series went too.
Cheesy pricks that they are.
Ray, well stated. I could have saved a lot of typing if I had seen your comment:)
Ray, I won’t even “give” him New Jersey. The Devils finished with 91 points and of the 8 playoff teams in the East, they had the second-best goals against mark of 222 after Tampa’s 219 – a margin of 3. Then came Toronto (231), Washington (232), Carolina (233), Ottawa (234) and Montreal (265).
Yes, their lack of deep offense was perhaps their undoing, but they did register 242 goals which, while putting them back of the other 7, not by huge amounts over an 892-game schedule (Tampa 294, Washington 288, Toronto 268, Carolina 266, Florida 252, Montreal 245, Ottawa 243.
Carolina did eliminate them in 5 games, but 2 went to OT.
The Hurricane players would be the first to (honestly) tell you it wasn’t “easy.”
I forgot Florida in the goals against list – they had 223
Sr, Last I checked Washington had the best regular season record in the Eastern Conference which included a 15-5-4 record against the Atlantic. But I agree Carolina had an easier path to the ECF.
Tulsky and Dundon are always trying to make the team better for the long term. Trading for Rantanen was a taking a shot at an elite player to fill a specific long term need.
As far as the bad conference finals record you have to get there to have a good or a bad record. By the way we are also only 5-7 in the Stanley Cup and have only won the Stanley Cup once.
Gp I know that best record only so well with Boston in 2023! Best record ever,but…
The stats give an overview of the season but they don’t tell us much about where teams stand or perform in the playoffs.
Hellebuyck was all world but in the playoffs the puck was a BB.
Who expected Skinner to have his shutouts.
Team has to get hot, has to believe, has to outwork consistently because we know that on any given night anybody can win but who can do it 16 times.
I would add HF30, they need to make the correct decisions with the puck. When to make a play when entering the zone and when to dump it in, when to pinch and when to back off, etc etc. Those decisions happen every minute of every game.
A lot of that comes with poise, which often comes with playoff experience and defeat.