NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – June 12, 2025
Avalanche defenseman Cale Makar wins the Norris Trophy, an update on the Rangers’ efforts to trade Chris Kreider to the Ducks, the latest on the Panthers and Oilers on the eve of Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final, and more in today’s NHL Morning Coffee Headlines.
NHL.COM: Cale Makar is the winner of the James Norris Memorial Trophy as the NHL’s top defenseman for 2024-25. It’s the second time the 26-year-old Colorado Avalanche blueliner has taken home this award, having won in 2021-22.
Colorado Avalanche defenseman Cale Makar (NHL Images).
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Makar has been the NHL’s dominant defenseman since 2020-21. In addition to winning the Norris twice, he’s been a finalist three times (2020-21, 2022-23, 2023-24). He joins Erik Karlsson of the Pittsburgh Penguins as the only active multiple Norris Trophy winner.
Since Makar’s NHL debut in 2019-20, he leads all defensemen with 428 points and 24 game-winning goals, sits fourth in takeaways (295) and sixth in 5v5 puck possession (55.5 percent shot attempt percentage) among defensemen with 300-plus games played.
NEW YORK POST: Larry Brooks reports the Rangers have an agreement in principle on a trade that would send winger Chris Kreider to the Anaheim Ducks. Now, they await his blessing.
Anaheim is on Kreider’s 15-team no-trade list, but his camp permitted the Rangers to hold trade discussions with the Ducks. As of Tuesday night, the 33-year-old winger hadn’t signed off on the deal, but Brooks cited an Anaheim source saying it was a fait accompli.
Should the deal go through as expected, it will be a straightforward salary dump by the Rangers. The Ducks will take on Kreider’s full $6.5 million average annual value through 2026-27, while the Rangers would receive prospect Carey Terrance.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: It’s rumored the Rangers could also receive a third or fourth-round pick in the deal.
**UPDATE**
Kreider approved the trade. The Rangers send him and a 2025 third-round pick to the Ducks for Terrance and a 2025 fourth-rounder.
Brooks believes Rangers forward Miko Zibanejad could be amenable to waiving his no-movement clause if Kreider is traded, pointing out that the pair are close friends.
Moving Zibanejad might not be as easy as trading Kreider. He has five years remaining on his contract with an average annual value of $8.5 million.
THE HOCKEY NEWS: The Florida Panthers host the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday in Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final. Leading the best-of-seven series 2-1, the Panthers have an opportunity to take a commanding 3-1 lead with a win.
EDMONTON JOURNAL: Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch isn’t expected to reveal his starting goaltender for Game 4 until Thursday morning. Starter Stuart Skinner has a perfect 6-0 record in his previous Game 4s, while backup Calvin Pickard is a perfect 6-0 in this postseason.
NHL.COM: The Oilers could replace defenseman John Klingberg with Troy Stecher for Game 4. Center Ryan Nugent-Hopkins remains a game-time decision with an undisclosed injury. He had the same status in Game 3, but played 15:34 in that contest.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Game 4 is the pivotal contest. An Edmonton win ties the series, turning it into a best-of-three with the Oilers holding home-ice advantage if it goes the distance. A Panthers victory puts them in a position to win their second straight Stanley Cup in Game 5.
TSN: Pierre LeBrun reports the NHL and NHL Players’ Association are getting closer to a CBA extension.
They’ve been meeting in Florida during the Stanley Cup Final and, while issues remain, it’s expected a deal could be completed soon. LeBrun speculates it could be done in time to present to the Board of Governors meeting on June 25.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: If it reaches that stage, the CBA extension could supersede the current agreement, slated to expire in September 2026. James Mirtle of The Athletic suggested the deal would run to September 2030.
Reports suggest there would be few significant changes in the next CBA. The most notable would be adjusting the long-term injury reserve (LTIR) rules to address the issue of playoff contenders using LTIR to bolster their rosters at the trade deadline.
PITTSBURGH HOCKEY NOW: Former Penguins owners Mario Lemieux, Ron Burkle and David Morehouse are reportedly interested in purchasing a minority stake in the franchise. They sold the club to Fenway Sports Group in 2021 for $900 million.
It was initially reported that the Lemieux group was investigating the possibility of buying back the Penguins. Still, FSG reiterated that they’re only interested in selling a minority share to raise capital as they develop the property around PPG Paints Arena.
THE SCORE: An Atlanta group eyeing NHL expansion has received agreements from the Forsyth County Commission for a $3 billion project that includes the construction of an NHL-ready arena.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Rumors have swirled suggesting the NHL could soon return to Atlanta. The league has played coy on the matter, and building a new arena doesn’t guarantee the arrival of an NHL franchise. Nevertheless, it’s only a matter of time.
OTTAWA SUN: The Senators revealed a new-look third jersey for 2025-26. It will be themed in red with metallic black and gold striping.
Bruins … are they going to go with a retool or a semi rebuild…Do they keep their #7 pick in draft or do they trade it away ? Do they trade players off their roster to get
younger ? Do they move Korpisalo to pave the way for them to resign Michael DiPietro or do they let DiPietro walk ( lot of teams inquiring about him )… do they go after the big ticket UFA ? Sweeney has a lot of decisions to make & this offseason he can go in many directions.. Rumors will be plentiful for sure
The only rumor I heard about the Bruins was that teams were calling about Zacha.
big strong center in his prime
He does have a no move no trade…but so does Kreider. (shrug) I don’t see the B’s moving him but for another first round pick? Maybe they do.
Dark G, I think they get more than a 1st for Zacha, due to what you said. Not a whole bunch more, like an OK prospect who projects to a 3rd line winger or bottom 3 D. Or a 2nd rounder.
Big strong C in his prime. Not a high end 2 C, but an OK one. Or an excellent 3C on a cup contender at the TDL if a team has the ability to add him.
2 years left on a reasonable contract.
Not sure what the B’s will be up to, but this off season doesn’t seem like the time because of a so so draft class and a weak UFA market.
It’s very early for next years draft class, but many are guessing it could be a really good class. Good at the top and deep. Maybe not 2015 good, but 2003 good?
I’m not the only B’s fan who thinks it, but cool your jets this off season. Add UFA guys who are NHL players that are tradeable as depth guys on a playoff team, and roll with the punches next season.
Take stock after that.
Joe the Bruins have a lot of spare parts that they need to make decisions on.It looks like Zacha is the one player that other teams are interested in.Maybe they package him and the .no. 7 pick for a young established NHL player.They have major decisions to make on Beecher,Koepke,Poitras,Lysell,Merkulov, Minton,Middlestadt,Lauko,K man,Kastellac,Jokiharu.The only forwards that are a lock are Pasta,Lindholm,Geekie.I can t see them do much this year until they sort out those spare parts mentioned above. In regards to Sweeney,he should of started slowly changing the roster instead of emptying the bucketall at once at this years trade deadline.
The idea that Kreider is considered a straight up salary dump befuddles me. It’s not like he turned 34 and fell off a cliff. This is a guy who season before last had 39 goals and 75 points. Well known for his off season workouts and twice took 3rd place in fastest skater competition. Ducks getting a steal imo. Of course I’m wondering what the holdup is. Can there be another suitor out there?
Drury obviously believes that the team has peaked and is on a downward slope. He’s probably right about that. So he wants to move out a few veterans and re-tool.
And the prospect coming back is Carey Terrance, not Casey.
Howard, if, as you say, Drury believes the NYR have peaked and are on a downward slope, Sweeney and Dubas had better realize that their teams have hit the proverbial brick wall and fallen off a cliff.
IMO anyway, while the Rangers could rebound (they only missed the playoffs by 6 points) with some judicious tweaking, it’s a far different story in Boston and Pittsburgh.
I’m thinking that the way Drury has handled a few of their top players the last couple of seasons that moral has dropped. This has created some bad culture in the dressing room. Drury is making one big mistake after another, and it will all end with trading Miller. These players were good enough to make it to the ECF last season. Teams just don’t drop like that in one season.
So much for C Vasily Ponomarev stepping into the Penguins’ line-up – which one contributor here kept reiterating. The pending RFA has signed a 3-year deal with Avangard Omsk of the KHL.
Rangers had to dump salary. Zib & Panarin have no move clauses, so they aren’t going anywhere.
Kreider only had a limited trade clause starting this year and carried a $6.5M cap, so he really was the only option.
Rangers projected space (with Kreider) is $8.4M.
But they have to resign Cuylle (around $4M), Rempe and Zac Jones (prob $3-$4M combined) and sign (or replace) K’Andre.
K’Andre has a qualifying offer around $4.7M, so that is his minimum salary. Rumors are they might try for Gavrikov (if they walk away from K’Andre), but Gavrikov is coming off a $6M salary and will want a raise.
Kreider had to go in order to simply sign/replace their own RFAs.
And if Drury still wants to make another new addition, that means he’ll probably have to shed Lafreniere too.
And beyond the salary component, there is probably an element of changing the locker room. The team fell apart last year, and seemed to fold physically and mentally way to often.
The locker room leaders appear to be Kreider and Zib (and maybe Panarin to a lesser degree). Right or wrong, those 3 guys did not pull the team together and overcome their internal issues. So in addition to salary reasons, Drury probably wants to shake that up and get some new voices/leaders in the locker room.
“Anaheim is on Kreider’s 15-team no-trade list…”.
Sounds like a valid reason for a hold up. Perhaps Kreider is agreeable, but wants to drag things along and make the Rangers’ sweat it out for a bit.
Reports are that Kreider and Drury have been talking all summer about his landing spot, and Kreider gave Drury the green light to negotiate a trade with Anaheim.
If true, and if Kreider somehow backs out now, that’s pretty low on Kreider’s part.
Looks like Kreider has now signed off on the trade this morning.
Wouldn’t be the first time a player did that. Iginla did it in 2013. Iginla said he would except a trade to either Boston or Pittsburg. Flames had an agreement in place with Boston and Iginla backout and said that he just wanted to go to Pittsburg.
I understand Kreider salary and partial ntc made him a candidate to be moved. Really thought his value would be higher. I don’t get the culture change questions. Kreider was never a locker room problem. Letting him go while salivating over JT Miller is odd to me.
https://www.habseyesontheprize.com/nhl-let-them-play-playoffs-are-spoiling-the-product-penalties-year-to-year-chart-florida-panthers-edmonton-oilers-officiating-referees/
Interesting link
Interesting article.
I’m a huge fan of physicality and hitting in the playoffs, but at the same time, I absolutely hate the way refs swallow their whistles and let penalties slide (especially cheap shots including hitting from behind, late hits, blatant cross checking, etc).
The league must like it, because they never intervene and have the refs call the game right. And it does steal away some of the skill and flow of the game.
It’s the same mindset that existed during the Dead Puck Era of the late-1990s and early 2000s. Uncalled obstruction masquerading as defensive hockey was killing offensive creativity and sucking the life out of the game. When fans wondered why the NHL product wasn’t as exciting as what they saw during the 2002 Winter Olympics, then-Islanders GM Mike Milbury said, “We like our game the way it is”. He spoke for most of his peers.
The only reason the Dead Puck Era ended was the season-killing 2004-05 lockout. The league was scared that they wouldn’t be able to lure back the fans who were angry over the lockout, so they implemented rule changes to improve the offensive game, many of which are in place today.
However, this crap of one set of rules for the regular season and one set for the playoffs has been going on for decades now. And that’s the fault of NHL HQ. It’ll take tumbling ratings and growing fan discontent before they’ll consider improving the officiating in the postseason.
it’s the un-obstruction obstruction….the picks. It’s legit like a basketball pic-n-roll. Players deliberately getting in the way of other players, neither of whom have touched the puck so it’s not body contact or a body check to separate the player from the puck.
Right off the face off draw is where I see it the most in the play offs.
I understand letting them play but it becomes very obvious to fans which teams take advantage of it.
I have no skin in the game as “my” team has been out of it but I do continue to watch and to be honest I stop watching games because it’s too frustrating at times.
As it is fans complain during the year about player safety committee for not having teeth.
I like hard hitting physical hockey but that doesn’t mean driving down skill.
Through hockey history most skilled players were tough as nails.
The rats have taken over and the league is all the worse for it.
Sadly, Lyle, your comment that it will take an inordinate amount of criticism to force change is true.
You also say that one set of rules for the regular season and one for the playoffs is crap. That too is true, but let’s see a grain of optimism in the apparent changes coming to LTIR use.
Fingers crossed, LJ.
It has long been a lament of mine. This Let them play more often than not is a detriment to the finesse players. And I am talking stick infractions and unnecessary roughing nonsense not good hard hockey grinding.
That and the inconsistency. A penalty shoulf be a penalty. 1st 60 seconds of the game or last 10 seconds. The adage that we don’t want power plays to decide a game late … well you also don’t want to see what would be a chance to win the game by a Mcdavid Makar Or Hughes negated by what was a penalty in the 1st period but is now fine late in the 3rd because you missed calling the last 5 times it was done.
But this is nothing new. It’s been as such as long as I have watched the game. It’s sadly the style we all expect.
Great article HF30, he nailed it. That exact topic has been discussed on here earlier these playoffs. He But he made the argument way better.
The picture was perfect too, I bitched about the no call on that exact play while watching it. McDavid fought to stay up vs going down like many of the Panthers do. No call on an obvious scoring chance. This series reminds me of 2011 Nucks vs Bruins. VCR was doing the cheap stuff and diving when the Bruins went back at them. Bruins fell behind 2-0 in series. Whistles went away as refs were getting embarrassed. B’s hammered them and won 4 of the next 5.
I agree on the inconsistency 1Oilerfan. I wonder if the Oil would be better off if they simply didn’t call any penalties like what happened in 2011? I think the Oil have the lineup to do that. Their agitators like Bennett and Tkachuk aren’t the biggest guys and are more bark than bite. IMO the Oil could pound on them and be fine if they didn’t end up in the box. But it would be close. One has to assume the refs will keep struggling, so might as well IMO. Flood the zone just like they do.
Put Kane or Frederic on McDavid’s line along with Nuge and have at er.
Huge game tonight, GO OIL!
The NHL is the only pro league that doesn’t have a rulebook. They have a suggestion book. They suggest that these are infractions, but leave it up to the officials on what they want to call on any given night.
I am one long time fan who is seriously considering on turning the NHL off. Earlier this season I took a 2 month break from the NHL because of the officiating.
Hab fan 30 If you talk to people in the NFL and the NBA they will tell you that the rules change to allow more infractions during the playoffs. It s a whole new season come playoffs!
I think the Forsyth county is too far north of metro Atlanta. A location closer to the perimeter would be more ideal, similar to what the Braves accomplished with their new stadium.
Teams with a top 10 pick in draft should have a draft target .. in the case of the Bruins if their target player is gone my thinking is Sweeney will trade that #7 pick with a roster player to get his Center
Will the Bruins target Hagens?
I agree with the distinction between the rangers and either penguins or bruins. They are no where as good as the rangers! What is going on with rangers, they are too good of a team to not make the playoffs? From following this site, it appears that it all began with Coleman not being retained and went to sharks? Trouba, next? Is it possible that Drury is making tough decisions to improve the team or is it he is tone deaf as to the players? Panarin and zibanajad to me seem disinterested . I personally feel it is a mistake to trade lafreinerre but many teams will be interested in him. Anyways, you could see it in numerous players on that team that they were throwing in the towel as opposed to penguins and bruins who aren’t that good !
I don’t think they get Hagens at 7 TSP. And for sure they have their lists and rankings, more so than a target as things don’t always go on script.
They obviously need a C, but IMO the best ones (Misa, Hagens, Frondell, Desnoyers) will be gone. But not a sure thing as we have learned over the years. After that it gets to be more of a crap shoot.
Most mocks have them taking C Jake O’Brien, who needs to work on a few things and likely isn’t a top scorer in the NHL, but could hit as a 2C? Or grab a D like Jackson Smith or Mrtka who is an intriguing prospect.
I am simply going off draft rankings and mock drafts and it’s not like I have in depth knowledge of these guys. Dropping 2 spots in the lottery was kind of big from what I have read.
Makar-good choice. Congrats
Mario; come on “home” and kick Dubas’ butt to make some good moves/non moves for once (well for one of the very very few times)
Oilers must come out flying and stay in top gear whole game; down 3-1 to this Panthers’ team 🤬🤬
Speaking of Norris voting…
Makar-Werenski-Hughes as 1-2-3 in any sequence is legit.
Hedman / Morrissey nabbing some votes also legit. Top 5 is the top 5 imo.
But Harley Dahlin Slavin Hutson and Bouchard getting 3rd place votes this season baffles me. Has to be obvious Homer votes. Someone willing to elevate any of these great players this season above Hughes or Werenski this season is outright laughable.
Just like the voter that didn’t vote for mcdavid on hart for his 155 pt season lol.
NBA, NFLMLB all have the same problem as the NHL when it comes to applying the rules.
Roughing the passer depends on who the QB is, travelling is a suggestion for certain players and the strikezone has an uncanny way of changing for some pitchers.
The difference in the NHL is by allowing teams to stretch the limits to force refs to call penalties all game long or let it go.
I really disliked Don Cherry, but like a broken clock, he got it right twice a day and he warned that the rats were going to take over the game,
Ray Bark
I agree with your assessment of Zacha being an “okay” 2c and probably a 3C on a contending team making him valuable to some and not to others looking for a 2C.
Most Hab fans here and on Hab fan sights don’t want him but I think they are misguided.
i think he fits the role well in Montreal at minimum as a placeholder and at best a revived player under MSL who plays to win not to not lose.
As a second line between Laine and Demidov he would have a lot of opportunity.
In my eyes trading a 1st and 2nd for him this year or 1st and a prospect is a good investment of assets, short term foe Montreal , medium to long term Boston.
I think as fans we need to be realistic instead of over-valuing our teams assets.
Zacha isn’t Bennett, Tavares, Horvat Duschene, but he is the next tier and has an all around game that fits MSL .
I would do it from Boston perspective too HF30. Not sure the Bruins or many of the fans on here agree with me though.
I am fine with them finishing low in the standings next season, kind of hoping for it actually as I am firmly in the rebuild camp. Like multi year project, not the quick one or two year turnaround attempt.
Bruins usually don’t go there.
May not have a choice though, especially if they get injuries to the key guys on blue line again. Then I think they move him at the TDL.
Bruins need to hope Brady Martin is there at 7 ….