NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – June 22, 2025
Check out the latest on Matthew Tkachuk, Aaron Ekblad and Zach Werenski, the Kraken trade Andre Burakovsky to the Blackhawks, and more in today’s NHL Morning Coffee Headlines.
FLORIDA HOCKEY NOW: Panthers winger Matthew Tkachuk said he will decide over the next several weeks if he’ll require surgery to repair the injuries that sidelined him for the final 25 games of the regular season.
Florida Panthers winger Matthew Tkachuk (NHL Images).
Following the Stanley Cup Final, Tkachuk admitted he suffered a torn adductor muscle and a sports hernia. Surgery could sideline him for the entire training camp period in September and the start of the regular season in October.
“It’s going to take a few weeks to determine if I need it or not,” said Tkachuk. “It’s probably 50-50 right now. I don’t know if I’ll have a normal summer or not. I hope so. I’m not just going to jump into surgery without talking to everybody and going through everything. I have a few weeks here when I can figure it out.”
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The Panthers would miss Tkachuk’s offense and agitating style if he’s sidelined to start next season. They were 13-11-1 during his absence down the stretch in 2024-25.
TSN: Speaking of the Panthers, Aaron Ekblad said contract extension talks with the club have begun. “Conversations have been had,” he said. “Obviously, nothing material yet, but they’ll be working on it. Things seem to come down to the last minute here.”
The 29-year-old defenseman is eligible to become an unrestricted free agent (UFA) on July 1. He has spent his entire 11-season NHL career with the Panthers. “It’s home and I expect it to be home,” he said.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Ekblad is coming off an eight-year contract with an average annual value (AAV) of $7.5 million. His performance has declined over the past couple of seasons.
The Panthers have $19 million in cap space, with Conn Smythe Trophy winner Sam Bennett, winger Brad Marchand, and blueliner Nate Schmidt also UFA-eligible on July 1. Ekblad might have to accept a pay cut on a shorter-term deal to stay in Florida.
THE ATHLETIC: Coming off a career-best performance, Zach Werenski is hoping to lead the Columbus Blue Jackets to bigger and better things.
The 29-year-old joined the league’s elite defensemen this season with an 82-point performance. He was runner-up for the James Norris Memorial Trophy and named to this season’s Second All-Star Team.
Werenski’s efforts helped the Blue Jackets overcome the tragic death of winger Johnny Gaudreau. They exceeded expectations this season, narrowly missing the playoffs. He wants to be part of a winning culture in Columbus and is optimistic about their future.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The Blue Jackets have a core of rising young forwards like Adam Fantilli, Kirill Marchenko, Dmitry Voronkov, and Kent Johnson. They also have up-and-coming defenseman Denton Mateychuk and a promising goaltender in Jet Greaves. With Werenski now at an elite level, his skills and leadership will be invaluable in helping this club take the next step.
The Jackets also have over $40 million in salary-cap space for 2025-26. Management has the room to make a couple of significant additions that could pay long-term dividends.
CHICAGO HOCKEY NOW/THE SEATTLE TIMES: The Chicago Blackhawks acquired winger Andre Burakovsky from the Seattle Kraken in exchange for center Joe Veleno.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: This was a salary dump by the Kraken, exchanging Burakovsky’s $5.5 million AAV through 2026-27 for Veleno’s $2.75 million for 2025-26. They have $18.6 million of cap space for 2025-26 with 17 active roster players under contract.
The rebuilding Blackhawks continue to add experienced short-term depth to take pressure off their promising young players.
Injuries hampered Burakovsky during his first two seasons with the Kraken. He played in 79 games this season but managed 39 points, which was a far cry from the career-best 61 points he had with the Colorado Avalanche in 2021-22, which earned him his current contract.
The Kraken now have sufficient room to re-sign restricted free agents (RFAs) Kaapo Kakko and Tye Kartye. They acquired winger Mason Marchment last week from the Dallas Stars and should still have enough cap space to make another substantial addition to their roster.
This is the second time this season that Veleno’s been traded. The Blackhawks acquired him from the Detroit Red Wings at the trade deadline. He could provide the Kraken with short-term depth at center for the coming season.
CHICAGO SUN-TIMES: The Blackhawks placed defenseman TJ Brodie on unconditional waivers to buy out his contract.
They signed the 35-year-old defenseman last summer to a two-year contract with an AAV of $3.75 million. However, Brodie’s performance noticeably declined and he was a healthy scratch during the final 22 games of the regular season.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The Blackhawks won’t get much cap relief for 2025-26. This buyout counts as $3.233 million against their cap next season, dropping to $258,333 for the 2026-27 season.
THE ATHLETIC’s Michael Russo reports the Minnesota Wild are closing in on hiring former Anaheim Ducks head coach Greg Cronin as the new bench boss of their AHL affiliate in Iowa.
RDS: Jesse Puljujarvi scored the overtime winner for the Charlotte Checkers to defeat the Abbotsford Canucks 4-3 in Game 5 of the AHL’s Calder Cup Final. This was the third game in this series that required overtime. Abbotsford holds a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven series.
Unbelievable is all I can say. Jesse scoring the overtime winner! He was sadly missed by the Oilers
if he could have done that during his tenure there.
During this years Stanley Cup run.
Sadly missed by the Oilers?
The Oilers traded him to Carolina for a prospect that never played in the NHL. He scored 0 goals in 17 games with Carolina, then had had short ineffective stints with two other NHL teams before being sent to the minors.
In the Calder Cup finals he has one goal and two assists in 5 games, so he’s not exactly ripping it up in the AHL.
What are the Oilers missing, Alan?
What are the Oilers missing? Stanley Cup parades…too soon? 4 #1 over alls in a row should have cemented that for any club…..
Matty may have to change his style of play to have any longevity in the sport!
Pool Party is still around.Like a cat he seems to have 9 lives. Very interesting summer for the Blue Jackets. Money to burn to add to a young talented group led by a Norris Trophy Candidate in Zach Werenski.No knock on Mcavoy but I thought Werenski should have been one of the 6 players named for the US in the next Olympics.
Simply heart breaking to read of Matthew Tkachuk’s injuries.
They might heal more quickly if he would just shut the hell up.
Congratulations Tkachuk playing with those injuries! Rather have Tkachuk instead of Mitchy Marner! Panthers management assembled Superb Team!
There isn’t another team in the league whose fans wouldn’t put Tkachuk on a pedestal if he wound up on their team.
I often heard the same sort of scathing opinions about “the little ball of hate” Marchand. But here isn’t a fan base around that wouldn’t have been doing cartwheels had he wound up on THEIR team.
To a lesser degree, it’s the same with Tom Wilson.
With that $19,000,000 in cap reserve and needing to sign 7, the Panthers, in addition to Ekblad (coming off $7.5 mil), Marchand ($6,125,000), Bennett ($4,425,000) and Schmidt ($800,000), also have RFA RW/C Mackie Samoskevich to re-up (no arbitration rights – coming off an ELC of $925,000) and will need to make a decision on a back-up goalie.
Do they re-sign Vitek Venecek as Bobrovsky’s back up – he’s a UFA coming off a cap hit of $3,400,000 – or do they go cheaper there? Thing is, they need to get that right because, if anything ever happened to Bobrovsky long-term, there isn’t anything in their system ready to step up (undrafted Cooper Black split this past season between the ECHL and AHL and certainly isn’t regarded as NHL-ready).
And if their remaining UFAs go unsigned (C/LW Tomas Nosek ($775,000); C/LW Nico Sturm ($2,000,.000); LD Jaycob Megna ($775,000) they still need to be replaced in the line-up.
Ekblab appears wants stay with the Panthers. Rumor – Ekblab and Panthers started discussing new deal, contract average per season will be less. Don’t know Ekblab will accept reduced contract? Panthers could replace Ekblab with another less expensive defenseman.
Bennett rumor saying he’ll get new deal with Panthers.
Marchand not sure?
Backup goalie – they’ll find someone.
Believe it or not the backup goalie maybe the most important of Florida’s signings. He’ll probably have to play at least 20 games and bare minimum has to win 8. If he can’t do that Florida won’t make the playoffs, the standings are that tight. Just finding someone, won’t do. A decent backup may cost them 2 or 3 million
I thought ekblad was a beast in this yrs playoffs much healthier that the yr before.if he were to wait for july1st he would nt have to take a paycut
I guess those PED’s did the trick!