NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – June 3, 2025
Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov wins two awards, Oilers winger Evander Kane could make a difference in the upcoming Stanley Cup Final, Jesper Fast retires, and more in today’s NHL Morning Coffee Headlines.
FLORIDA HOCKEY NOW: Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov made NHL history, becoming the first player to win the Frank J. Selke Trophy and the King Clancy Memorial Trophy in the same year.
Florida Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov (NHL Images).
Barkov, 29, is a three-time winner of the Selke Trophy as the top defensive forward, previously winning in 2021 and 2024. He joins Patrice Bergeron, Bob Gainey, Pavel Datsyuk, Guy Carbonneau, and Jere Lehtinen as the only players to win the award three times or more in their careers.
The King Clancy Trophy signifies leadership and contribution to the community.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Barkov’s teammate Sam Reinhart was runner-up for the Selke. Anthony Cirelli of the Tampa Bay Lightning was third.
EDMONTON JOURNAL: Winger Evander Kane could be a difference-maker for the Oilers in the upcoming Stanley Cup Final. He missed the 2024-25 regular season recovering from injuries that hampered his performance in last year’s postseason, sidelining him for five of their seven games against the Panthers in the 2024 Cup Final.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The Oilers missed his physical offensive style in last year’s series with Florida. Kane made his presence felt in this postseason thus far, with five goals and six assists for 11 points in 15 games. He could provide a measure of snarl that they were lacking in their previous go-around with the Panthers.
THE HOCKEY NEWS: Carolina Hurricanes forward Jesper Fast announced his retirement from professional hockey at age 33. He suffered a neck injury in the final game of the 2023-24 season that required surgery last August. Fast missed the entire 2024-25 season.
Fast spent 11 seasons in the NHL, starting with the New York Rangers from 2013-14 to 2019-20. He spent his final four seasons with the Hurricanes. A skilled checking forward and penalty-killer, Fast had 91 goals and 157 assists for 248 points in 703 regular-season games, and 14 goals and 27 points in 80 postseason contests.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Best wishes to Fast in his future endeavors.
TAMPA BAY TIMES: The Lightning signed forward Yanni Gourde to a six-year contract extension worth an average annual value of $2.33 million. It also contains a full no-trade clause for the entirety of the deal.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Gourde is coming off a six-year deal with an AAV of $5.16 million. Given his age, the versatile 33-year-old forward was facing a pay cut on his next contract. He likely would’ve received a higher AAV on a short-term deal on the open market compared to what he got to stay in Tampa Bay, but opted for the long-term security offered by the Lightning.
Gourde didn’t want to leave Tampa Bay. However, he was left unprotected in the 2021 expansion draft and was selected by the Seattle Kraken. He was pleased when the Lightning reacquired him this season and still believes they can be a Stanley Cup contender.
The Lightning retain an important third-line forward on an affordable contract. The deal also works well over the long term, as most of Gourde’s AAV can be buried in the minors should his performance decline significantly in the final years of his contract.
Critics on social media complained this was another example of a Sun Belt team enjoying the benefit of being a non-state tax club. That may have an aspect of this deal, but the factors mentioned above played a bigger role in Gourde’s decision.
Gourde’s signing leaves the Lightning with $3.48 million in available cap space with 20 active roster players under contract. They must re-sign or replace restricted free agent Gage Goncalves and unrestricted free agents Nick Perbix, Cam Atkinson, and Luke Glendening.
DAILY FACEOFF: The Minnesota Wild signed forward Marcus Johansson to a one-year extension worth $800K.
TSN: The Ottawa Senators signed defenseman Tyler Kleven to a two-year, $3.2 million contract extension.
THE BUFFALO NEWS: The NHL switching to a remote draft this year makes the 2025 Draft Combine in Buffalo the only opportunity for general managers to meet face-to-face in one location during this month. The combine runs from June 2-7 at LECOM HarborCenter.
General managers used to take the opportunity in a centralized draft to meet and discuss potential trades involving established NHL players. Now, the seeds of such deals at this year’s draft may be planted at the Combine.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: There’s speculation of discontent among NHL teams over this year’s decentralized draft, with some observers suggesting it could return to its previous format next year.
BOSTON HOCKEY NOW: Bruins interim coach Joe Sacco will not be among the finalists for the full-time head coach position.
NEW JERSEY HOCKEY NOW: Former Devils forward Scott Gomez was named head coach of the USHL’s Chicago Steel.
I liked watching the drama of hockey draft day. It was two parts. Which player went to which team and also the trades. So Bettman would say for instance
Tampa Bays pick has been traded to Florida for such and such player and picks.That was the excitement.
If the NHL wants a change, how about removing Bettman himself from the proceedings.No more of his beaming face.
Agree. Draft day was both interesting and exciting so, naturally, they decided to dull it down a la NFL.
To Hell with it. I’ll just wait until the next day and check the list.
George,
re the link you posted yesterday about the Habs, cap and Carey Price.
Tampa, Vegas, Florida have taught me to ignore cap doomsday talk and or miracle solutions.
Gorton, Sedgewick and Hughes will do whatever is necessary to get the players they need and I don’t bother calculating the possibilities.
Heh … thanks habfan30 … yeah, you’re right, of course. It all seems to work out in the end … that’s why they get paid the big bucks.
Just that that one seemed to have been given a little more detailed thought than the usual “the sky is falling” trade everybody routine – coupled with “Marco D’Amico is the Senior News Editor at RG Media, where he serves as a beat reporter covering the Montreal Canadiens and the NHL Draft. Known for his in-depth analysis of NHL CBA intricacies and prospect development …”
I wasn’t all that familiar with D’Amico and wondered if those of you closer to the scene could perhaps shed some light on it. Given that he, too, is a Habs fan, it would be interesting to read Lyle’s take on what was written.
I agree. Draft day has always been exciting to watch. I don’t know why they decided to change it. I’m glad some teams are complaining.
many fans hate Bettman, but in the draft instance, the remote draft was not his idea, but the idea of the teams. Since they insisted on it (due to the closeness of the draft and free agency) that he’ll approve for this year’s draft but then review it afterwards. So this should not be counted as a tick on the Hate Bettman checklist 🙂
Bettman works for the owners, as any commissioner does, so if your boss insists on something, what can you do?
…queue the silly season where pundits, podcasters, people with more than 29 thoughts but less than 33 thoughts suddenly start posting those thoughts and ideas out loud to generate clicks.
Fun times. Sure. Lets take a budding 6’3 power forward on a great deal and trade him because he was kind lousy in his first play off appearance ever. Go Sens Go….see ya Batherson. This is why Ottawa can’t have nice things. I guarantee in two years it’ll be like….damn I wish we had that great second line power forward with offensive skill who could really drive play.
LOL. So true. In the other thread someone is even suggesting that they deal Batherson even up for Jason Robertson of Dallas!
So, give up a power F on a cap-friendly $4,975,000 cap hit for 2 more seasons for a significantly-less-than-power F costing $7,750,000 for next season, after which he becomes an RFA.
All for the difference of 9g 3a 12 pts!
Who dreams up this s*&t?
Found where that was coming from … and posted a comment in the other thread.
Fast got a cross checking to the neck by Erik Gudbrandsen in a game that held no importance to either team. The injury that followed ended Fast’s career, great job Erik
How is it that we hear Barkov wins two awards and we have to wait until the Cup is won to hear who wins the other awards?
Geez. Florida tax free situation even has them a preferred destination for the selke! I cry foul!
It’s going to be interesting to see attendance at Panthers and Lightning home games this coming season.
The reason being that almost all the so-called “Canadian Snowbirds” have been selling their properties – many at a loss – due to a combination of political tensions (51st State crapola emanating consistently out of Washington) and the low Canadian dollar.
I have often wondered what % of the crowds were represented by them (and visitors from “home”) … now we’ll see.
The Lightning are sold-out with an STM waiting list, & according to my rep less than 300 Canadiens in the STM population. Yes there are somewhat fewer seasonal residents, but most hockey is played in the off-season for tourists…
& you can still get a bargain round trip flight and good face value seats in Tampa for about what scalpers charge in Toronto.
While the property sales may be up for Canadiens the real Estate market still has far too few properties for sale compared to demand.
My wife working at a local hospital says they have no reduction in medical tourism.
After 33 years of agressive community outreach and 3 cups Tampa will be fine — admit one still sees empty seats midseason on the Sunrise side.
Speaking of Kane… are they going to address that loophole in the next CBA? How many times can Stone get hurt and magically be healthy the day playoffs start? The cap needs to apply to the playoffs too. Name the roster on day one of the playoffs and live with it. If a contract is off because of LTIR, they should be ineligible. Kinda ridiculous.
Changes to LTIR have reportedly been part of the current CBA negotiations.