NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – July 15, 2025
The 2025-26 season-opener is released, the Sabres avoid arbitration with Bowen Byram, an ownership group led by Mario Lemieux is interested in buying the Penguins, and more in today’s NHL Morning Coffee Headlines.
NHL.COM: The 2025-26 regular season will kick off with a triple-header starting Tuesday, Oct. 7.
The first game of the season features the Florida Panthers raising their 2024-25 Stanley Cup banner at home as they host the Chicago Blackhawks.
The second game sees the New York Rangers hosting the Pittsburgh Penguins, and the evening concludes with the Colorado Avalanche visiting the Los Angeles Kings.
The full regular-season schedule will be released on Wednesday, July 16.
THE BUFFALO NEWS: The Sabres avoided arbitration with defenseman Bowen Byram as the two sides agreed to a two-year contract worth an average annual value of $6.25 million.
Buffalo Sabres defenseman Bowen Byram (NHL Images).
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Byram, 24, will be eligible for unrestricted free-agent status at the end of this contract. He was the subject of frequent trade speculation since last season. The Sabres could still move him, but for now, he’s part of their plans for this season.
The signing leaves the Sabres with over $7.3 million in cap space. Restricted free agents Devon Levi and Conor Timmins remain unsigned, with the latter awaiting the date for his arbitration hearing.
THE ATHLETIC: Josh Yohe reports that a group led by former NHL owner and superstar Mario Lemieux remains very interested in purchasing the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Lemieux spent his entire 17-season NHL career with the Penguins. He co-owned the club from 1999 to 2021.
Fenway Sports Group (FSG) released a statement earlier this year indicating they have no interest in selling the Penguins. Nevertheless, the Lemieux group is considering its financial options and avenues to regain control of the club at some point.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Yohe’s source also stated that the Lemieux group expects the NHL will add two expansion teams over the next several years, resulting in a significant windfall for the existing 32 clubs.
FLORIDA HOCKEY NOW: As the 2024-25 Panthers have their names engraved on the Stanley Cup (many for the second straight year), columnist Alan Greenberg reflected on his 17 seasons covering the team, and how far they’ve come from the first 12 years that he followed them.
During that period, they were among the league’s bottom feeders. Ownership didn’t provide the funds to add top free-agent talent, and the franchise was generally not a desirable place to play. The arena was less than half full for most games, media coverage was scarce, and there were rumors of relocating the franchise to Quebec City.
Things began to turn around when the Viola family took over in 2013. Former general manager Dale Tallon drafted core players like Aleksander Barkov and Aaron Ekblad, and signed goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky. Bill Zito, Tallon’s successor, built up the franchise by acquiring notable players like Matthew Tkachuk, Sam Reinhart, Sam Bennett, Carter Verhaeghe and Gustav Forsling, and hiring head coach Paul Maurice.
Today, the Panthers sell out their home arena, receive more local and national coverage, and merchandise sales are booming. The players form a close-knit group, fostering a positive atmosphere within the team.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: From 1993-94 to 2019-20, the Panthers reached the playoffs six times over those 26 years. Since 2020-21, they’ve been a perennial playoff team, reaching the Stanley Cup Final three straight times and winning back-to-back championships since 2023-24.
The rise of the Panthers is primarily attributed to Zito’s appointment as general manager. In five years, he built upon the foundation left by Tallon, turning a laughingstock into a dominant franchise poised to become the first true Stanley Cup dynasty (three consecutive championships) since the 1980-82 New York Islanders.
THE ATHLETIC’s Kevin Kurz reports Philadelphia Flyers winger Tyson Foerster continues to rehab an injured tendon near his elbow. He will undergo an MRI next week to check on the infection that developed following the injury.
The Flyers hope Foerster will be ready to start the season, but plenty of uncertainty remains.
THE WINNIPEG SUN: The Jets avoided arbitration with RFA forward Morgan Barron, signing him to a two-year contract with an AAV of $1.85 million.
Negotiations continue between Jets management and winger Gabriel Vilardi and defenseman Dylan Samberg. Like Barron, they filed for salary arbitration on July 5.
NYI HOCKEY NOW: The Islanders signed forward Victor Eklund to a three-year entry-level contract. Eklund was chosen 16th overall in last month’s NHL Draft and was one of three first-rounders by the Isles.
SPORTSNET: The Edmonton Oilers have shifted Paul Coffey from an assistant coach to an advisory role in the front office. They added Paul McFarland as power-play coach, Peter Aubry as their goaltending coach, and Connor Allen as a skills development coach.
Lyle, San Jose also signed one of their RFAs – D Jack Thompson – 1 year – $800,000.
He’s probably ticketed to their AHL affiliate.
As I’ve posted before, I can’t see the Sabres trading Byram now. He won’t be able to sign an extension until next summer, so other teams won’t want to give up what the Sabres would ask in return.
Bottom line is that Byram and the Sabres now have a year to repair their relationship leading to a long term extension next summer. If that doesn’t happen, he’ll be seriously on the block next July.
Its like Chychrun 2.0…..
1 year contracts for $1.15 M or less are zero risk (waived then buried and doesn’t count against cap).
Let them vie to be on 23 man roster; if they fail: waive then bury. If someone does pick them off waivers, so be it
These UFAs are mid 20’s and will be getting less than $1.15 M; prob will get League min to $900 K
Why has nobody signed them yet:
Leason , 26 (W/C); shoots R; 6’5”, 225; one year removed from 82 game pace of 13-13-26 playing 10 mins/game for Ducks
Kostin, 26, (W);L; 6’4”, 220; a couple of years removed from 82 game pace of 16-15-31 (Oilers)
Bastian, 27, (RW/C); R; 6’4”; 208. Depth forward; likely sign at league min.
Why would Mario Lemieux want with that dumpster fire in Pittsburgh. Especially with Crosby at the end of his deal?
Mainly the prospect of a big $ windfall through a share of the $2 billion when the league expands by 2 again in the near future.
Yeah, that and McKenna. Mario wants to be able to intimidate Garry into switching out the ping pong balls during the commercial break. Just watch. 😉
George, yep. That, and sports teams have proven to be a very profitable investment as far as franchise valuations are concerned. And you don’t even need to be good at it.
Just look at the Sens, one of the smallest markets in the NHL, purchased for $92M in 2003 and sold it 20 years later for close to a billion. Melnyk didn’t suck, but was he killing it?
Even the dumpster fire Yotes with an owner with less than a sterling reputation and track record, sold for $1.2B in 2024. Meruelo purchased the team in 2019 for $300M, of which he received $1.0B. So his ROI was over 230% in 5 years. And he was a terrible owner who couldn’t even keep his team in an NHL sized arena where he was the main tenant. You need to be quite the dick for that to happen.
Other than Nvidia, and a couple others, can’t think of many other equity stocks that have performed that well over that stretch and Jensen Huang is a brilliant business man with great innovations who is crushing their competition.
Blazing 88’s, if Mario is the owner by next year’s draft, and Pittsburgh has managed to latch onto the 1st overall, I hope – when McKenna’s name is called, he refuses to get up and accept the team jersey – as Mario did with Johnston when he was drafted, leaving the poor schmuck standing there with the sweater, literally begging him to come down.
He later tried to explain away that embarrassment for poor Johnston by claiming he was “shy.” Horse hockey.
GeorgeO Don t you think John Henry knows that?
Probably does, no doubt … which could make Mario’s wish to buy in problematic.
Mario also got jobbed by Fenway and I think he wants to try to regain his actual place of power back. He will always be the lord of the franchise to fans but I think he wants a say.
But what he did to Johnston still makes him a schmuck
Everyone that complains about the “state tax”B.S. (or lack there of) needs to reread that part above about the Panthers. It’s not like this is a new thing.
Hopefully, this will finally put that to rest, Starsfan.
Not with me it won’t.
It’s certainly fair to point to a # of factors, including a willingness to take a home town discount in the Panthers’ signing Ekblad and Bennett (less so Marchant’s contract).
Why is it unfair and BS to point out that the net take home of that home town discount is also a factor in non-tax states?
I’m listening …
With LJ on this. There are many factors, and multiple things can be true at the same time. I have said multiple times on here that having a chance to win is probably the biggest one for veteran players, at least that is how I perceive it to be.
But, I can’t see how it isn’t an advantage, because it just is. Better take home $$ for the same cap hit is an advantage attracting players. How isn’t it?
Or, paying a player with a NMC less of a cap hit than your competition because the player takes home the same $$, is an advantage. How isn’t it?
How much of an advantage? I dunno, impossible to prove unless we know what every offer could, or would be, which we don’t.
Bullseye, Ray. we will never likely know as players aren’t going to say: “hey, I stayed due to the net being the same as a higher offer elsewhere and that was the tie breaker.”
But as it is difficult to assess the impact throughout the league, and even more difficult to fix, it’s likely to remain.
At least the LTIR playoff advantage, being easier to fix, is gone.
But in the end, they are still governed by the same cap limit as everyone else, and they can only have upwards of 23 players on the major league roster. If a number of them are signed to long-term deals, it would limit their ability to use that enticement, I would think. AND wouldn’t it also make it doubly-difficult to get a player under a long-term deal to agree to a trade elsewhere if they have NT/NM clauses?
Every high end player gets a NTC/NMC for their UFA years and every fan complains about them.
I guess my point is it is a checkmark in the plus column for more take home $$.
And the teams with no state tax, it could be argued, can sometimes have an advantage staying under the cap by paying some of the higher end guys a little less.
If there was no cap, their would be no advantage. IMO
It isn’t unfair to mention taxes, nobody has ever claimed that it isn’t a factor.
There are many factors though and teams in tax advantaged states that aren’t winning have trouble attracting players.
It’s a pain to see folks riding that hobby horse all the time considering we don’t regularly look for excuses for players signing in other states and provinces.
Some of the best and highest paid players are in Canada and its not for tax benefits.
Somehow players stay in one of the highest taxed states, California and haven’t moved on. Same goes for a number of players in NY, not a tax haven, who refuse to leave.
Most players have little if any choice in where they play and of those who go UFA the majority re-sign if the team wants them.
Definitely an advantage. Definitely not a problem.
Lots of other advantages out there as well. They arnt problematic either. It’s a small sample size but it seems to me that the ones complaining about it are either from up north or fans of those teams. Reeks of sour grapes.
HF30: I didn’t raise the non tax issue, I responded to it. Call it my hobby horse if you like, shall we call it Rossi?
Secondly, pointing to players who have signed in non tax states as proof that it isn’t an issue is bogus. There are, what, 6 non tax/low tax states. That’s about 20% of the league. Where else are the other 80% going to sign?
We rarely hear why a player chooses one offer vs another. Non tax may well have nothing to do with a healthy % of signings.
But at the least it is a tie breaker between competitive offers and an important one as the players who benefit from it are usually the high priced and much sought after.
Has anyone ever decided not to claim a legitimate tax deduction on their income tax submission? Particularly when it would save a meaningful amount?
No. So why is it so difficult to acknowledge the non tax benefit?
Lj. It’s definitely an advantage. But so is the allure of playing for an original six franchise like the habs. If the league tried to find a way to balance the tax issue how do they fix that unfair advantage?
Chrisms: I don’t believe there is an allure playing for an original 6 team unless one grew up rooting for them.
But you have nailed the issue: unlike the LTIR playoff issue, there is no easy fix. It would require some sort of rebalancing of the cap to offset the tax advantage and that will never happen.
I think you commented a while ago that any such attempt would create a political backlash, and you are probably correct. So it’s like knowing we are going to die one day: we have to accept it. Grudgingly.
Lj. I mostly agree. But you hear a lot more of players saying publicly that they are so proud to put on an original six jersey. You don’t usually hear them brag about getting tax breaks. Could be superficial. But I believe as a non original six teams fan that that saw the advantage that gave/gives them an advantage over us other teams complaining about a tax advantage is kinda funny.
Chrisms what was his reason for selling the first time?
He originally wanted to step back and just have a minority stake. But Fenway made some promises about his roll in the organization they didn’t keep. So he got out. Now I think he regrets it/misses it. That last part is speculation of course
Chrisms the game is much better when NHL icons are a part of the game.It s good for the league!
20 years ago the Cap was introduced with a ceiling of $39 mil and a floor of $23 mil.
Today, just about every team exceeds that max with their Top 6 cap hits combined.
In fact, near as I can tell, only Chicago ($29,900,000) and San Jose ($33,300,000) currently do not exceed the max 20 years ago with their top 6 cap hits, while Anaheim ($39,750,000) is barely above it.
Ray you’re forgetting what Meruelo lost each year trying to operate the dam thing and he lost a considerable amount too. But, he did still walk away with more than he deserved
That’s fair Yogi, and it’s not like he took over a thriving franchise. Sure seems like he made it worse though?
I would suggest some of those losses were self inflicted, but ya, not all.
Why can’t the league do away with the over the glass penalty/ or delay of game while they do away with LTIR for playoffs? I would assume it would be easier to decide than LTIR for playoffs. We saw some examples of it in the SC Final or previous rounds when they call it in OT or critical points of the game. I don’t get why they don’t get rid of it. It’s a stupid penalty and I know on here it’s been debated at nauseum probably. So, everyone kind of said call it an icing or faceoff but no penalty. What is the difficulty of removing it from the game. I don’t see it as a play worth being penalized for? The game is so fast of course it is going to go over the glass at times!!!
Amen. One of my pet peeves. Delay of game my butt. It takes 10 seconds to get a new puck. They want to maintain some sort of “penalty?” Make it like they do with icing at 5 on 5 – no substitution for the face-off in the “offending” player’s end.
And if they want to stop longer “delays of games” cut down on the number of commercial breaks.
The delay of game for over the glass rule is there for a reason.
It was a deliberate move done to stop the play, get a line change, ease the pressure, kill momentum which used to be done a lot.
The rule takes all decision making out of refs hands, no intentionality to consider.
and thanks for that, habfan. Puck over glass is one of the few penalties (along with too many men) that the referees are REQUIRED to call.
Otherwise, as with most playoff games, we’ll just forget we own whistles.
and yes, these players are trained professionals at the highest level in the world. I’m pretty sure they can figure out how not to shoot the puck over the glass.
I’m not sure I buy that with the red line gone from the game and a guy barreling down on you all the time? Even though these guys are the best, still going to throw it over the glass at times. I guess will have to have someone throw it over the glass at some point and it will determine a SC before they will change it? Then whoever the fan base will be and players will have to live with it when it should just be a stoppage in play? I’m done talking about it. IMO it’s a stupid rule!