NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – July 17, 2025
The full 2025-26 schedule is released, bonus restrictions in the new CBA could hurt Canadian teams, Thomas Vanek joins the Sharks’ front office, and more in today’s NHL Morning Coffee Headlines.
NHL.COM: The full 2025-26 regular-season schedule was released on Wednesday. Among the notable games:
The Florida Panthers will raise their second straight Stanley Cup banner during their home opener when they host the Chicago Blackhawks on Oct. 7. It will be part of the league’s season-opener triple-header, as the Pittsburgh Penguins travel to New York to face the Rangers while the Colorado Avalanche will meet the Kings in Los Angeles.
The New York Islanders’ season opener could feature 2025 first-overall pick Matthew Schaefer when they face the Penguins in Pittsburgh on Oct. 9.
Speaking of the Penguins, former head coach Mike Sullivan will face his former club from behind the New York Rangers’ bench in Pittsburgh on Oct. 11.
Florida Panthers winger Brad Marchand (NHL Images).
On Oct. 21, former Bruins winger Brad Marchand returns to Boston for the first time since being traded to the Panthers.
The annual Hall of Fame game takes place on Nov. 8 as the Bruins travel to Toronto to meet the Maple Leafs.
On Nov. 14 and 16, the Pittsburgh Penguins face the Nashville Predators in the two-game NHL Global Series in Stockholm, Sweden.
On Nov. 22, the Edmonton Oilers and Florida Panthers will meet in their first game since the 2025 Stanley Cup Final.
The 2026 Winter Classic featuring the New York Rangers and the Panthers will be held on Jan. 2, 2026, at Miami’s loanDepot Park.
On Jan. 19, former Chicago Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews returns to Chicago for the first time as a member of another team. He’s staging a comeback this season with the Winnipeg Jets.
Former Toronto Maple Leafs winger Mitch Marner will face his former club in Toronto on Jan. 23 for the first time as a member of the Vegas Golden Knights.
RG.ORG: Marco D’Amico looked at how some of the changes in the new NHL collective bargaining agreement (CBA) will affect teams around the league.
He observed that changes to bonus restrictions could affect the seven Canadian teams the most. Under the current system, Canadian teams use signing bonuses to attract star talent via free agency. In some cases, those bonuses made up nearly 90 percent of the player’s contract.
This was done because a player in Canada faces higher tax rates compared to some American teams based in no-tax states.
Under the new CBA, signing bonuses will be limited to up to 60 percent of the player’s total salary within the life of the contract. D’Amico cited a source saying that it would have the most impact on Canadian teams and American clubs in higher-tax states like California and New York.
The source also pointed out that there are still other avenues of going about this. D’Amico also cited Jeff Gorton, the Montreal Canadiens’ executive VP of hockey operations, who recently said that there are certain things his club could do to alleviate the tax issue.
D’Amico noted the signing bonuses won’t be going away, but the limitations on them mean they won’t be used as aggressively as in the past.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Canadian teams pay higher taxes than some American teams (especially those in no-tax states). However, players on Canadian teams have the advantage of being paid in US dollars.
The current exchange rate indicates that the US dollar is worth $1.38 Canadian. As PuckPedia points out, that is a fantastic benefit for players in Canada.
In 2016, Concordia Business Review indicated that a weak Canadian dollar benefits between 25 percent and 50 percent of NHL players. While working in Canada, expenses such as lodging, meals and insurance are all paid with Canadian dollars. Canadians who play for American teams usually maintain their primary residence in Canada and return home during the offseason, thus profiting from the exchange rate.
SPORTSNET: Former NHL player Thomas Vanek is joining the San Jose Sharks as a hockey operations advisor. He spent 14 seasons in the league from 2005-06 to 2018-19 with the Buffalo Sabres, Columbus Blue Jackets, Detroit Red Wings, Florida Panthers, Minnesota Wild, Montreal Canadiens, New York Islanders and Vancouver Canucks. In 1,029 games, Vanek had 373 goals and 416 assists for 789 points.
THE MONTREAL GAZETTE: The Canadiens signed center Joe Veleno to a one-year, $900,000 contract.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Veleno doesn’t address the Canadiens’ need for an experienced second-line center. However, he will provide them with a left-handed check-line faceoff specialist who can play center or on the wing.
RG.ORG: Marco D’Amico reports that there were multiple teams interested in Logan Mailloux before the Montreal Canadiens traded him to the St. Louis Blues for Zack Bolduc on July 1. The 22-year-old defenseman is looking forward to playing for his new team, but also praised the Canadiens’ organization.
DETROIT HOCKEY NOW: The Red Wings signed prospect forward Carter Bear to a three-year entry-level contract. Bear, 18, was chosen 13th overall in this year’s draft by the Red Wings.
TSN: Former NHL goaltender and San Jose Sharks executive Wayne Thomas passed away on Monday at age 77.
Thomas spent eight seasons with the Montreal Canadiens, Toronto Maple Leafs and New York Rangers from 1972-73 to 1980-81. In 243 games, he had a record of 103-93-34 with a 3.34 goals-against average and a .891 save percentage. He joined the Sharks organization in 1993 and spent 22 seasons with the franchise, retiring as assistant general manager and team vice-president.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: My condolences to Thomas’ family, friends, former teammates and coworkers.
What is it about the Senators and long road trips? This past season, with the World Junior’s in Ottawa, they were all over the map over Christmas and into the New Year, with 3 back-to-backs tossed in for good measure.
This coming season, as detailed in Garrioch’s column this morning, they’re off and running again from Nov 20 to Dec 2:
“The Senators will have one of the longest trips in franchise history, which will get underway Nov. 20 against the Anaheim Ducks at the Honda Center. From there, the Senators will face the San Jose Sharks on Nov. 22, will be in Los Angeles on Nov. 24, and then the club will face Vegas on Nov. 26. On the way back East, the Senators will stop in St. Louis on Nov. 28 and Dallas on Nov. 30. Just for good measure, the Senators will face the Montreal Canadiens at the Bell Centre on Dec. 2 before trudging home.”
At least there no back-to-backs this time.
Just 7 games in 12 days…….think of it as a tournament schedule!
Or a bonding and character building trip.
Senators shall have choice either Vegas or St. Louis where to celebrate Thanksgiving 🦃 Gobble Gobble.
We don’t celebrate Thanksgiving in November in Canada – ours is in October – gives us another month to get over gobbling before Christmas – lol
Geez George you don’t expect them to know things like that, they’re lucky if they can pick Canada out on a map, for heavens sake
Yogi, go back to stealing pic-i-nic baskets! 😉😄
What’s a Canada?
Hoser!
I was in NYC/Manhattan as a 14 year old. My dad was there for meetings, so I roamed around by myself during the day. I went back to the room for something and lady cleaning the room asked me were I was from, I said Canada.
She responded that’s just north of Buffalo isn’t it?
I said yes.
When I worked at Immigration and was visiting he border office at Fort Erie I watched and listened to the examination by the primary line officer when a car pulled up with Georgia plates and skis attached to the roof rack.
When the officer asked what their purpose was in coming into Canada the driver replied “to go skiing in the Rockies for the week-end.” This was June and the Rockies are about 1,900 to 2,200 miles from that entry point, depending upon which part of the Rockies you were headed for.
Needless to say, they weren’t granted entry.
Maybe it was the Millers
Yogi, the Leafs just dealt for left-shot C Dakota Joshua – 6′ 3″ 2-6lbs = 29 y/o from Vancouver for a 2028 4th round pick.
Toronto originally drafted him 128th overall in the 2014 5th round,
In 57gp with Vancouver this past season he had 7g 7A 14 pts and in 241 seasonal gp, he has 40g 38a 78pts.
His cap hit is a bit steep for that sort of production at $3,250,000 with – I believe – 3 years to go.
Joshua’s faceoff winning % is very good at 53.3% last season. His 82-game averages over his NHL career to date work out to 14g 13a 27pts.
Yeah I just saw that George, excellent pickup. That corrects one of Dumbass’s many f^ckups. That should put a smile on Berube’s face. Whatever talent the kid lacks, he more than makes up for it with hard work
He was recovering from cancer last year, so his stats took a bit of a dip
Wow. Good for him. I hope he stays healthy. Big kid, for sure.
GeorgeO,last year your Ottawa Senators traveled less miles than every team in the Atlantic Conference.
Not quite … that was Pittsburgh … Ottawa was second-least … but it wasn’t the actual miles travelled I was talking about … it was the length of the road trips and, last season anyway, the number of back-to-backs in their longest road trip.
https://www.reddit.com/r/hockey/comments/1e8oo4t/oc_nhl_team_travel_distance_for_the_20242025/
above should read 206lbs
Toronto’s cap reserve is now down to $2,083,081 with 14F 8D 2G (24 players) committed to for next season – as listed in Puckpedia.
Looks like another move may be in the works, perhaps involving Robertson – although he doesn’t yet factor into the foregoing cap commitments.
Vancouver, on the other hand, sees their cap reserve rise from just under $1 mil to $4,045,000 with 21 committed to (12F 7D 2G)
George O the miles do factor in,but they knew about the World Junior Tournament being held in Ottawa. The trade off was playing 8 of the last 9 games at home.
If Walt cooks turkey as bad as he cooks steak maybe they should do Thanksgiving in Vegas – take in a show.
Not getting into this non tax debates stuff again, but I did find the counterpoints interesting and a contribution to the issue. But I have to say that while Canadian players do indeed benefit from the exchange when it comes to housing (biggest expense), US players can deduct their mortgage payments. At least as far as I know.
Moving on, I had a quick look at the Habs’ schedule and noticed a lot of 3 games in 4 nights. I am sure every team has the same, the price for playing in the Olympics. But it surely will make for some frayed hockey and possibly a rise in injuries.
Habs are tied for the most b2b games this year, including the first 2 games and 3 games in 4 nights on the road to start the year.
Decent pick up for the Habs in Veleno. He’s obviously not a 2C but his line and Evans line could be sort of like 3A and 3B. The year before last he had 28 points. If he can get back to that, become a 15G 30P guy, it’ll certainly be a help. The Habs needed a depth center. Beck and Kapanen need another year in the AHL and Newhook is better at wing.
It was a contract year for him then as it is again now!
He has the motivation!
That’s what our comrade in hockey HF30 thinks too, Howard. I remain surprised as what I read about Kapanen’s performance in the AHL was positive. I get the LH face-off issue, but in my day I took face-offs on both the left and the right. If I could do it, surely pros can.
We’ll see once the season starts.
LJ,
Veleno won only 46.9% of his faceoffs BUT he won roughly 57 percent of his strong-side defensive zone draws at five-on-five last season.
There’s a reason teams want L and R shot centres and D-men.
What we did in college and beer league doesn’t translate to the NHL.
Buffalo West: Grier, Ryan Miller, now Vanek.
Wally let s hope they Don t copy the Buffalo of the east!Looks like Pegula wants to win a NCAA championship before his Bills and Sabres do.