NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – July 20, 2025
Blake Wheeler retires, Penn State’s Gavin McKenna’s potential effect upon this season’s trade market, and more in today’s NHL Morning Coffee Headlines.
TSN: Winger Blake Wheeler announced his retirement after 16 NHL seasons with the Winnipeg Jets, Boston Bruins, and New York Rangers from 2008-09 to 2023-24.
Wheeler, 38, was a first-round pick (fifth overall) by the Arizona Coyotes in the 2004 NHL Draft, but signed with the Bruins after becoming an unrestricted free agent in 2008. After three seasons with the Bruins, he was traded to the Atlanta Thrashers in 2009-10, and moved with the team to Winnipeg, spending 13 seasons with the Jets.
Former Winnipeg Jets captain Blake Wheeler (NHL Images)
The Jets’ single-season franchise leader in assists (71 in 2018-19), Wheeler is the franchise leader with 897 games-played, 550 assists, and 812 points. He served as team captain from 2016-17 to 2021-22.
Overall, Wheeler finished with 1,172 games played, 321 goals, 622 assists and 943 points, and 45 points in 66 playoff games.
RG.ORG: Marco D’Amico reports sources suggest that left wing Gavin McKenna could affect this season’s NHL trade market.
McKenna, 17, is the projected top prospect for the 2026 NHL Draft. He spent the past three seasons with the WHL’s Medicine Hat Tigers. In 2024-25, he became the third-youngest player to win the CHL David Branch Player of the Year Award. He will be playing this season for Penn State University in the NCAA.
Some teams could become sellers earlier than usual to improve their odds of winning the 2026 draft lottery and the opportunity to select McKenna.
The NHL’s annual trade deadline is typically the turning point in a season when clubs double down for a playoff run or sell off veteran players for draft picks and prospects. However, some observers believe the American Thanksgiving weekend in late November could serve as the start of the trade period.
Historically, over 76 percent of teams holding a playoff berth by the American Thanksgiving weekend go on to qualify for the postseason.
Rebuilding teams like the Chicago Blackhawks and San Jose Sharks are already expected to be basement dwellers this season. The Pittsburgh Penguins could soon join them. Other clubs to watch include the St. Louis Blues, Nashville Predators, Philadelphia Flyers, Vancouver Canucks and Calgary Flames.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The sharp rise in this season’s salary cap could also facilitate more early-season trade activity.
Traditionally, most buyers wait for the trade deadline so they can accrue sufficient cap space throughout the season to make significant additions. However, there are currently 16 teams with at least $6 million in cap space, with 12 of those carrying over $10 million.
Some of those teams will probably use up that cap room this summer to bolster their rosters for this season. However, there will likely be several teams that will remain flush with cap room who could be actively shopping for depth earlier than usual.
NHL.COM: Matt Savoie has a golden opportunity to earn a full-time roster spot with the Edmonton Oilers this season.
The club needs a reliable penalty-killing forward after Connor Brown’s departure via free agency this summer. Savoie, 21, showed improvement with his defensive play last season with the Oilers’ AHL affiliate in Bakersfield.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Savoie is a promising all-around forward. If he makes the most of this opportunity, he could earn top-six minutes this season with the Oilers.
TRIBLIVE.COM: Former Pittsburgh Penguins forward Matt Cooke was named head coach and general manager of the Vernon Vipers in the British Columbia Hockey League (BCHL). The 46-year-old Cooke has coached at various levels since retiring as a player in 2015, including a stint with the ECHL’s now-defunct Newfoundland Growlers.
Speaking of former Penguins, Ty Smith signed a one-year contract with KHL team Dinamo Minsk. The 25-year-old defenseman spent four NHL seasons with the Penguins, New Jersey Devils and Carolina Hurricanes from 2020-21 to 2024-25.
OTTAWA SUN: The National Capital Commission and the Senators are making significant progress to finalize the club’s purchase of 10 acres of land to build a new arena at LeBreton Flats.
Both sides aim to finalize the deal by the end of 2025. If discussions can be fast-tracked, it could be approved by the NCC’s board of directors during their annual public meeting on Sept. 23.
Matt Cooke a coach …. Jayzus!
I would have guessed he was somewhere pulling the wings off flies.
I was shocked when I saw Cooke was named coach for the Growlers. I thought it was a stupid move even for Dubas to make, but it wasn’t his to make. The Growlers were owned by a Quebec outfit that also owned Montreal’s ECHL team. To save a buck they hired Cooke and screwed NFLD
Dude did actually accept that his game needed changed and modified his game to eliminate the garbage. Can’t think of any other cheap shot artist that did that. Course that was after ending a career or two. But he could bring a good yeah don’t do that I did and it was bad vibe for young players.
One can only hope that that is his approach to imparting his knowledge to impressionable kids.
To me – over many, many years of following all aspects of the game – he is and always will be the arch-pr*^k.
Today, that mantle has been passed to Ryan Hartman.
Stan Mikita went from challenging for most penalty minutes to the Lady Byng
After claiming to “change his game, Cooke was suspended 7 games in 2013 playoffs for his knee on knee with Tyson Barrie.
Claiming to change your game and actually changing your game are very different things.
Matt Cooke is one of the biggest d-bags to ever lace up a pair of skates.
CaptainObvious ask the Boston fans about Cooke. Ended Marc Savard career. The next time they played Pittsburgh,Shawn Thornton tooled him up pretty good.
Making trades to purposely tank is what D’Amico is insinuating.
That works in fantasy hockey but shouldn’t be permitted in the NHL.
I understand why they will try to do it, but thankfully the lottery draft system provides at least some equality for those teams who are legit and do not purposely try to lose.
The timeless art of tanking is a honorable tradition in every major sports league. Except maybe baseball.
Even there, Chrisms.
Ask the question about MLB “tanking” and you get this
“Yes, there are instances where MLB teams have been accused of, or admitted to, engaging in tanking, which is the practice of deliberately losing games to improve their draft position or acquire better prospects. While not all such instances are clear-cut, some teams have been more transparent about their rebuilding strategies, which can involve sacrificing short-term success for long-term gains.
Examples of teams that have been linked to tanking include:
The Houston Astros:
The Astros’ rebuild in the late 2000s and early 2010s involved trading away established players for prospects and fielding a team that was intentionally weak. This strategy ultimately led to them acquiring a wealth of young talent and becoming a powerhouse in the second half of the 2010s.
The Chicago White Sox:
The White Sox have also undertaken a significant rebuilding process, involving trading away players and focusing on acquiring young talent through the draft and international signings. This strategy has been described as a more extreme version of tanking, with the team aiming to build a sustainable contender from the ground up.
The Miami Marlins:
The Marlins have been criticized for their ownership’s approach to rebuilding, which has included trading away valuable players and not investing significantly in the team’s payroll.”
Not to mention the infamous 1919 Black Sox scandal … but that was a tank of a whole different kind
MLB draft is so strange to an avid nhl draft fan like myself. Slot values. Signing bonuses. I don’t pretend to understand. But it seems less tankable than nba nhl or nfl. 🤷♂️
Unlike hopckey and basketball the MLB draft also does not extend to players in other baseball-mad countries like Japan, Dominican Republic, Mexico, etc. (N. American football isn’t played to any such extent outside of the U.S. and Canada – and Canadians are subject to their draft).
The baseball players from elsewhere in the world sign with whichever team they either like the most or offers them the best deals (usually the bloody Dodgers or some other west coast team).
Cue the conspiracy theories that the league will rig the upcoming draft lottery to ensure the Penguins get the #1 overall, so Crosby’s last season in PITT will be McKenna’s first
oh yeah mario all over
That’s as it should be.
Say what you want, I still believe Cooke´s slicing of Erik Karlsson ankle was intentional with intent to injure.
Absolutely NO doubt about that.
That is still ridiculous. He had some atrocious head shots but that was definitely not intentional
Well, he does have his apologists who choose to view that incident as unintentional … while many others see it differently. C’est la vie.
But, given his track record up to that point (and a few after), it’s just as ridiculous to say he was “innocent.” Much like Hartman today.
I’m trying to figure out a good reason to have your leg up when you’re trying to follow through / hit someone in a corner? Also to have a stomping motion after contact.
Can anyone please provide a good explanation?
Usually when anticipating contact in the corner, you’d either have both legs planted, or maybe be too overzealous and leave both feet for a big yet still illegal hit.
One leg up anticipating contact? I’d love to understand how this was in any way shape or form “normal “?
What is the other reason for raising your foot that high and basically shove it right down? And with EK ankle right there. There is just no movement in that situation that gives any other reason for the movement in question
A message to all the “would-be” tankers: Be careful what you wish for. Buffalo went for the top prize (McDavid) 10 years ago and ended up with not only the player they didn’t want (Eichel) but a player who felt dis-respected and didn’t want to be there. That “tank” season put a black mark on this “once-proud” franchise from which they’re yet to recover.
George is there a valid reason that the land deal is taking so long. Seems like a year ago they were close to a deal. Or is it something related to the land deal that holds it up. Like access roads, rapid transit or is there a group trying to stop the sale?
Not aware of any details, Yogi, other than the NCC thinks the offer for the land in question is a “bit low” – notwithstanding the fact there have be NO other would-be purchasers with higher offers and better development plans.
As I posted over a year ago, and from 35 years working in the bureaucracy at Canada Immigration, the most difficult government entities in terms of bureaucratic foot-dragging (in our dealings with them, anyway) were Health & Welfare, Statistics Canada, and the NCC.
The latter (aided and abetted by PET) was the reason our NHQ wound up only partially in Hull (now Gatineau) on the Quebec side of the river, with some elements spread over Hell’s Half-Acre around the Ottawa side).
Sometimes it’s the other problems that stall the process, not the actual land sale. Access roads and who pays for them, besides taxpayers, is usually the big hurdle to clear before the land purchase goes through
Interesting viewpoint on what the NHL playoff system might look like after Bettman steps down
https://dose.ca/2025/07/19/play-in-dont-be-surprised-if-it-takes-shape-when-gary-bettman-leaves/