NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – August 1, 2025
The Bruins could play without a captain this season, Canucks winger Jake DeBrusk hopes to build on his career-best goal performance, the latest on the Flames contract talks with Connor Zary, and more in today’s NHL Morning Coffee Headlines.
BOSTON HOCKEY NOW: Bruins defenseman Charlie McAvoy doesn’t expect his club will have a team captain for 2025-26.
In an interview with Steve Conroy of the Boston Herald, McAvoy said he and winger David Pastrnak will be alternate captains for this season, adding that they’re fine with that arrangement.
Boston Bruins defenseman Charlie McAvoy (NHL Images).
New Bruins head coach Marco Sturm hinted back in June that the club could play this season without a captain. He wants to get to know the players as people before he and management decide which player should have the captaincy.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: A wise decision by Sturm. The Bruins are retooling the roster for this season. It’s best to identify the leaders in the room and on the ice before naming a captain.
THE PROVINCE: Jake DeBrusk had a career-high 28 goals in his first season with the Vancouver Canucks. However, he needs to be more consistent with his scoring, especially on home ice, where he scored only nine times last season.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: DeBrusk, 28, has been a streaky scorer through his eight NHL seasons. The Canucks are hoping to rebound from this disappointing performance last season. If they are to reach the playoffs, DeBrusk must find a way to beat the inconsistency that has dogged him throughout his career.
CALGARY SUN: Flames general manager Craig Conroy remains confident he’ll get a deal done this summer with restricted free agent forward Connor Zary.
Zary is coming off his entry-level contract. The Flames reportedly prefer signing him to a short-term contract, while the 23-year-old center seeks something longer.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: With 13 goals and 27 points in 54 games, Zary was on track to exceed his 34-point rookie performance in 2023-24. However, a knee injury in January sidelined him for six weeks, and another in March ended his season.
THE BUFFALO NEWS: The Sabres signed goaltender Devon Levi to a two-year contract with an average annual value (AAV) of $812,500. It’s reportedly a one-way deal for both seasons.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Levi, 23, is expected to spend this season with the Sabres’ AHL affiliate in Rochester. They will continue to work on his game, hoping to develop him into a starting goalie.
THE SCORE: Speaking of the Sabres, their home arena will continue to be called the KeyBank Center after the two sides agreed to a 10-year extension of the naming rights on Wednesday.
The deal begins next season and runs through 2035-36.
THE HOCKEY NEWS: Mike Brophy received a kidney donation on Thursday. He was the senior writer at The Hockey News for 17 years.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Best wishes to Brophy for a full recovery.
MLIVE.COM: Former NHL defenseman John Miszuk died this week at age 84.
Miszuk spent six seasons in the NHL, from 1963-64 to 1969-70, with the Detroit Red Wings, Chicago Blackhawks, Philadelphia Flyers, and Minnesota North Stars, netting 46 points in 237 games. He also spent three seasons in the World Hockey Association.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: My condolences to Miszuk’s family, friends, and former teammates.
On the topic of Bruins captaincy,why not go a month at a time rewarding the player who had the best performance that month?Make it incentive based as well as longetivity.When JDB was in Boston I always felt he had a little more to give at least with his goal scoring. He did play with Bergeron or Krecji at least early in his career.
Captain isn’t the best player on the team, the captain is the leader, inside the room, outside the room, on and off the ice.
It’s a pressure that not many can handle well.
Take your franchise, the Chief was a long time Captain when Orr and Esposito only wore the A.
Same can be said for most if not all franchises.
While not having a Captain is a sign that the team isn’t very good, as contending teams all have this settled, it is a realistic and pragmatic one. So good on Sturm as realizes this is a transitional time.
Agree it doesn’t need to be the best player, but it needs to be a very good one, or part of your core for a better term. Hard to lead on the ice if you’re not one of the guys who produces good results. At both ends of the ice. Captains need to help you win, not just hold their own. Players know.
Oil tried it early in the Decade of Darkness with a bunch of young, high pick guys and named Andrew Ference captain. Quality guy, worked his but off, won a cup in Boston. He was a serviceable D man and an NHL player, but not a good or core player. 3rd pair, undersized guy.
This says as much about Hall and Eberle when they entered the league, but they didn’t respect him as a player, and it didn’t work. Basically, they would outplay him, and beat him in practice, and then were supposed to listen to his criticisms of them, when they made mistakes. Or in Hall’s case, not working hard enough in practice. And that was warranted of those 2 in those days. Rift in the room between young guys and vets and it failed.
Doesn’t make it right, and those 2 have obviously matured, but it was what it was. As you say HF30, need to respect you off the ice and on it. Respect is earned, and on the ice it is earned by what you do on it. Good players respect good players.
Johnny Bucyk and Wayne Cashman, probably my two favorite bruins outside of Bobby Orr . Cashman, so underrated. Hell of a hockey player and did anything for the team!! Saw him play many times
Habfan30,who is your captain now. The last one I can remember was Brian Gionta?
Sr,
Since Gionta there was
Pacioretty- best scorer, bad captain
Weber-most respected, not the best player, great captain
Suzuki- youngest, best player, great captain.
So it’s a mixed bag.
Jason Smith is the new coach of the Edmonton Oil Kings. Welcome back to Edmonton, Jason.
The 3 teams that at this time that Don t have captains are San Jose, Boston and NY Rangers. It makes sense for Boston and NY to wait since they have new coaches and they need time to read the room.Can t speak for San Josebut I would think a guy like Tyler Toffoli would be a good choice.