NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – August 16, 2025
Here’s a look back at the notable news during my vacation in today’s NHL Morning Coffee Headlines.
ESPN.COM: Florida Panthers winger Matthew Tkachuk said he remains undecided over whether he’ll undergo surgery for a torn adductor muscle and a sports hernia before the 2025-26 season. However, he acknowledged he could miss the first two to three months of the schedule if he goes under the knife.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Based on Tkachuk’s offseason workouts, he’ll know for certain if he needs surgery. We’ll know by mid-September when the Panthers’ training camp begins.
TSN: Keith Tkachuk shot down any trade speculation about his son, Ottawa Senators captain Brady Tkachuk. He said Brady loves it in Ottawa and has cemented himself within the community. Keith believes the Senators are a team on the rise, and Brady wants to be a part of it.
Ottawa Senators left wing Brady Tkachuk (NHL Images).
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Keith believes Matthew’s departure from Calgary three years ago has fans wondering if Brady will also do so. However, there was also speculation out of New York last season claiming the Rangers had made the Senators’ captain a trade target, prompting Senators ownership to suggest the Blueshirts were engaged in “soft tampering” regarding Tkachuk.
During his end-of-season press conference, Brady dismissed the rumors as lies. It hasn’t fully put to rest the speculation, given that his father had to recently dispel it. They’ll likely continue to surface whenever the Senators are struggling, and the chatter will likely go into overdrive when he enters the final season of his contract in 2027-28.
RG.ORG: Winger Brad Marchand said the club’s re-signings of center Sam Bennett and defenseman Aaron Ekblad were key reasons behind his decision to ink a six-year contract with Florida.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Marchand is in the tail end of his long career and wants to remain with a Stanley Cup contender. Now 37, it’s unlikely he’ll play out the entirety of his contract, but neither he nor the Panthers is concerned about the long term. Winning three Cups in a row and becoming the first true NHL dynasty since the early 1980s New York Islanders is what matters.
THE PROVINCE: Vancouver Canucks center Elias Pettersson is fully fit a month before training camp and is seeking “revenge” after his abysmal 2024-25 season. The 26-year-old Pettersson said he’s learned from last season and will be a more mature player in 2025-26.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Pettersson’s disappointing performance last season was a key factor in the Canucks missing the 2025 playoffs. A return to form this season is a must if they’re to be postseason contenders.
RG.ORG: Minnesota Wild general manager Bill Guerin isn’t surprised that superstar winger Kirill Kaprizov and promising center Marco Rossi remain unsigned. He said the talks have been “pretty consistent, and I’ve been happy with them”. Guerin also said reports claiming Rossi can’t be signed until Kaprizov is under contract are false.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The dearth of real hockey news through the first half of August has fueled speculation over the status of the Wild’s contract negotiations with Kaprizov and Rossi. Kaprizov is in the final season of his contract and eligible to become an unrestricted free agent (UFA) next July, while Rossi is a restricted free agent awaiting a new contract.
Guerin has plenty of time to get both players signed before the start of training camp. However, the speculation will persist if the current drought of notable NHL news continues throughout the remainder of this month.
NEW YORK POST: Larry Brooks made the case for J.T. Miller to be named the new captain of the Rangers.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: We’ll know by October whether the Rangers will have a captain for this season, and who it’ll be. Do you agree with Brooks that it should be Miller? Give us your thoughts in the comments section below.
NESN.COM: Boston Bruins defenseman Hampus Lindholm has been cleared for training camp in September. He appeared in 17 games last season until sidelined by a fractured kneecap.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Lindholm’s absence contributed to the Bruins missing the playoffs last season. He’ll be a key factor in their attempt to rebound in 2025-26.
TSN: Darren Dreger reports an arbitrator ruled in favor of the Philadelphia Flyers in a grievance filed by the NHL Players’ Association following the termination of forward Ryan Johansen’s contract in August 2024.
Johansen was acquired from the Colorado Avalanche on March 6, 2024, and immediately placed on waivers. He was assigned to the Flyers’ AHL affiliate in LeHigh Valley, but didn’t play for the remainder of the season due to a hip injury.
The Flyers placed Johansen on unconditional waivers last August and terminated his contract, citing a “material breach”. He missed all of last season recovering from hip surgery and remains a UFA.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Johansen played every game of the 2023-24 season with the Avalanche, but informed the Flyers that he couldn’t report to the AHL or play due to his hip injury. At the time, he had a year remaining on his contract. The Flyers would’ve been on the hook for that final season had the ruling gone against them.
OTTAWA SUN: The Senators and the National Capital Commission (NCC) reached an agreement in which the club will purchase 11 acres of land for a new arena at LeBreton Flats in Ottawa. It’s believed the Senators will pay over $30 million for the land, which is 10 minutes from downtown Ottawa.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The report indicates the Senators still have several hurdles to clear before the deal becomes a reality. Nevertheless, this is a significant step toward realizing the dream of a new arena near the heart of Ottawa.
THE MINNEAPOLIS STAR-TRIBUNE: The Wild signed defenseman Jack Johnson to a professional tryout contract (PTO).
TSN: The Detroit Red Wings signed UFA defenseman Travis Hamonic to a one-year, $1 million contract.
USHL.COM: Former NHL forward Pat Maroon joined the coaching staff of the Muskegon Lumberjacks. Maroon won three straight Stanley Cups (2019 to 2021) with the St. Louis Blues and Tampa Bay Lightning.
MONTREAL GAZETTE: Former NHL defenseman Josh Gorges was hired by the WHL’s Kelowna Rockets as an assistant coach. Gorges spent eight of his 13 seasons with the Montreal Canadiens.
TSN: Former Toronto Maple Leafs forward Kyle Clifford announced his retirement as a player and is joining the club’s front office in a player development role. Clifford spent 13 seasons in the NHL (2010-11 to 2022-23) with the Los Angeles Kings, St. Louis Blues, and the Maple Leafs, winning two Stanley Cups (2012, 2014) with the Kings. In 753 NHL games, Clifford had 66 goals and 78 assists for 144 points, and 16 points in 65 playoff games.
DAILY FACEOFF: Defenseman Chad Ruhwedel retired after 13 NHL seasons with the Buffalo Sabres, Pittsburgh Penguins, and New York Rangers. In 369 regular-season games from 2012-13 to 2024-25, he had 13 goals and 37 assists for 50 points. He also appeared in 25 playoff contests, winning the Stanley Cup with the Penguins in 2016-17.
MLIVE.COM: The Detroit Red Wings will go with their “Hockeytown” center ice logo for their 2025-26 centennial season. The logo was introduced in 1996-97. It was removed in 2018 following the move from Joe Louis Arena to Little Caesars Arena.
Hope you had a great, refreshing vacation Lyle. Good to have you back. And you aren’t kidding when you reference “the dearth of hockey news in August.” Back on the 6th I posted that, by the time you returned in mid-month, there would still be 6 or 7 RFAs awaiting new deals. Well, here we are with 8 unsigned – dealt – or offer-sheeted for that matter. The only two to have been concluded were D Ryker Evans of Seattle, who received a 2-year $2,050,000-per deal at the end of which he is again a RFA, and RW Mikael Pyyhtia of Columbus, who received a 1 year $775,000 contract after which he, too, will be a RFA once more.
As for offer-sheets, with perhaps 2 exceptions, any would be a virtual exercise in futility simply because the teams have more than enough cap space to match any realistic offer. But here I stress REALISTIC because I truly doubt there’s a GM stupid enough to make one that could only be construed as totally unrealistic – such as requiring the relinquishment of 2 or 4 1st round picks. And that couldn’t involve these 8 since none have their own 2026 1st Round pick: Vegas, Florida, Edmonton, Dallas, Tampa, Toronto, Colorado, Ottawa.
C Mason McTavish 6’ 1” 220lbs 76gp 22g 30a 52pts – expired ELC $894,167 – Anaheim, with 22 committed to (12F 7D 3G) has $20,538,811 in cap space;
C Marko Rossi 5’ 9” 182lbs 82gp 24g 36a 60pts – expired ELC $863,334 – Minnesota, with 22 committed to (13F 7D 2G), has $9,411,835 in cap space;
C Connor Zary 6’ 180lbs 56gp 13g 14a 27pts – expired ELC $863,334 – Calgary, with 22 committed to (13F 7D 2G), has $15,412,500 in cap space;
RW Luke Evangelista 6’ 183lbs 68gp 10g 22a 32pts – expired ELC $797,500 – Nashville, with 22 committed to (12F 8D 2G), has $9,341,039 in cap reserve;
LD Wyatt Kaiser 6’ 175lbs 57gp 4g 4a 8pts – expired ELC $916,667 – Chicago, with 22 committed to (12F 7D 3G), has $18,662,024 in cap reserve;
LD Donovan Sebrango 6’ 2” 220lbs 2gp 0 pts – AHL 50gp 8g 12a 20pts – expired ELCf $828,333 – (for some reason Puckpedia continues to list him on the main roster despite the fact he still has options and will almost surely start in Belleville – but, who knows, so he’s included here). Ottawa, committed to 22 (13F 7D 2G), has $4,294,286 in cap space, and since he’s not going to receive anything but a minimal offer, the Senators would likely cover;
That leaves these 2 who could receive realistic basic offers which might put the GMs in a bit of a bind:
LD Luke Hughes 6’ 2” 200lbs 71gp 7g 37a 44pts – expired ELC of $925,000 – New Jersey is committed to 23 (14F 7D 2G) and holds a cap reserve of $6,131,667. That could be problematic if someone offered up something in the range of $6.2 to $7,020,113 – which would cost a first and a third. A number of rebuilding teams could do that;
RW Alexander Holtz 6’ 200lbs 53gp 4g 8a 12pts – expired ELC of $894,167 – Vegas, being $7,638,571 OVER the cap with 22 signed (13F 7D 2G), would be hampered to some significant degree – even with Pietrangelo’s $8.8 mil going on LTIR – by a no-compensation offer sheet of $1,544,424 since matching that would put them $9,182,995 over the cap. So ANY team with sufficient cap reserve could make things interesting for McCrimmon, and since it worked well for St. Louis last year, with obviously no fear of retaliation, why wouldn’t a rebuilding team make the move to add RW depth to their system in the form of one who did score 16 goals in 2023-24 for New Jersey?
Totally agree on Holz, but no matter the offer there is no way NJ doesn’t match, but I doubt Hughes would go the OS route
Welcome back Lyle
Lyle, for the record, in addition to Hamonic, who you mention above, there were two other UFAs signed while you were away. LW Joel Kiviranta was re-signed by Colorado for 1 year @ $1,250,000 and RW Nathan Bastian, last with New Jersey, was signed for 1 year @ $775,000 by Dallas.
Luke Hughes is not offersheet eligibe. He has not played enough NHL, games.
That settles that … lol …. thanks Troy … a 10.2(c) player
It s just a matter of time but when the Hughes boys all end up in Jersey,their 3 combined salaries could be around 30-35 million AAV. Looks like the second coming of TML core 4.
Following Vancouver closely my verdict on Miller as captain is the following: If all is going well for the team he will be a great captain and he will make them even better, if all goes to bad he will be a terrible captain complaining and bullying half the team making his teammates worse. In my opinion a captain always makes you better and changes how he does it depending on who and when he does it.
Kent, interesting that Vancouver kept most of their core and Petey looking forward to new start. Really makes you wonder how much of a problem JT was. As a Ranger fan, I’m not keen on him being captain. Trochek seems the better choice but who knows how long he’ll be in NY. Not sure how vocal Fox is in room, but could be in the running. My guess is they kick that can down the road.
I think JT is a good teammate when he and the team is doing well but when things go south for him and or the team he can be a real problem. Something some teams can handle and some not. Ultimately I lay much of the blame on management for the terrible defense constructing last summer and not being able to handle the problem when it happened
I was reading some other site or article, can’t remember? But basically claimed that no talks had happened for awhile between guerin/rossi only to read here that guerin supposedly has had consistent talks with both rossi and kaprizov. Which one are you supposed to believe? I’m not a wild fan but always respect their intensity. Hope they don’t work it out but who do you believe. That would be interesting if they lost those guys but I don’t think they would let kaprizov get away? Who knows nowadays these guys just change teams more frequently than ever before it seems like?
Welcome back Lyle. Hope you had a nice break. Good to see things back up again.
The Oilers of the 1980s may not have won three in a row, but 4 Cups in 5 years and 5 in 7 should qualify as a dynasty.
Hi Howard, nice to be back.
A true Stanley Cup dynasty is three in a row. The Oilers could’ve been one, but they blew it in 1986, and were still adjusting from the Gretzky trade in 1989. The Islanders of the early-80s are the last true Cup dynasty.