NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – September 26, 2025
Stars captain Jamie Benn undergoes surgery, Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov injured at practice, Mitch Marner makes his preseason debut with the Golden Knights, and more in today’s NHL Morning Coffee Headlines.
NHL.COM: Dallas Stars captain Jamie Benn will undergo surgery for a collapsed lung suffered during Tuesday’s preseason game against the Minnesota Wild.
Dallas Stars captain Jamie Benn (NHL Images).
Stars general manager Jim Nill said Benn didn’t feel well after taking a hit late in the third period. The 36-year-old forward was x-rayed at the arena, where a hole was found in his lung. He went to Parkland Hospital for observation, where the decision was made that he should undergo surgery.
Benn is expected to make a full recovery and will be reevaluated in four weeks.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Benn was initially listed as day-to-day with an upper-body injury following that game against the Wild. The earliest he could return to action is in late October.
FLORIDA HOCKEY NOW: Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov had to be helped from the ice during the club’s first main preseason practice with their regular squad on Thursday.
Barkov appeared to be favoring his right leg. Head coach Paul Maurice didn’t provide much of an update on the 30-year-old center, saying he’ll give an update on Friday.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Barkov won the Frank J. Selke Trophy last season as the league’s top defensive forward for the second straight year and the third time since 2020-21. It will be a big loss for the Panthers if he misses significant time, especially with winger Matthew Tkachuk out until January recovering from offseason surgeries and center Tomas Nosek sidelined by a knee injury.
RDS.CA: Mitch Marner made his preseason debut with the Vegas Golden Knights on Thursday. He collected an assist on one of Jack Eichel’s two goals in a 3-2 overtime victory over the Utah Mammoth.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Marner was the biggest name to be moved during the offseason. He was shipped to the Golden Knights by the Toronto Maple Leafs in a sign-and-trade deal.
DAILY FACEOFF: Montreal Canadiens defensemen Noah Dobson, Kaiden Guhle, and David Reinbacher left Thursday’s 7-2 preseason loss to the Maple Leafs.
Dobson and Guhle are listed as day-to-day with groin injuries, while Reinbacher was still being evaluated following the game. Dobson and Reinbacher suffered their injuries during the game, while Guhle was withheld from the contest for maintenance reasons.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Canadiens coach Martin St. Louis said he didn’t think that the injuries were serious and wasn’t too worried about it.
NEW YORK POST: An upper-body injury kept Islanders winger Anthony Duclair out of the lineup as his club defeated the New York Rangers 5-4 in preseason action on Thursday. He’s listed as day-to-day.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Duclair rushed back too soon from a groin injury last season, which affected his performance. They’re taking a more cautious approach this season.
SPORTSNET: The Utah Mammoth placed goaltender Connor Ingram on waivers Thursday.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Followers of the Edmonton Oilers are stumping for their club to claim Ingram to bolster their goaltending depth. However, David Staples of the Edmonton Journal pointed out that one of the clubs ahead of the Oilers in the waiver claim order will likely get him first. Staples also pointed out that the Oilers lack the cap space to pick up Ingram’s $1.95 million cap hit.
BOSTON HOCKEY NOW: The Bruins have brought back former captain Zdeno Chara in a front office role. They announced on Thursday that he will serve as their Hockey Operations Advisor and Mentor.
NEW YORK POST: The Islanders will induct former forward Pat LaFontaine into their Hall of Fame during a pregame ceremony on Dec. 13. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2003.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The report indicates that this will end a long-standing rift between LaFontaine and the organization, dating back to a contract dispute in 1991-92. In 2006, he was brought in as an advisor to then-owner Charles Wang, but resigned six weeks later after Neil Smith was fired as general manager.
THE ATHLETIC: Mark Lazerus reports the return of Carter Hart and Michael McLeod to the NHL seems imminent. Both were among five former Hockey Canada members who were acquitted of sexual assault charges earlier this month.
Both players have been linked to the Carolina Hurricanes and Vegas Golden Knights. Lazerus reports the two teams handled questions about them differently.
According to Lazerus, the Hurricanes “acknowledged the gravity of the situation and were open to talking about it, even in somewhat awkward hypotheticals.” However, the Golden Knights declined to let head coach Bruce Cassidy speak to The Athletic one-on-one after learning of the topic. Before Cassidy’s press conference, a spokesperson pulled the reporter from the room, told them to leave the facility immediately, and revoked their press pass for that night’s game.
The spokesperson claimed the reporter “ambushed” Golden Knights defenseman Noah Hanifin during routine locker-room media interviews that morning, and the team wasn’t comfortable allowing the reporter to cover the game. Lazerus claimed that Hanifin showed no irritation about the questions.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: If the Golden Knights aren’t comfortable with a reporter asking questions about rumors linking them to a controversial player, how will they react if they sign that player?
Ingram and Oilers
I guess it will be a question of having Ingram or having Pickard and Janmark who seems most likely to me as the easiest move to make cap space.
Valid arguments can be made on both sides. If I was GM I would make the claim and see what’s what.
Despite the “I’m not worried” stance by Martin St. Louis, seeing both Dobson and Guhle out with groin injuries has to be of some considerable concern.
Of all the early season-type injuries, something in the groin area is the last thing a player – or coach – wants to hear.
Those damned things – like hamstrings – can hang around like Gunga Din and can often flare up even when a player and the medics think it’s healed. Just look at the news on Duclair.
I hope both are OK … but at this early stage it’s far better to err on the side of caution than to rush back.
At the same time, there’s also the concern about missing key elements and digging yourself an early-season hole heading into December. That has to be on the mind of Paul Maurice with the prospect of not having two of your top offensive stars (Tkachuk and Barkov) both out for considerable time.
My goodness, George, Gunga Din. LOL You are showing you age. I remember way, way, way back we had to analyze that poem in school. I never could grasp the British spelling and some of the words ( still to this day. LOL )
The movie was kind of good, though.
Collapsed lung and “day to day” (originally posted) see to be almost oxymorons
I’m certainly not a doctor; but collapsed lung sounds serious?!?!
Congrats on the tall man back with the Bruins. Great mentor. Great move.
Didn’t see the game but Dobson, Guhle, and Reinbacher leaving game ; would mean Habs were finishing game with 3 D and s Fwd on D? Y? N? That would certainly contribute to a blowout.
Re “ Mark Lazerus reports the return of Carter Hart and Michael McLeod to the NHL seems imminent.”. Glad to hear that at least 2 of 5 are getting NHL jobs again. If Formenton does reasonably well in Europe ; he should land on some NHL team in December (would be great to have him in a Pens uniform).
Formenton is the one that absolutely , IMHO, should have no team having concerns hiring him (regarding the off ice situation). Concerns hiring him because of on ice performance; so be it. But off ice; he literally did no wrong.
He was in HIS room (shared with McLeod). The activity happened in PRIVATE in HIS bathroom. She was 2 years older than him; while lying on floor disrobed pleaded with any one of them to engage in relations with her; then led Formenton by the hand into the bathroom.
He did almost zero wrong.
To me, literally the only thing he did wrong was not “diligently” searching (along with McLeod) for EM’s jewellery when she returned to the room.
Is that immoral enough to ban him from the NHL. IMHO, absolutely not.
Dubas, please have everyone of this fall’s Formenton’d games tapes sent to your scouting team for analysis.
If he does reasonably well, sign him as soon as the European contract expires
Young, size, speed… literally what you’re looking for
Guhle was a scratch.