NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – September 28, 2025
Marc-Andre Fleury’s farewell to Penguins fans, Mason McTavish finally re-signs with the Ducks, the Blues ink Cam Fowler to a contract extension, and more in today’s NHL Morning Coffee Headlines.
PITTSBURGH HOCKEY NOW: Marc-Andre Fleury made eight saves during his third-period appearance with the Penguins in a 4-1 preseason victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets.
The 40-year-old goaltender officially retired at the end of last season, but returned to the Penguins on a training camp tryout contract for a final farewell to the team with which he spent most of his NHL career. A soldout crowd of 18,333 fans gave him a standing ovation when he took to the ice, chanted his name on every save, and called for “One More Year!”.
Marc-Andre Fleury (NHL Images).
“A little surreal, a little crazy, but still also comfortable, “ Fleury said of the experience. He explained that it always felt “a little bit weird” whenever he played at PPG Arena with other teams, but this time, “it felt normal.”
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Fleury’s preseason farewell stint with the Penguins prompted TSN’s Pierre LeBrun to suggest that he might be coaxed back into action by some NHL clubs looking to bolster their goaltending depth.
However, it appears Fleury has hung up his pads for good. He was appreciative of the chants from Penguins fans for one more year, but explained he was tired and his hip was sore. While his competitive desire may not have diminished, Fleury knows that he cannot physically do it anymore.
THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER: The contract standoff between the Anaheim Ducks and Mason McTavish ended Saturday with an agreement on a six-year, $42-million deal. The average annual value is $7 million.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: PuckPedia indicates McTavish will have a 15-team no-trade list for the final two seasons of his new contract. It was rumored that the Ducks offered $5.5 million annually while the McTavish camp sought $7.5 million.
The Ducks hope to emerge from their long rebuilding phase into a playoff contender this season. They need McTavish in the fold to center their second line. And no, this isn’t a sign-and-trade situation. While some NHL teams expressed interest in McTavish, the Ducks need him more than they do.
McTavish will return to the Ducks for the remainder of training camp and perhaps get into one of their three remaining preseason games. It’s unlikely he’ll be in the lineup for Monday’s game against the San Jose Sharks, but he could return for Wednesday’s game against the Sharks or Saturday’s tilt against the Los Angeles Kings.
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH: The Blues signed defenseman Cam Fowler to a three-year contract extension. Fowler, 33, will earn an average annual value of $6.1 million.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: PuckPedia indicates Fowler will have a full no-trade clause for the first two years of the deal and a 15-team no-trade list starting on Jan. 1, 2029.
This is a slight pay cut from Fowler’s $6.5 million AAV on his current contract, but he was willing to accept it to remain with the Blues. Acquired from the Anaheim Ducks last December, he quickly fit in well with his new club, tallying 36 points with the Blues as they exceeded expectations to clinch a playoff berth.
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL: Changes to the NHL-NHLPA collective bargaining agreement could prevent Alex Pietrangelo from returning to the Golden Knights’ lineup in time for the 2026 playoffs.
The 35-year-old defenseman is expected to miss the regular season as he rehabs a nagging hip injury and will be placed on long-term injury reserve when the season begins next month. However, he recently said that he hoped to return to the lineup later in the season.
However, teams must now be salary-cap compliant during the postseason. That means the Golden Knights would have to sit one or two players to free up sufficient cap space to enable Pietrangelo to return to the lineup.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The Golden Knights could do it by sitting an overpaid, unproductive player. Looking at their current roster, however, there doesn’t appear to be anyone who fits that profile. They could also do it if another player carrying a comparable or more expensive contract ends up on LTIR, but that would mean losing a key player like Mitch Marner, Jack Eichel, or Mark Stone.
THE SEATTLE TIMES: Kraken winger Kaapo Kakko suffered a broken hand and will be sidelined for roughly six weeks.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Kakko was rejuvenated after being acquired from the New York Rangers last December, tallying 30 points in 49 games with the Kraken. He is expected to play on their first line when he returns from injury in late October or early November.
CBS SPORTS: Anaheim Ducks center Jansen Harkins will miss the next eight weeks with an upper-body injury.
THE BUFFALO NEWS: The Sabres are extending their lease at KeyBank Center for five more years. That will buy them time to negotiate a long-term deal that includes public funding for much-needed arena renovations.
DAILY FACEOFF: The Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled last week that the Pennsylvania Usage Fee, also known as the Facility Tax, is unconstitutional.
The fee, also known as a jock tax, led to visiting athletes and entertainers performing at any of the city of Pittsburgh’s publicly funded sports stadiums being taxed at the rate of three percent of their income.
The NHLPA and New York Islanders forward Kyle Palmieri were among the appellees.
INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM FOUNDATION: Brett McKay reports financial audits reveal the Edmonton Oilers’ 50/50 raffle has been paying part of the charitable proceeds to a private company called “Win50”, which is owned by the Oilers ownership group.
The report claims “Win50” received $81 million in “licensing and rights fees” between 2021 and 2024, with less than 20 percent of the total fundraising actually going to charities.
McKay reports the Oilers Foundation replied that “Win50” pays all the expenses of running the raffle, explaining it was the cost of doing business.
If at least 50% of the money gained for a charity raffle isn’t going to charity, then something is wrong. Maybe it’s time to find a non profit group to run the raffle.
Huh? 50% goes to a 1-person winner or group. That leaves the other 50 % to be split between charities and “licensing and rights fees” . It would be impossible to get 50% to charities unless you take a share from the “winner”, which the government probably takes nearly half in taxes. Yes, charities should get more than 20%.
“It would be impossible to get 50% to charities unless you take a share from the “winner”, which the government probably takes nearly half in taxes.”
Wrong, Johnny. Like lottery winnings, you don’t pay taxes on raffle winnings.
OH CANADA!!!!
They take about a 1/3 in taxes in the states. Being that Canada usually has even higher taxes, or it just seems that way with the weaker Canadien dollar, I wrongfully assumed they taxed winnings even higher. Oops!😯
Canada’s top federal rate is 33 percent, while the top federal rate in the US is 37 percent. It’s the provincial taxes that make it higher, but only slightly. Canadians typically pay between 40-53 percent depending on the province they live in, whereas Americans pay 37-50 percent depending on the state.
https://www.greenbacktaxservices.com/blog/canada-taxes-vs-us/#:~:text=Here's%20what%20you%20need%20to,%2D50%25%20in%20the%20US.
As I posted late yesterday afternoon, Verbeek now has $13,538,811 in cap reserve with 23 signed (13F – 7D – 3G) and since it’s unlikely he intends to go into the season carrying 3 goalies, and since all 3 would require waivers if he tried to option one of them, it could be that his next move might be a trade. Dostal and his $6.5 mil per cap hit is the acknowledged # 1 so he’s probably not going anywhere, which leaves Mrazek – a UFA at year’s end – and his $4.25 mil per, or Husso, $2.2 mil per for this year and next.
The $7 mil AAV for McTavish turns out to be exactly the same as that for each of Terry and Granlund – and those are his 3 highest cost forwards. That $21,000,000 in total, added to the $13,000,000 spent on Trouba, Gudas and Helleson (the 3 highest cost D) and the $10.750,000 on the goaltending tandem of Dostal and Mrazek (for now) – totalling $44,750,000 – puts them at 47% in terms of the cost of their 8 highest cost players – which is about middle of the pack among the 32 teams.
I wonder if Evangelista or Hughes sign in the next few days?
History shows that the more they miss of training camp/preseason the harder it becomes to play catch-up with the league’s pace when they do return, hurting both themselves and the team.
Holtz is in the same category in Vegas. He’s been less than anticipated as is … this could dump him into the Puljujarvi category.
So, the 50/50 in Edmonton is a scam….who knew?! Of course they will get away with it like all other major fraudsters do because they line the right pockets. Sad. So many could have used that help over the years rather than using it to pay greedy people.
No more than most charitable fundraisers. Take a look at just how little goes to non-administrative costs for a lot of charities. Still, they are getting more than if there wasn’t a fundraiser
1 More Year
1 More Year
Great career Flower. I’m sure we’ll be seeing you at times for guest appearance during intermissions and/of color commentary
In our hearts he retired as a Penguin
Ducks score big with the McTavish contract. In 2 years, the value of that contract will be great
Future looking good for Ducks with young big Fwds: McTavish (22), Carllson (20) ; McQueen (18)
Many players will have a “surprise” windfall soon; after the jock strap tax ruling.
Quick math at league min ($775K; which is about $9.5 K per game). 3% less Fed less agents fees; nets ~ $250 “new” take home cash for each game played (for League min players)- dinner at Appleby’s???
An $8 M visiting player would benefit an extra “surprise” ~ $2.5 K take home for EACH game played here
I wonder how much Palmeri will net?
From CBS News:
https://www.cbsnews.com/amp/pittsburgh/news/pittsburgh-jock-tax-unconstitutional/
“Impact of the “jock tax” ruling
Since its inception, the tax has brought the city more than $79 million in fees. Deputy Mayor Jake Pawlak said the city is assessing the loss of an estimated $4 million a year in tax revenue in a time of tight budgets.
“In the grand scheme of things, it’s $4 million out of a $700 million budget,” Pawlak said. “It’s not a major change. This is one of what we know to be two difficult years where the margins are tight. So, we’ll have to make adjustments for this as to what we’ll be proposing.”
I get the loss of $4 M annually , but don’t they have to pay back the $79 M??
everybody understand that there are costs to running any entity, including a charity. On this case, the Oilers may have some ‘splainin to do on the $20 million annually they are taking from the charity for ‘costs’ as this more looks like a revenue steam than cost recovery
Another waiver batch on Saturday, all of whom will likely clear today:
Buffalo: Jack Rathbone; Columbus: Dysin Mayo, Hunter McKown, Zachary Sawchenko, Owen Sillinger; Calgary: Jeremie Porier; Colorado: Alex Barre-Boulet, Tye Felhaber, Jason Polin, TJ Tynan; Edmonton: Josh Brown, James Hamblin, Roby Jarventie; NYI: Adam Beckman; St. Louis: Nikita Alexandrov, Hugh McGing; Toronto: Travis Boyd, Bo Groulx, Vinni Lettieri; Vegas: Lukas Cormier
Leafs have signed goalie Stolarz to a 4-year contract extension at $3.75 mil per to kick in next year – an increase of $1.25 over his current deal. He turns 32 in January, so during the final year (2029-30) he’ll turn 36.
Good deal for a steady netminder.
Yes George that was an excellent signing his numbers are near the top of the league the lasted years and he is huge.
They have stolarz and Woll pocketed up for several years at just over 7 million that’s great job by Tree.
Late posting this, sorry Man on TV, hope you see it.
Yes, in terms of where the Leafs stand in terms of the amount of the cap spent on the 2-goalie tandem – 22nd out of 30 different amounts – they are certainly getting one of the bigger bangs for the buck in that department .
Hopefully for them Woll is able to return sooner than later.
1. NYR Shesterkin-Quick $13,050,000
2. Boston Swayman-Korpisalo $11,250,000
3. Florida Bobrovsky-Tarasov $11,050,000
4. NYI Sorokin-Varlamov $11,000,000
5. Seattle Grubauer-Daccord $10,900,000
6. Tampa Vasilevsky-Johansson $10,750,000
6. Anaheim Dostal-Mrazec $10,750,000
7. Vancouver Demko-Lankinen $9,500,000
8. St. Louis Binnington-Hofer $9,400,000
9. Winnipeg Hellebuyck-Comrie $9,325,000
10. Ottawa Ullmark-Merilainen $9,300,000
11. Dallas Oettinger-DeSmith $9,250,000
12. Detroit Gibson-Talbot $8,900,000
13. Washington Thompson-Lindgren $8,850,000
14. Nashville Saros-Annunen $8,577,500
15. Los Angeles Kuemper-Forsberg $7,500,000
16. Chicago Knight-Soderblom $7,250,000
17. Vegas Hill- Schmid $7,125,000
18. Colorado Blackwood-Wedgewood $6,750,000
19. Pittsburgh Jarry-Silovs – $6,255,000
20. Buffalo Lyon- Luukkonen $6,250,000
20. Utah Vejmelka-Vanecek $6,250,00
21. Columbus Merzlikins-Greaves $6,212,500
22. Toronto Woll-Stolarz $6,166,667
23. Minnesota Gustavsson-Wallstedt $5,950,000
24. New Jersey Markstrom-Allen – $5,925,000
25. Philadelphia Vladar-Ersson $4,800,000
26. Carolina Anderssen-Kochetkov $4,750,000
27. San Jose Nedejkovic-Askarov $4,500,000
28. Mtl Montembeault-Kahkonen $4,300,000
29. Edmonton Skinner-Pickard $3,600,000
30. Calgary Wolf-Cooley $1,625,000