NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – November 26, 2025
A milestone game for Stars captain Jamie Benn as the Oilers suffer another lopsided loss, a brief look at league attendance thus far this season, injury updates, and more in today’s NHL Morning Coffee Headlines.
NHL.COM: Dallas Stars captain Jamie Benn scored his 400th career NHL regular-season goal in an 8-3 drubbing of the Edmonton Oilers in the only game on Tuesday’s schedule. Benn finished with two points, Wyatt Johnston had a goal and three assists, Jason Robertson had a goal and two assists, and Nate Bastian tallied twice for the 14-5-4 Stars, who’ve won seven of their last 10 games.
Dallas Stars captain Jamie Benn (NHL Images).
Oilers goalie Stuart Skinner was pulled in the first period after giving up four goals on eight shots. Backup Calvin Pickard allowed four goals on 22 shots as the Oilers dropped to 10-10-5 on the season.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The Oilers were booed off the ice in their first home game in two weeks. After the game, Leon Draisaitl admitted his club’s ongoing defensive woes were “very concerning.” With 25 points, the Oilers are two points out of a wild-card berth in the Western Conference. They still have time to sort out their issues and rise in the standings, and they have rebounded before from poor early-season performances. However, there’s a feeling that a bounce-back effort could be more difficult this time.
THE ATHLETIC: Harman Dayal and James Mirtle examined the NHL’s attendance through the first third of this season’s schedule.
They found that half the league’s 16 teams are hitting 98 percent capacity or higher. Topping the list are the Vegas Golden Knights (102.3 percent), followed by the Boston Bruins, Florida Panthers, Colorado Avalanche, Nashville Predators, Seattle Kraken, Tampa Bay Lightning, and Dallas Stars, all at or above 100 percent.
Other clubs among that group include the New Jersey Devils (99.9 percent), Vancouver Canucks (99.6), Edmonton Oilers (99.6), Detroit Red Wings (99.4), Montreal Canadiens (99.3), Toronto Maple Leafs (98.7), New York Rangers (98.2), and Carolina Hurricanes (98.1).
The Pittsburgh Penguins are among those below 90 percent capacity (89.9 percent), followed by the Chicago Blackhawks, Calgary Flames, San Jose Sharks, Philadelphia Flyers, and Buffalo Sabres.
Compared to this time last season, the Sharks have seen the most significant improvement in attendance, with an average increase of 2,056. They’re followed by the Columbus Blue Jackets (1,079) and the Buffalo Sabres (1,072).
SPECTOR’S NOTE: It’s not surprising that most of those teams with the highest attendance are those that are among the most successful, while those below 90 percent are rebuilding teams or those that missed the playoffs last season.
Notably, the Predators remain well-supported despite their poor performance since last season. The Kraken’s improved play this season likely accounts for their full houses thus far.
Keep an eye on the Sharks as this season progresses. Led by young superstar Macklin Celebrini, they’ve improved significantly through the opening quarter, drawing more fans as a result. Their attendance could keep rising if they maintain that current pace and remain in playoff contention throughout the season.
NHL.COM: Detroit Red Wings defenseman Ben Chiarot was fined $5,000.00 by the department of player safety for butt-ending New Jersey Devils blueliner Simon Nemec during Monday’s game between the two clubs.
THE PROVINCE: Vancouver Canucks goaltender Kevin Lankinen didn’t travel with the team for their upcoming California road trip. He is staying at home for personal reasons.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The Canucks were already without sidelined starter Thatcher Demko. They’ve recalled Jiri Patera, who will join fellow call-up Nikita Tolopilo.
TRIBLIVE.COM: Pittsburgh Penguins goaltender Tristan Jarry and winger Bryan Rust are expected to be available for Wednesday’s game against the Buffalo Sabres. Jarry’s been out since Nov. 3 with an undisclosed injury, while Rust missed two straight practices with an illness.
THE HOCKEY NEWS: Minnesota Wild forward Vinnie Hinostroza is out for four to six weeks with a lower-body injury.
CBS SPORTS: Carolina Hurricanes center Jesperi Kotkaniemi (ankle) was placed on injured reserve.
COLORADO HOCKEY NOW: Avalanche forward Joel Kiviranta is returning to the lineup after missing 17 games with a lower-body injury.
NEW YORK POST: The Rangers placed forward Juuso Parssinen on waivers.
DAILY FACEOFF: Former NHL goaltender Alexandar Georgiev signed a two-year contract with KHL team Spartak Moscow. His contract with the Buffalo Sabres was terminated on Monday, allowing him to make the move to the KHL.
STLTODAY.COM: The St. Louis Blues released winger Milan Lucic from his AHL professional tryout contract.
As a Devils fan I love to see NJ at 99.9% capacity. They’re (finally) a great team at home and the lack of attendance has long been the butt of many jokes from the NY and Philly fans……that being said it is kind of nice when the games arent sold out and you have extra space around you!
Overall it’s good to see healthy attendance numbers across the league since hockey is the best sport to witness live.
4 goals on skinner. I didnt watch the game only the highlights so I may not have this 100%
1st goal…scrum behind the net..but Podz has to do a better job on his guy. No fault to Skinner. It was a sneaky steal/win by johnston to get the puck. This is more of a good stars play than a poor edm play imo. But there nis blame on all except Skinner here.
Second goal…good 1st save…but rebound to slot. Thats on Goalie not defense. Just cannot kick them out there. Sometimes you can’t do much. I get that.
Third goal, 2 on 1…obviously it broke down somewhere but D man back did a good job taking away pass. Great shot but this is Skinner. His team needed this save and when the boat starts taking on water he doesnt seem able to help.
4th goal, kind of a weird one…good save seems like off pad, but flips up off crossbar and in. At this point its a gong show.
4 goals on 8 shots. Yes they were quality chances. But…a team like the Avs, like the Stars are going to get their chances – they are going to put heavy pressure on your D and get breakdowns…you have to make some stops. Some difficult stops. That is two games against the best in the league and he was pulled both times.
Is this all Skinner. No. And if we were talking one game in a silo…that is one thing…but 4 goals on I shots…5 goals on 19 shots the other night…it is deflating on both sides.
It is feeling more and more like both he and the Oilers need a change even if it is just change for the sake of it.
Have to agree 100% 1Oilerfan.
Edmonton, at this stage last season (the day before the U.S. Thanksgiving) sat 9th in the West with 24 points in 22gp, while scoring 64g and giving up 69, for a -9 differential (2.9 gfpg – 3.1gapg). This season, at the same stage, they’ve played 3 more at 25, sitting 10th while scoring 77 goals, but relinquishing a whopping 95 (3.1gfpg – 3.8 gapg) for a -18 differential.
That’s the most goals allowed by far in the league (45 more than Colorado), with the closest to them in that regard being Vancouver (86), St. Louis (85) and Nashville (81) – all 3 also in the West.
While it’s fine to suggest they could still “turn things around,” that is a singularly brutal stat with no easy obvious “fix.” The team with the highest goals against in the East is Toronto with 82, but in their case they can point to injuries to a third of their D corps (Tanev, McCabe and Carlo) and the loss of their top 2 goalies (Woll and Stolarz) for around half of their gp so far. Edmonton has no such ready excuse.
Something very significant on the trade front may be their only hope.
Oiler fan. I’m a Sens season ticket holder and a closet NY Islander fan. So I have zero love or hate one way or another for that hockey team. A couple of things worked against them last night. (above the fact that they’re already playing fragile hockey)
It was the only game in the NHL last night. So anyone who loves hockey was gonna be watching. And as the entire tv crew said (each of them at least once) there’s usually some kind of let down game that first game back after a long road trip – and this is true for whatever reason.
That being said. They’re playing lot hot summer garbage. Just awful. Bad reads, bad backchecking, missed assignements. Tighten that s**t up. Control and win what you can win. Look at the Sens. No Tkachuk for 2 months. Ullmark shakey, Merlainen shakey. What can we do? We’re gonna go back to basics. Nobody gets ANYTHING. We don’t score – but you won’t either. We’re winning face offs…..we’ll start from there. We always have the puck. Is it boring as s**t….YUP. But look at the record……it works. Tought to preach that to a team like the Oil with all your superstarts but like Timmy said….”I check for my chances”. DAMN RIGHT. Playing good defense creates offense.
If everyone in front of Skinner plays better…..HE plays better. And it starts with Connor. Park the speedy goal scoring attempts and engage speedy backchecking.
Juuso Parssinen seems like an interesting player who might be a fit in Montreal.
24 y/o, 6’3 210, L shot centre apparently good speed, responsible, not great on faceoffs but flirting with 50%.
He’s been bounced around but has played mostly in the NHL not the AHL so teams see something in him.
To be fair, he has gone through 4 coaches in just a few years and two of them were dumpster fires.
Habs have an affinity for Finns, I wonder if he might find his game under MSL coaching.
What do NYR , Colorado fans say