NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – November 3, 2025
A history-making performance for Islanders rookie Matthew Schaefer, Penguins center Evgeni Malkin faces league discipline, injury updates, and more in today’s NHL Morning Coffee Headlines.
RECAPS OF SUNDAY’S GAMES
NHL.COM: New York Islanders rookie Matthew Schaefer made league history as his club overcame a 2-1 deficit to nip the Columbus Blue Jackets 3-2. Schaefer scored twice (including the tying goal) to become the youngest defenseman to have a multipoint game. Simon Holmstrom scored the winning goal at 19:22 of the third period for the 6-5-1 Islanders. Miles Wood and Denton Mateychuk scored for the Blue Jackets (7-5-0) as their three-game win streak ended.
New York Islanders defenseman Matthew Schaefer (NHL Images).
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Schaefer has had an impressive opening month. He was named the NHL’s Rookie of the Month for October.
The Tampa Bay Lightning collected their fifth straight win with a 4-2 victory over the Utah Mammoth. Jake Guentzel scored the winning goal and collected an assist for the Lightning as they improved their record to 6-4-2. Lawson Crouse and Kailor Yamamoto replied for the 8-4-0 Mammoth.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Reports of the Lightning’s demise as a playoff contender after their franchise-worst 1-4-2 start to this season were greatly exaggerated.
Anaheim Ducks forwards Beckett Sennecke and Cutter Gauthier each had a goal and an assist to lead their club over the New Jersey Devils 4-1. Lukas Dostal made 32 saves as the Ducks improved to 7-3-1, moving into first place in the Pacific Division. Jack Hughes scored for the Devils (9-4-0), who remain in first place in the Metropolitan Division.
A shootout goal by James van Riemsdyk lifted the Detroit Red Wings to a 3-2 win over the San Jose Sharks. Lucas Raymond and Moritz Seider also scored for the Red Wings (9-4-0) as they’ve won three of their last four games. Rookie defenseman Sam Dickinson scored his first NHL goal for the 4-6-3 Sharks.
Calgary Flames winger Jonathan Huberdeau scored two goals as his club held off the Philadelphia Flyers 2-1. Dustin Wolf stopped 17 shots for the 3-9-2 Flames, who remain last in the overall standings with eight points. Travis Konecny scored for the Flyers, who dropped to 6-5-1.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Flames rookie defenseman Zayne Parekh was in the lineup for his 10th NHL game, which means this season counts as the first year of his three-year entry-level contract. There was speculation they would return Parekh to his OHL club before that game.
Flyers forward Tyson Foerster missed this contest after suffering a lower-body injury while blocking a shot during Saturday’s loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs. He’s expected to miss the next several games.
HEADLINES
NHL.COM: Pittsburgh Penguins center Evgeni Malkin was fined $5,000.00 by the league’s department of player safety for slashing Winnipeg Jets defenseman Logan Stanley on Saturday.
THE TENNESSEAN: Nashville Predators placed team captain Roman Josi (upper body) on injured reserve. He has not played since Oct. 23. His injury is not related to his POTS diagnosis. They also announced that forward Cole Smith will be out three to six weeks with an upper-body injury.
TORONTO SUN: Maple Leafs defenseman Chris Tanev returned to Toronto on Sunday after spending Saturday night under observation in a Philadelphia hospital. He was stretchered off the ice during Saturday’s game against the Flyers with a suspected second head injury in less than two weeks.
RG ORG: Former NHL goaltender Ilya Samsonov recently signed a two-year contract with KHL club HC Sochi. The deal enables him to return to the NHL in 2026.
Add Matthew Schaefer to the impressive group of young defensemen in the league. You have to admire him for his courage and what he has been through as a young kid. Kudo s to Matt Martin for taking him in to live with his family and help his adjustment to the NHL. Just another example of a sport that does the right thing for their young players while they mature.
Never imagined Schaeffer having the immediate impact he has had to date. Rookie D is a tough task…to be just out of Jr at what 18 or so and be this good immediately is not something we see everyday.
Agree 1Oilerfan, and a younger 18 too with a Bday in Sept. Add in he only played 17 games in Jr last year due to injury, and one had too wonder if it was a good idea to throw him into the NHL right off he bat. He’s playing close to 22 minutes a night to boot.
It’s early, and he will no doubt have his struggles for stretches, but super impressive.
Jakub Dobes, a rookie, is one of the three NHL players of the month having gone 6-0 yet Matthew Schaefer is named rookie of the month????
Now that’s some creative numbers crunching.
Dobes is a little older and had several games of NHL experience (including the postseason) under his belt before this season. Schneider is an 18-year-old kid in his first ever NHL season logging top-pairing minutes and is tied with Ivan Demidov for the rookie scoring lead. There is no “creative number crunching” here.
Dobes has played well, no question, and so has Demidov (albeit in sheltered minutes), but Schneider’s performance thus far has been nothing less than outstanding given his age, lack of experience, and the role he’s playing. He deserves to be rookie of the month. And I’ll go one further: if he maintains that performance over the course of the season, he’ll win the Calder Trophy.
Lyle,
I’m not taking anything away from Schaefer as a rookie or projecting to the Calder.
He’s had a very good start to the season.
Age or NHL experience of the rookie isn’t a factor, after all Ken Dryden won the Calder a year after winning the Stanley Cup and the Conn Smythe.
If Dobes wouldn’t be nominated This, however is being creative one of the 3 players of the month, I wouldn’t have questioned it at all.
If Schaefer was one of the players of the month and rookie of the month, I wouldn’t question it.
It’s clear when you stick to the fact this is a voting for the month of October not a projection to the end of the year.
ughhh there’s no editing feature here. “If Dobes wouldn’t be nominated This, however is being creative one of the 3 players of the month, I wouldn’t have questioned it at all.” should read:
If Dobes wouldn’t be nominated one of the 3 players of the month, I wouldn’t have questioned it at all.
“And I’ll go one further: if he maintains that performance over the course of the season, he’ll win the Calder Trophy.’
You’re not really going out on a limb, Lyle. If Schaefer maintains October’s performance over the season he’ll win the Hart.
Guys you do realize that the league is full of outstanding, great players, young and old and not just on the Habs, right?
We realize Schaefer is not on the Habs.
But yeah, I get all the purple prose from Habs’ fans must be tough to take. 1993 was a while ago, so …
Ron,
I’m not pumping Dobes or Demidov’s tires for the Calder, at least not yet.
There are plenty of good rookies this year and we’re a long way off projecting to year end.
I repeat, if Dobes wouldn’t be listed as one of October’s player of the month, I wouldn’t question the selection of Schaefer.