NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – December 18, 2025
Recaps of Wednesday’s games, the latest on the sale of the Penguins, and more in today’s NHL Morning Coffee Headlines
RECAPPING WEDNESDAY’S ACTION
NHL.COM: Carolina Hurricanes center Sebastian Aho scored two goals and collected an assist to lead his club to a 4-1 victory over the Nashville Predators. Jackson Blake had a goal and an assist for the Hurricanes (22-9-2), who picked up their fifth straight win and hold first place in the Eastern Conference with 46 points. Filip Forsberg replied for the Predators, who dropped to 13-16-4.
Carolina Hurricanes center Sebastian Aho (NHL Images)
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Hurricanes forward Jordan Martinook left this game with a lower-body injury. Predators winger Cole Smith returned to action after missing 19 games with an upper-body injury.
A shootout goal by Jesper Bratt lifted the New Jersey Devils over the Vegas Golden Knights by a score of 2-1. Connor Brown opened the scoring for the Devils, who improved to 19-14-1. Pavel Dorofeyev tied the game for the Golden Knights (16-6-10), who took over first place in the Pacific Division with 42 points.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Golden Knights center Jack Eichel (illness) and defenseman Shea Theodore (upper-body injury) missed this game and are listed as day-to-day. Jeremy Lauzon returned to the lineup after missing the past month with an unspecified injury. Devils defenseman Brett Pesce returned after missing 24 games with an upper-body injury.
The Utah Mammoth got a goal and an assist from Clayton Keller in a 4-1 win over the Detroit Red Wings. Karel Vejmelka made 27 saves as the Mammoth improved to 17-16-3. Emmitt Finnie scored for the Red Wings (19-13-3), who remain in first place in the Atlantic Division with 41 points.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Vejmelka picked up his league-leading 15th win of the season.
Florida Panthers forwards Anton Lundell, Carter Verhaeghe, and Sam Bennett scored as their club held off the Los Angeles Kings 3-2. Daniil Tarasov made 27 saves, and Brad Marchand had two assists for the 18-13-2 Panthers, who have won three straight games and six of their last seven. Joel Armia and Kevin Fiala replied for the Kings (14-10-9), who are winless in their last four games (0-3-1).
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Kings center Phillip Danault missed his third straight game with the flu. He’s been the subject of recent trade speculation, but there is no indication that the Kings intend to move him before the upcoming NHL holiday roster freeze (Dec. 20-27).
The St. Louis Blues blanked the Winnipeg Jets 1-0 on a goal by Justin Faulk. Joel Hofer turned in a 24-save shutout for the Blues, who improved to 13-15-7. Connor Hellebuyck made 25 saves for the 15-16-2 Jets, who are 1-4-1 in their last five contests.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Jets winger Kyle Connor’s points streak ended at nine games.
HEADLINES
TRIBLIVE.COM: Multiple reports indicated Fenway Sports Group has reached an agreement in principle to sell the Pittsburgh Penguins to the Hoffman Family of Companies.
The purchase price is reportedly between $1.7 billion and $1.8 billion. Fenway Sports Group purchased a controlling interest in the Penguins from Mario Lemieux and Ron Burkle in 2021 for $900 million.
Final sale of the Penguins requires approval from the NHL Board of Governors, which is expected to be a formality that should unfold with little difficulty.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The upcoming change of ownership isn’t expected to adversely affect the Penguins’ current front office or their salary-cap payroll.
Lemieux and Burkle maintained a minority stake in the Penguins. It is uncertain what role, if any, they’ll have with the incoming ownership.
PHILLY HOCKEY NOW: Flyers forward Tyson Foerster is expected to be sidelined for five months following shoulder surgery. He suffered the injury during a Dec. 1 game against the Penguins.
SPORTSNET: Tampa Bay Lightning winger Brandon Hagel is listed as day-to-day with an upper-body injury.
DAILY FACEOFF: Seattle Kraken defenseman Brandon Montour is being evaluated for an injury suffered on Tuesday against the Colorado Avalanche.
THE ATHLETIC: The New York Rangers called up prospects Gabe Perreault and Brennan Othmann.
DAILY FACEOFF: Former NHL winger Milan Lucic signed with the EIHL’s Fife Flyers.
Thanks Lyle to your daily mash unit injury list. As already noted several times the schedule has really hurt many of the players seasons stretching team rosters to several limitations!
The injuries do seem to be piling up more this season compared to recent years.
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6879422/2025/12/11/nhl-injuries-teams-adam-fox-jack-hughes/
A good graphic pops up if you click “on the rise …” in the above link
Should have started 2 weeks early this season.
Is Lucic paying off wives or something? I’ve never even heard of that league. He might as well be an extra on Shoresy at this point.
Heh. Could be a factor … check this out … according to Charles Barclay, 80% of pro athletes go broke after retirement
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hjrfG3Uno4
Many athletes do indeed haver difficulties transitioning to retirement. But Lucic made an estimated 75 million in his career so IMO this is more likely somewhere between a love of the game and I need time to transition.
The salary of the EIHL might cover living expenses, not much else.
In the U.K.
?
Aahh.. got it – that league is in the U.K.
as much as it pains me to say it this is what the Jets are this season: unable to score outside the first line (and apparently Logan Stanley) and defensive team play that in contrast to last year is unremarkable.
regressions in the play of Lowry, Samberg, Perfetti, Namestnikov, Neiedereirteieior. No lift from veterans Toews, Nyquist, Pearson.
We are in that territory where you can’t trade them all. Probably a coaching move is needed. The ‘Bones’ effect from Boness’s defensive teaching is gone. Arniel hasn’t had answers on defense or especially secondary offense.
Any good coaches available right now?
Torts and DeBoer
Geez i hadn’t thought of Torts. really not a fan of his but he is a disruptor that could get some results for a couple years. His strength is probably getting more out of depth players. Could be a fit but not a move Chevy would make as culture is his #1.
Deboer is a quality coach.
I would really hope the tendency to recycle coaches in the NHL becomes a rarity rather than the accepted norm. There are very good coaches in the U.S. college ranks, as well as around the USHL and Major Junior leagues in Canada.
Tortorella is a one-trick pony whose act quickly wears thin as evidenced at stops in Tampa (where they won a Cup in spite of his acidic criticism style of coaching), New York (the Rangers), Vancouver, Columbus and Philadelphia. He’s been canned by 4 of them while in Columbus they did essentially the same thing by simply not offering him a renewal contract.
DeBoer has had stops in Florida, New Jersey, San Jose and Vegas with 2 Cup final appearances with Jersey and the Sharks, losing both times. Let him stick to his new gig as a co-owner of an OHL team.
If they MUST continue with recycling, why not Gerard Gallant, currently head coach of the Shanghai Dragons of the KHL, Jay Woodcroft, currently an assistant coach in Anaheim, or Dave Hakstol, currently an assistant coach in Colorado? They’ve at least had fewer kicks at the can.
Other candidates could be the likes of Jeff Halpern, currently an assistant in Tampa, Todd Nelson, an assistant in Pittsburgh, Brad Shaw, an assistant in New Jersey, or Manny Malhotra, head coach at Abbotsford in the AHL.
George O – I hear ya. But teams make changes when things are not going well generally speaking or they hit a wall – in that situation they generally bring in a known commodity.
Those coaches have track records with a degree of proven success. Easier than bringing a newbie to sort out problems with a veteran roster.
I suspect it is also difficult to access and guage younger coaches in other organizations or leagues particularly if transitioning in season with a team expected to be playoff bound.
Anyway…I am more of a what have you done for me lately…so torts is a non starter…Deboers would be my 1st choice if the jets opted for a new coach. Gallant i would hire as well. Woodcroft…sure he would be in the mix.
Yeah, there’s no doubt the “track record” philosophy is front and center when scouring the field for a head coach, 1Oilerfan.
But even Tortorella and DeBoer were unproven (at the NHL level) before getting their first kicks at that can at a time when some GM decided to veer away from the old guard routine –
Tortorella with the Virginia Lancers of the ECHL and Rochester Americans of the AHL, followed by assistant coach duties in Buffalo, Arizona and with the NYR
DeBoer as an OHL coach for something like 13 seasons
Or Kirk Muller with Washington?
And agains this trend the out of the box hiring of St Louis in Montreal, whose previous coaching gig was minor hockey …
Gold star to anyone who saw that coming.
The Sens will take DeMello back. You can have….the rights to Formenton, um…Boucher…uhh…the de-facto 2nd rounder….annnnd we’ll fill your drink machines in both locker rooms until 2029
The NHL should take a look at the coaching trends in the NFL. They seem to be moving to hiring top assistant coaches. Offensive and defensive co- ordinators. You can only cycle coaches for so long. Torts,Deboer, need some new blood.