NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – January 5, 2026
Recapping Sunday’s action, the Sharks re-sign Alexander Wennberg, injury updates, and more in today’s NHL Morning Coffee Headlines.
RECAPS OF SUNDAY’S GAMES
NHL.COM: Chicago Blackhawks winger Tyler Bertuzzi netted a hat trick, including the winner in overtime, to lift his club to a 3-2 upset of the Vegas Golden Knights. Andre Burakovsky collected two assists as the Blackhawks are 3-0-1 in their last four games, improving their record to 17-18-7. Brandon Saad and Mark Stone replied for the Golden Knights (17-11-12), who are winless in five games (0-3-2), but hold first place in the Pacific Division with 46 points.
Chicago Blackhawks winger Tyler Bertuzzi (NHL Images).
The Florida Panthers nipped the Colorado Avalanche 2-1, snapping the latter’s 10-game win streak. Daniil Tarasov stopped 27 shots while Sam Bennett and Aaron Ekblad scored for the 22-16-3 Panthers. Scott Wedgewood made 23 saves, and Artturi Lehkonen replied for the Avalanche (31-3-7), who lead the league with 69 points.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog left this game in the second period with an upper-body injury after crashing into the Panthers’ net. After the game, Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said Landeskog is going to miss some time. The Avs played without defenseman Devon Toews, who is sidelined with an upper-body injury.
An overtime goal by Lane Hutson gave the Montreal Canadiens a 4-3 victory over the Dallas Stars. Hutson and Juraj Slafkovsky each finished with a goal and an assist for the Canadiens (23-13-6), who completed their seven-game road trip with a record of 4-1-2. Wyatt Johnston tallied twice for the 25-9-8 Stars, who are winless in their last five contests (0-2-3).
The Pittsburgh Penguins overcame a 4-1 deficit to defeat the Columbus Blue Jackets 5-4 in overtime. Sidney Crosby tallied the winning goal, finishing the game with two points as his Penguins (20-12-9) extended their win streak to five games. Zach Werenski and Kirill Marchenko each scored a goal and an assist for the 18-16-7 Blue Jackets.
Carolina Hurricanes winger Taylor Hall had a goal and an assist in a 3-1 win over the New Jersey Devils. Brandon Bussi made 28 saves for the 25-14-3 Hurricanes as they ended a three-game losing skid. Dawson Mercer replied for the Devils (22-18-2).
SPECTOR’S NOTE: New Jersey defenseman Luke Hughes was dejected after being booed by Devils fans for a pair of costly mistakes that ended up in his own net. However, his teammates (especially goaltender Jake Allen) defended the young blueliner following the game.
HEADLINES
SAN JOSE HOCKEY NOW: The Sharks signed forward Alexander Wennberg to a three-year, $18 million contract extension. The average annual value is $6 million, and comes with a full no-trade clause through the first two seasons.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: This move indicates a shift for the Sharks. They’ve been rebuilding over the past several seasons, which would’ve meant trading a veteran on an expiring contract (such as Wennberg) to a playoff contender for draft picks and prospects. Instead, they’ve opted to re-sign the 31-year-old center, who has played a key role as the Sharks challenge for a postseason berth in the Western Conference, sitting fifth among their scorers with 26 points.
DAILY FACEOFF: Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman Chris Tanev could miss the remainder of the regular season with an undisclosed injury. He’s slated to meet with a surgeon soon, and could be sidelined until late April or early May.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Injuries limited the 36-year-old Tanev to just 11 games this season. His recent return to action was among the reasons behind the Maple Leafs’ improvement in late December.
CBC.CA: The NHL’s department of player safety suspended Calgary Flames forward John Beecher and Winnipeg Jets defenseman Logan Stanley one game each for separate roughing incidents on Saturday.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The incidents referred to were Beecher’s sucker punch of Nashville Predators forward Michael McCarron and Stanley doing the same to Ottawa Senators captain Brady Tkachuk.
TSN: Former Toronto Maple Leafs president Brendan Shanahan has been hired by Hockey Canada to lead a review of men’s junior hockey in Ontario.
After reading today’s injury report,I hope the teams competing in the Olympics have large enough taxi squads to replace all these injured players.
Some of the players who got passed over for selection could find themselves filling full-time roster spots on their respective Olympic teams.
Maybe Shanny could address all the unsportsmanlike conduct demonstrated by the team members when they dislike an official’s decision.
But then again maybe all he would say is “don’t lose”.
Regardless, I’m glad that Ontario is reviewing the minor hockey system. If only Quebec would do that. I hope it’s contagious.
This is the first men’s Olympic hockey team since 1952 that hasn’t had at least one Quebec born player. Further to that, the Athletic had an article in which they selected a possible second Team Canada. The second team featured only one Quebec born player, Mike Matheson. This is an urgent situation.
Late yesterday in the Rumor thread I posted a response to Tyler regarding the Canucks in which I compared their opposite-poles home and away records, asking if there were any theories (from any Canucks fan) as to why their season has developed this way:
Home Record – 19gp 4 12 3 11pts 49gf 70ga -21 for a .290 % pace
Road Record – 22gp 12 8 2 26pts 68gf 73ga -5 for a .591 % pace
That road record ranks them in the top 8 in the entire league, whereas their home record is the absolute worst in the league. Would like to hear theories from anyone who follows them closely because that difference is glaring and hard to understand.
The 4 wins at home have come against Calgary (5-1). Edmonton (4-3), Columbus (4-3) and Minnesota (4-2), coupled with a point in each of 3 losses in OT/SO – 5-4 to Colorado in OT, 4-3 to Seattle in a SO and 3-2 to Boston in OT, scoring 26 goals in total and giving up 21 for a differential of +5 in those 6 game. In the 12 losses – 2 by SO – they have scored 17 goals while giving up 43 for a -26 differential!
On the road, their 8 regulation losses have come at the hands of Calgary (3-1), Pittsburgh (5-1), Nashville (2-1), Minnesota (5-2), Florida (8-5), San Jose (3-2), Colorado (3-1) & Philadelphia (5-2), with 1 point gained in each of a 4-3 OT loss in Carolina and a 2-1 OT loss in L.A., scoring 15 goals and giving up 34 for a -19 differential. Over their 12 road wins, which includes a 5-3 in Dallas, a 4-3 in Washington, a 6-2 in Tampa, back-to-back wins vs NYR (3-0) and NYI (4-1), preceded by a 2-2 win in NJ, and 5-4 in Boston, they have scored 53 goals while giving up 35 for a +18 differential.
There HAS to be some theory as the wild swings.
I’ve seen basically every televised Canucks game this year and I am baffled by the jarring difference in road vs home records. This isn’t a great team, but they don’t look that much different when they’re away from home. The fans at Rogers Arena remain politely cheering them on. Games aren’t ending in a chorus of boos or anything like that. Many of the losses are close enough that the goalie is pulled for the extra attacker, so… I really don’t know why this is happening and would also love to hear any theories.
It is puzzling, I Want My Curtains back. If their home % pace was even close to that of the road record – say .550 – the ensuing 21 pts coupled with the 26 on the road would have them at 47 – and up around 4th or 5th in the Conference rather than 15th.
And in several of their road losses they h ave been “in” he games – even that 8-5 loss in Florida where, I believe, the Panthers put 2 into an empty net.
In goals scored, while perhaps needing a bit of nudge, isn’t horrible, the 117 being better than higher placing teams like Seattle and L.A. The goals against, on the other hand, need to be shaved.
In short, from what I have seen of their games – maybe 8 or 9 – they are NOT as bad that record indicates.
From a pure hockey fan point of view Avs vs Habs(with adding a top 6 veteran forward to this group) is the Cup I want to watch this year
Ds, I still feel Florida will have something to say about that!
You got that right, Sr.
All depends on Barkov IMO as I think the best case scenario is he back sometime early in the playoffs or right at the end of the season.
Original timeline was 7-9 months and it happened in Sept. I read somewhere that he has started skating which is a positive sign.
I think he’s their best and most valuable player, so no Barkov no cup, IMO.
https://www.sportsnet.ca/nhl/article/report-panthers-aleksander-barkov-resumes-skating/
Goaltending, George?
Given hockey’s random nature, though, I’ll be interested to see if the Canucks’ home/away splits move toward the mean in the second half.
Florida beats Colorado – speaking of moving toward the mean.
It’s got to be more than just goaltending BCLeaf Fan – unless their goalies are perceived to be “choking” when playing in front of home crowds. And speaking of crowds, perhaps some Canucks fans who attend and/or see all their home games could comment on the general crowd reaction as and when a game starts to get out of reach.
And I agree – moving towards the mean will be something to watch for as we get into the second half.
As for Florida, as I mentioned the other day, without Barkov, Tkachuk, Nosek, Kulikov, Gadjovich and Schwindt for the bulk of the season to date, they are just 2 pts out of a WC slot, and 8 back of 1st place Tampa, with a game in hand, and 7 behind 2nd-place Detroit, with 2 in hand on them.
When all return – and barring other crippling injuries (including in the Olympics where I think they have 8 or 9 participating), they will have to be favoured to 3-peat.
Quite a road trip for the Habs. These past few years this long trip has sabotaged many a season for the team. Good to see a strong performance this year. Ironic that the only regulation loss was in St. Louis, the game that figured to be the easiest of the trip. That’s why they play the games.
Congrats to Alexander Wennberg on the contract extention. He has had a really decent career so far. He’s also enjoying the final year from his buyout in Cbus, that’s right, Cbus. In a league in constant search
of Centers, Jarmo K may have pulled the plug on him a little early. For my Buffalo friends I want to give you the heads up on some other players Jarmo
drafted in the 1st round and ruined. Kerby Rychel, Marco Dano, Sonny Milano, Gabriel Carlsson, Liam Foudy, Emil Bemstrom, Yegor Chinakhov, David Jiricek to start. His regime also failed to promote Jerad Bednar to HC a couple times, and allowed Chris McFarland to escape and hire him in Colorado. Oh, and Bill Zito to Florida. They’ve all done fairly well, right? It’s no wonder the Bluejackets are considering a name change to “Doormats”. Love you Buffalo, but buckle up.
Good move by the Sharks. Wennberg will be a solid mentor for the young team.
Wennberg is on pace this year for 52 points. That would be only his second season topping 40 points. He’s been more of a high level 3C than a 2C. His getting a $6m. AAV once again underlines how valuable centers are.
The Hurricanes have been playing rather poorly of late, so they’ll probably take all the help they can get.
But those miscues by Luke Hughes (and Jake Allen on the second one – equally liable), were brutal.
Nice contract extension for Wennberg, but was the full NMC really necessary? Why do these GM’s continue to tie their own hands by rewarding players (especially marginal ones) with these extra benefits that only make their jobs harder in the long run. I find it hard to believe that the NMC was a deal breaker.
I don’t HarryO, and believe it would be a deal breaker.
He is 31 with a young family and wants control on where he lives and works. These are just regular people and he just happens to be really good at hockey and made a career out of it.
Wouldn’t you want the same stability in that situation?
Ray, if it is a deal breaker it’s only because the precedent has been set many times over in contracts around the league. A day doesn’t go by in this blog where a trade proposal or rumor isn’t shot down because such and such player has a NMC clause (full or partial) or a list of teams he won’t accept trades to. Not a good time to be a
GM for a bottom feeder team.
To answer your question, I would opt for the money and stability, but if push came to shove, for that kind of money I would accept a couple of years of possible instability. Of course, I’m just regular people. 🥸
Harry O Ray Bark,that s a lot of money for a guy with 7 goals in 41 games!
HarryO, sounds like you might be viewing this from a fan’s perspective and not the players. If we want our team to be able to move a guy who is underperforming but can’t due to a NMC, we don’t like it. I get it, but that isn’t how a player thinks, and if he wasn’t performing today he wouldn’t get a NMC today.
The term was likely a little shorter than he could have got on the market too, so there may have been a compromise.
Wennberg is playing on his 5th team. During a players first 7 or so years they have no control where they live and work, the team can trade them at anytime, to anywhere the NHL has a team. He has been traded.
Now the player has some control and can choose to play wherever he wants this offseason. SJ wanted to keep him there, and he wanted to stay. The deal is he gets a NMC. Doesn’t mean he won’t get moved, but at least now he controls where that is to.
I totally get it and he would be a fool not to get it included. As you mention, somebody else will give it to him.
Ya, the market is rising for sure Sr. I think Wennberg’s value is his defensive play. He gets the tough jobs against the other teams best. Classic 3C role. Charlie Coyle type guy, just worth more with the cap rising.