NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – February 3, 2026
Recapping Monday’s action, Barry Trotz to step down as Predators’ general manager, the three stars of the week are revealed, and more in today’s NHL Morning Coffee Headlines.
RECAPS OF MONDAY’S GAMES
NHL.COM: Steven Stamkos scored the tying and winning goals as the Nashville Predators erased a 5-1 deficit to defeat the St. Louis Blues 6-5. Ryan O’Reilly also tallied twice, and Roman Josi collected four assists for the 26-23-6 Predators. Pavel Buchnevich had two goals and an assist while Jordan Kyrou and Jake Neighbours each had three points for the Blues, who dropped to 20-27-9.
Nashville Predators forward Steven Stamkos (NHL Images)
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Stamkos has 27 goals in 55 games, matching last season’s output in 82 games. He also moved into the top-20 among the all-time regular-season goal scorers with 609, sitting third among active scorers.
The Washington Capitals netted four unanswered goals in a 4-1 victory over the New York Islanders. Nick Dowd had a goal and an assist, and Clay Stevenson made 29 saves for the 28-22-7 Capitals, who picked up their third straight win. Mathew Barzal scored for the Islanders (30-21-5).
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin had an assist to reach 1,670 career-regular-season points, putting him in fifth place among NHL players with the most points with one franchise. Gordie Howe is the leader with 1,809. Meanwhile, Capitals defenseman Matt Roy returned to action after missing three games with a lower-body injury.
Utah Mammoth forward Nick Schmaltz had a hat trick and collected an assist to lead his club over the Vancouver Canucks 6-2. John Marino had three assists for the Mammoth (29-23-4). Teddy Blueger had a goal and an assist as the Canucks have one win in their last six games (1-4-1), dropping to 18-32-6.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Canucks center Filip Chytil left this game after the second period.
The Buffalo Sabres got 38 saves from Alex Lyon in a 5-3 win over the Florida Panthers, handing the latter their fourth straight loss. Peyton Krebs had a goal and two assists for the Sabres (32-18-5), who’ve won six of their last seven contests. Sam Reinhart collected two assists for the 28-24-3 Panthers.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Panthers forward Sam Bennett left this game with an upper-body injury. After the game, Panthers winger Matthew Tkachuk acknowledged his injury-ravaged club is in trouble as they try to remain in the playoff race in the Eastern Conference. With 59 points, the two-time defending Stanley Cup champions are eight points out of a wildcard berth.
The Sabres didn’t emerge unscathed from this game, as forward Zach Benson departed in the third period with an upper-body injury.
Ottawa Senators forward Claude Giroux scored the winning goal to nip the Pittsburgh Penguins 3-2. Drake Batherson had two assists as the Senators (27-21-4) extended their win streak to four games. Arturs Silovs made 28 saves, and Egor Chinakhov had a goal and an assist for the 28-15-11 Penguins as their six-game win streak ended.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The Penguins disputed Giroux’s goal, claiming it was goaltender interference as the Senators forward crashed into Silovs after the latter made the save, dislodging the puck and knocking the net off its moorings. Following a lengthy review, it was determined to be a goal, and Penguins defenseman Erik Karlsson was penalized for tripping Giroux.
The Detroit Red Wings blanked the Colorado Avalanche 2-0. John Gibson got the shutout with 21 saves while Marco Kasper and Lucas Raymond scored for the 33-18-6 Red Wings, who ended a three-game winless skid (0-2-1). Mackenzie Blackwood stopped 23 of 24 shots for the 36-9-9 Avalanche, who lead the league with 81 points, but have one win in their last four games.
Minnesota Wild winger Kirill Kaprizov scored twice, including the winner in overtime, in a 4-3 victory over the Montreal Canadiens. Quinn Hughes had three assists for the Wild (33-14-10), who picked up their fourth straight win. Brendan Gallagher, Ivan Demidov, and Kirby Dach replied for the 31-17-8 Canadiens, who are 3-0-1 in their last four games.
An overtime goal by Thomas Harley lifted the Dallas Stars over the Winnipeg Jets 4-3 to extend their win streak to five games. Mikko Rantanen, Matt Duchene, and Miro Heiskanen each had two points for the Stars (33-14-9). Cole Perfetti and Gabriel Vilardi each had a goal and an assist for the 22-25-8 Jets.
Chicago Blackhawks forwards Ryan Donato and Ilya Mikheyev each had four points in a 6-3 win over the San Jose Sharks. Jason Dickinson and Connor Murphy each collected two points for the 22-25-9 Blackhawks as they ended a five-game winless skid (0-3-2). Macklin Celebrini had a goal and an assist for the Sharks (27-23-4) as they’ve gone 0-2-1 in their last three games.
The Toronto Maple Leafs doubled up the Calgary Flames 4-2. William Nylander had a goal and two assists for the 26-21-9 Maple Leafs. Nazem Kadri had a goal and an assist for the Flames (22-27-6) as they are 1-4-2 in their last seven contests.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Maple Leafs defenseman Morgan Rielly missed this game with an upper-body injury and will also sit out their next game against the Edmonton Oilers.
HEADLINES
THE TENNESSEAN: Barry Trotz announced Monday that he will be stepping down as general manager of the Nashville Predators. He will remain in his position until a successor is chosen.
Trotz said he made this decision for family reasons and has no plans to return to coaching. He stated that he informed the Predators’ ownership that he was contemplating retirement when his contract expired at the end of next season.
Predators majority owner Bill Haslam said they were not pushing Trotz out of the job. “He came to us (in December) and said he wanted to retire after his contract,” Haslam said. “After some back and forth, we decided to go ahead and be transparent about it.” He also indicated that the decision was not a reflection of Trotz’s job performance.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Trotz has his priorities in order. Family should always come first.
Trotz is one of the greatest coaches in NHL history. He won the Jack Adams Award twice and coached the Washington Capitals to the Stanley Cup in 2018. However, the Predators’ record since he took over as GM in 2023 has been uneven.
The Predators reached the playoffs in 2024 following a late-season surge but were eliminated in the opening round by the Vancouver Canucks. Trotz made a big splash in the 2024 free-agent market, signing Steven Stamkos, Jonathan Marchessault, and Brady Skjei, but they failed to qualify for the postseason last year.
After stumbling through the opening two months of this season, they’ve moved to within three points of a wildcard berth in the Western Conference.
NHL.COM: Seattle Kraken winger Jared McCann, Tampa Bay Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy, and Philadelphia Flyers winger Travis Konecny are the league’s three stars for the week ending Feb. 1, 2026.
TSN: Edmonton Oilers goaltender Calvin Pickard cleared waivers on Monday and will report to their AHL affiliate in Bakersfield.
SPORTSNET: Boston Bruins center Elias Lindholm (upper body) was placed on injured reserve.
What is it with Elias Lindholm is he made out of tissue paper ? Trade him out of here for a need and someone who will play
Ahh, those pesky NMC’s………🫤
Elias Lindholm isn’t injury prone and sure as heck isn’t made of tissue paper.
You can easily look his career up on any sports site or even NHL.com.
Quite durable actually and will play through an injury like he did last year.
He’s a good player, not #1 C good, but reliable 2 way C. His contract is a bit too long, but that’s what you get when you sign UFA’s. AAV is too high or the term is a bit too long. Pick one. But it’s not unreasonable and he is easily tradable IMO if he was willing to.
Ray Bark,I believe Minten can do what he does in the near future.Would trade him before Zacha for money purposes.Team needs to make a decision on Minten,Poitras,Hagens,Locmelis,Letourneau who are all centers!
I’d be waiting a bit Sr. We know Minten can get it done in NHL, but might be better suited as a 3C? Here’s hoping he keeps finding more offence.
I read somewhere that Hagens is playing wing in BC. The guy can bring the offence though.
Letourneau is a complete wild card IMO. I have never seen a college freshman go from 3 pts all year to 27 in his first 24 games as a sophomore. Probably gonna take him a while as a pro, still raw and guys his size usually take a while, like Tage Thompson. But he has gone from looking like a bust to a really interesting prospect. There’s a chance he turns into a really good player, or a 4th line banger.
I don’t have high hope for Poitras, slower feet, which isn’t great for a C. High IQ and vision though, and not like Krecji was a speed demon. Who the heck knows.
Agree Ray. The Bruins have given Poitras many opportunities to claim a spot for 3 years. He always came up lacking. In contrast, Minton secured a slot out of his 1st camp and has been excelling. You can never have too many centers, but Poitras may have made himself expendable.
The best one out of all of them excluding Minten may be Locmelis,playing for Latvia in the upcoming Olympics!
RayBark,other than Minten,the best one out of all the prospects may be Locmelis,who is playing for Latvia in the Olympics!
Another busy night with 20 teams in action, 9 of them in the crowded East. As an illustration of just how difficult it is to overtake teams in the push for a playoff spot at this time of a season, while Ottawa did gain 2 points on the last WC holder NYI (who lost), so too did 2 other teams in the hunt – Washington & Toronto. And we can most likely expect these same, often frustrating “one inch at a time” and scoreboard-watching scenarios right through to the end.
No less than 5 playoff teams in the East from last season are currently out and trying desperately to claw their way back in, while the 5 that have replaced them so far are just as determined to hang in there – especially those like Buffalo and Detroit who have not seen a playoff game for very long times.
To illustrate just how much of a difference seemingly small changes in % pace can alter fortunes, the following tables are divided into 8 Teams each – those currently holding playoff spots and those who don’t – both by current position & % pace – followed by final 2024-25 position & % pace – and difference between the two:
1. Tampa .698 – 3. .622 +.076
2. Carolina .673 – 4. .604 +.069
3. Detroit .632 – 10. .524 +.109
4. Montreal .625 – 8. .555 +.070
5. Buffalo .627 – 14. .482 +.145
6. Boston .607 – 15 .463 +.144
7. Pittsburgh .620 – 13. .488 +.132
8. NY Islanders .580 – 12. 500 +.080
9. Washington .553 – 1. .677 -.124
10. Columbus .543 – 9. .565 +.023
11. Ottawa .555 – 6. .591 -.036
12. Toronto .545 – 2. .659 -.144
13. Florida .536 – 5. .598 -.062
14. Philadelphia .537 – 16. .463 +.074
15. New Jersey .527 – 7. .555 -.028
16. NY Rangers .446 – 11. .518 -.073
Another good night for the Sens George! They played well again and earned the win. 4 straight. Isles have a lead, but Sens are a better team, so should be interesting down to wire.
But to your point about passing multiple teams, Columbus is now on a serious heater. 9-1 past 10. Didn’t have that on my bingo card.
Sens 4 pts back of Isles with a game in hand, if they play like they have in their last 10 (6-2-2) the rest of the way, hard to keep them out.
Olympic break is coming at the wrong time for them. Hard to say how teams with key guys in that tourney play after that. Especially if they win. Party time! I can see that lasting a few days.
Hard to think there isn’t a natural let down after playing that type of intense hockey and back to regular season grind.
I agree Ray. And while Ottawa has 5 at the Olympics, Tampa has 10, Minnesota 9, Florida, Colorado and Boston 8 each, and Vegas, NJ and Dallas 7 each.
And, yeah, the Senators did play an almost perfect road-game style, 1 minor to Pittsburgh’s 4, fore-checking and turning pucks over, eventually almost doubling up shots on goal over Pittsburgh (31-16).
Silovs played very well in nets for the Penguins … it could just as easily have been 5-1.
Now – lol – if they can only do it again tonight in Carolina, where Reimer gets the start, and Thursday’s game in Philadelphia, which will see Ullmark back in nets – the last before the break.
Speaking of back-to-backs, among the 14 teams in action tonight, 5 are on back-to-backs – Ottawa, Washington, Buffalo, Pittsburgh and Toronto
Lyle: Something is wrong here, “…the Canucks earned their first win in their last six games (1-4-1), dropping to 18-32-6.”
Yeah, their only win in their past 6 was 3 games back when they beat Anaheim 2-0.
Fixed, thanks.
Trotz, of course, could have waited until season’s end to announce his pending retirement … and unless Nashville ownership already has a replacement in mind – and one who is prepared to make roster-adjusting moves either soon after taking over, or in the off-season – he might just as well have done it that way.
But I think he knew any such task is way beyond his capabilities as a GM, and if they do install someone bold like Kekalainen in Buffalo, it wouldn’t surprise me to see, either immediately if the offers are good – or in the off0season – the trading of O’Reilly and perhaps Marchessault, as he won’t be beholden to Trotz’s position on both.
As at the current % pace of the Western teams still thinking they’re in the playoff WC hunt, it appears 91 points will be the cut-off – unlike the tightly-packed East where it looks like it’s going to take 97 points.
Looking at only those teams still bunched around those two WC spots, and how each would finish at their current % pace, we have (best to worst):
Vegas 95
Edmonton 94
Seattle 93
Utah 91
Anaheim 91
Los Angeles 91
San Jose 88
Nashville 87
So, barring any sudden swoons, and with the top 3 in by small margins and within their Divisions, and Utah, Anaheim and L.A. in a dogfight to the end to grab the two WC spots, the task seems out of reach for both San Jose and Nashville who would have to elevate their % paces from their current .537 and .527 to .585 and .595 just to get to 91 each. Question is, does anyone think they can do that?
If Nashville trades Ryan O’Reilly the Preds might get the biggest haul of the TDL (Not counting Hughes as a TDL deal).
Excellent player, on a crazy good contract for this year and next, playing the most difficult position to fill in the entire NHL – #1C or a bang up 2C.
Depend what Nashville plans on doing I guess.
Ray, they should do only what’s best for the team going forward. With some of those contracts, ages, dwindling stats, and plethora of NMC they are sure as Hell not bouncing back into serious contention in the likely time O’Reilly has left being a factor.
He turns 35 in 4 days.
I agree George, but I’m a guy that believes the goal of any team is to win the Stanley Cup. You know, what every GM says at the start of the year.
So if that is Nashville’s goal, then they should start looking at ways to move their aging core. Good players, but not getting you the big prize at this point in their careers if they are your core guys.
But some of these teams, depending on ownership, are there to make money and that means staying competitive as long as possible.
Hey I get that too, it’s their money and they can do what they want with what they own. But as a fan, I want my team to always keep the ultimate prize in mind for every decision they make.
O’Reilly seems like a guy that could help the Habs make a run.
Agreed on O’Reilly. I think the challenge of dealing with Nashville is that almost all of the teams in contention are up against the cap. There may be teams dangling picks for retaining salary, but Nashville only has one salary retention slot left.
Just saying .. maybe that’s what the Bruins are lacking with all those penalties is on ice leadership .. they have vets but maybe not the right voice .. did management see this that’s why B’s don’t have a captain .. Hope Korpisalo gets a chance to play next few weeks and plays well so they can get him out of here .. Mike Di needs to be up in the NHL
Good point Joe. I think guys like Kastellac and Jeannot have taken on some of the leadership role.