NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – February 4, 2026
Recapping Tuesday’s action, Flyers GM Daniel Briere addresses the “noise” about Matvei Michkov and head coach Rick Tocchet, Sam Bennett is named to Team Canada, and more in today’s NHL Morning Coffee Headlines.
RECAPS OF TUESDAY’S GAMES
NHL.COM: The Tampa Bay Lightning (36-14-4) remained atop the Eastern Conference with 76 points following a 4-3 overtime win over the Buffalo Sabres. Jake Guentzel tallied the game-winner while Nikita Kucherov extended his points streak to nine games with a goal and three assists. Mattias Samuelsson tallied twice for the 32-18-6 Sabres.
Tampa Bay Lightning winger Nikita Kucherov (NHL Images).
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The Lightning have been red hot since Dec. 20, going 18-1-1 in their last 20 games.
Buffalo Sabres goaltender Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen’s lower-body injury will force him to miss the upcoming 2026 Winter Olympics. Team Finland named Boston Bruins goaltender Joonas Korpisalo as Luukkonen’s replacement.
Carolina Hurricanes forward Seth Jarvis scored two goals, and team captain Jordan Staal snapped a 3-3 tie to nip the Ottawa Senators 4-3. Sebastian Aho netted his 20th goal of the season and collected two assists for the Hurricanes (35-15-6) as they kept pace with the Lightning with 76 points. Jake Sanderson had a goal and an assist for the 27-22-7 Senators as their four-game win streak ended.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The Hurricanes lead the Metropolitan Division. They are second in the Eastern Conference because the Lightning holds two games in hand.
The New York Islanders got two goals and an assist from Bo Horvat, including the winner in overtime, in a 5-4 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins. Mathew Barzal had a goal and two assists, and rookie defenseman Matthew Schaefer had a goal and an assist for the 31-21-5 Islanders. Justin Brazeau had a goal and an assist, and Anthony Mantha tallied his 20th goal of the season for the Penguins (28-15-12).
Elvis Merzlikins made 24 saves to backstop the Columbus Blue Jackets to their sixth straight win by shutting out the New Jersey Devils 3-0. Mathieu Olivier tallied twice for the Blue Jackets (28-20-6), who are 9-1-0 in their last 10 games. Jacob Markstrom stopped 23 of 25 shots as the 28-26-2 Devils have dropped four of their last five contests.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Before this game, the Blue Jackets announced the promotions of Rick Nash to director of player personnel and development and Chris Clark to assistant general manager. Clark retains his position as GM of their AHL affiliate in Cleveland.
The Toronto Maple Leafs got two goals from Matias Maccelli in a 5-2 upset of the Edmonton Oilers. John Tavares tallied the winning goal as the Leafs (27-21-9) picked up their third straight win. Jake Walman and Kasperi Kapanen replied for the 28-21-8 Oilers.
A power-play goal by Jamie Drysdale snapped a 2-2 tie as the Philadelphia Flyers doubled up the Washington Capitals 4-2. Rasmus Ristolainen had a goal and an assist for the Flyers (25-20-10) as they ended a four-game winless skid (0-3-1). Anthony Beauvillier had a goal and an assist for the 28-23-7 Capitals as their three-game win streak ended.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Before this game, Flyers general manager Daniel Briere addressed the “noise” regarding recent critical comments by head coach Rick Tocchet regarding winger Matvei Michkov’s conditioning at the start of the season and his ice time.
Briere stated that Michkov isn’t going anywhere, explaining that the sophomore winger is going through the usual ups and downs that young players encounter early in their careers. He said Michkov and Tocchet have a good relationship, and that the club is doing everything it can to help the youngster succeed.
The Anaheim Ducks defeated the Seattle Kraken 4-2, snapping the latter’s four-game win streak. Lukas Dostal made 26 saves while Jansen Harkins and Jackson LaCombe each collected two assists for the 30-23-3 Ducks. Jordan Eberle and Tye Kartye replied for the Kraken (26-20-9).
HEADLINES
FLORIDA HOCKEY NOW: Panthers center Sam Bennett has been named to Team Canada as a replacement for sidelined Tampa Bay Lightning center Anthony Cirelli.
THE PROVINCE: Vancouver Canucks center Filip Chytil is sidelined indefinitely amid concerns he’s suffered another concussion after leaving Monday’s game against the Utah Mammoth.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Chytil has suffered several concussions during his NHL career. It’s reached the point where he must seriously consider ending his playing career for the sake of his long-term health.
DAILY FACEOFF: The San Jose Sharks placed forward Ryan Reaves (upper body) on injured reserve.
MONTREAL HOCKEY NOW: The Canadiens placed winger Sammy Blais on waivers. If he clears, he’ll report to their AHL affiliate in Laval.
THE ATHLETIC: In the latest player poll by The Athletic, Quebec City came second as the city that those polled believed should be the next to get an NHL franchise.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Quebec City is a great hockey town with an NHL-ready arena, but it’s also too small for the league’s taste. The only way they’ll get a franchise is if there becomes an urgent need to relocate one, and that’s a long shot at best.
TORONTO SUN: Former NHL defenseman Jim Morrison passed away at the age of 94. He spent nearly seven of his 12-season NHL career with the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Morrison’s first tenure in the league was from 1951-52 to 1960-61 with the Maple Leafs, Boston Bruins, Detroit Red Wings, and New York Rangers. After several seasons in the AHL with the Quebec Aces and Baltimore Clippers, he spent two seasons with the Pittsburgh Penguins from 1969-70 to 1970-71.
In 704 NHL regular-season games, Morrison had 40 goals and 160 assists for 200 points, and 12 points in 36 playoff games.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: My condolences to Morrison’s friends, family, and former teammates.
Which city was first?
If I were guessing, a second in the Toronto metro area would be first. The league really should allow a Quebec City franchise; it could be the equivalent of the NFL’s Green Bay, another town that is “too small” for professional sports but is an incredible success story.
Neither city does anything to grow the game. NHL needs to find more vegases
The poll of 118 NHL players had 48 saying Houston should be the next to get a team.
Quebec, with a metro population of around 820,000, is first and foremost a public service city, being the capital of the Province of Quebec. The fans would attend in large enough numbers – but the city lacks any sort of necessary corporate structure.
Green Bay, with a population of just 340,000, draws heavily from Milwaukee – about a 2 ½ hour drive away (something like Ottawa – Montreal) – and its 1.6 million, plus plenty of cheeseheads in between from something like 18 small towns scattered between.
The financial model for an NFL team and an NHL team are fundamentally different.
First off revenue sharing is totally different 60 plus % of NFL revenue is shared equally amongst the teams. In the NHL the top 10-11 teams contribute a % of their revenue to help a pool of lower revenue teams. Not sure exactly the details of who gets what and how they are determined, but I do know it is a significantly smaller amount is shared, and it isn’t by every team.
NFL TV deals, that are shared equally, are massive compared to NHL as it is a more nationalized sport as most of the games are on Sunday and more people watch games that don’t include the team where they live or who they root for. Fantasy Football, pick em leagues, and just plain gambling help drive ratings.
NHL is more local and more dependent on gate revenues and local/regional media deals.
The #’s don’t work financially in smaller markets, especially with a growing cap $ amount This is a business after all and the last thing the large market teams want to do is create another team they have to contribute to.
I am skeptical Green Bay would work in the NHL. Go Bears.
All you have to do is click the link Chrisms. It’s Houston. Which is the obvious choice for the next NHL city. Though I don’t think expansion is a good idea now.
Ray – you nailed it.
40/80 games to fill vs 9/18
A 65k stadium 9 times….585,000
A 20K stadium 40 times…800,000
Because there are so few games for an NFL home fanbase, not many of them (unless they’re absolute losers) are empty. It’s an event. Season tickets, and lines to get them are half century long.
The NHL isn’t as popular a brand. And has less of a scarcity issue. Thus smaller fanbase cities can’t afford even a small dip in attendance (Winnipeg and their little barn)
it’s why I’m so against building new buildings in the NHL unless absolutely necessary. They are massive expenditures that (in Canada and Arizona at least) require huge public input and money. And then only for a little while do you recoup those losses.
Take Landsdown in Ottawa for instance. In the RED every single year since opening. Those losses were to be covered by OSEG…until or unless they could no longer afford to do so without risk of insolvency. Ooops. That’s where we are now. SO….now the city is trying to buy their way out of it by doing 2.0. Adding debt to debt.
Andlauer……it’s cheaper to repair than replace. You’re dealing with a bankrupt city that has made the wrong call on major capital expenditures time and again.
The “I told you so” on Lebreton will age like a fine wine.
Dark G … agree totally.
I knew right from the get-go on that Lebreton fiasco (second only to our “Light Rail” boondoggle) that I’d never see it in what’s left of my life-span. Especially in that Andlauer had to deal with tight-ass Federal bureaucrats and their little “fiefdoms.”
Yep Dark G, the cities funding of new arena’s can be dangerous. And if the city is going to do it, they can’t sell mystery math. And need something in return.
When Edmonton did it, they cut a deal that required further investment by Katz to improve and add to the downtown core which helped multiple businesses and raised city revenue. OK fine, it should work and it looks to be so far. It’s really busy down there whenever there is an event in town, unlike the area where the rink used to be.
And they added a surtax to the ticket prices to pay for it, including concerts or whatever else was going on in it. If you want it folks, you gotta pay for it.
Plus it’s an emotional decision, and why team owners know they have leverage, especially in Canada with hockey. The citizens of Edmonton, and guessing Ottawa, want to keep their team. It’s part of who we are as Canadians and part of our identity. I’m sure the folks of Green Bay would say the same thing about the Packers.
Wouldn’t want to be the Mayor or Councilman who lost the Oilers because you couldn’t find a deal that benefited both parties.
ya Ray. Some valid counter points there. I know Andlauer will build it. I just wish he wasn’t getting in bed with the NCC and I wish it was closer to the 417. I have long thought the old RCMP HQ was the ideal spot.
Dark G, unfortunately I don’t know the Ottawa area and never been there, although I probably should as it sure looks nice.
I’ll take your and Georges word for it when it comes to the location.
All I know is where Rogers Center is in Edmonton is a really good spot.
Boston I believe is the only organization having their 2 goalies going to the Olympics. This is good for 2 reasons,they will get consistent work over the next 3 weeks and if Korpisalo gets to play and plays well he could be part of a potential trade. Boston should be a buyer and seller at the deadline.
I think Minnesota is sending Gustavsson and Wallstedt unless one got injured.
Agree…Here’s hoping Korpisalo gets to play and play well so the Bruins can move his salary which would add to cap to acquire a possible better player or players .. it can also release Mike Di to the NHL he doesn’t need to be in the minors any longer ..
Korpisalo has been solid for quite a while now after a brutal start to the season.
Still to much $$ for a backup tender, but at least he isn’t struggling anymore.
Last night there were 4 back-to-backs with the only clear-cut winner being the Leafs over the Oilers 5-2 (including an empty-netter) in a game in which Stolarz stood on his head.
Two of the losers of the back-to-backs (Pittsburgh and Buffalo) did so in OT, so at least get 3 out of the 4 possible points, thanks in large part to the goaltending of Colton Ellis for Buffalo, who stopped 31 of 35 Tampa shots and, in sort of reversal of the Buffalo situation, also thanks to Skinner getting beaten on 5 of 23 shots, while the Penguins were firing 35 at Sorokin.
The other two losses came in regulation, Washington going down 4-2 to Philadelphia (including an empty netter), with Vladar in the Flyers net stopping 2 of 28 and Stevenson letting in 3 of 21, and Ottawa dropping a 4-3 decision in Carolina, thanks to a late 3rd period line-change screw-up, despite out-shooting the Hurricanes 25 to 18 while Reimer coughed up 4.
Goaltending, goaltending, goaltending eh Ray?
Above should read “5 back-to-backs …”
I had to Google Venmo, I’ve never heard of it before. Gamblers are a strange breed. Blaming whoever or whatever (mainly Los Vegas lol) they can because they lost their bet, but never themselves.
While all 32 teams will be represented by players at the Olympics, some are way more heavily represented as shown in the totals below, with an asterisk (*) preceding those currently holding down a playoff spot.
To Ray Bark’s point recently, aside from an increased odds of injury simply by the numbers attending, how – and could – it effect performances down the final stretch once the players get back to the grind and travel of NHL action, after participating in such a prestigious and often intense international tournament where pride of country is the motivating factor?
And will those teams with so few participants benefit from having the vast majority of their players resting and getting over various bumps, bruises and nicks?
9 players each: Florida, *Minnesota, *Tampa (+ coach John Cooper)
8 players each: *Colorado, *Boston, *Vegas
7 players each: *Dallas, New Jersey
5 players each: Los Angeles, Ottawa, St. Louis, Vancouver
4 players each: *Carolina, *Montreal, *Pittsburgh + coach Mike Sullivan, *Seattle, *Utah, Nashville, Anaheim, San Jose, Winnipeg
3 players each: *Detroit, *Buffalo, NYR, Philadelphia, Toronto, Washington
2 players each: *Edmonton, *NYI, Columbus
1 player each: Calgary, Chicago
Ya George hard to think it won’t have an impact on some of these guys, especially the guys on teams that have a chance to win gold.
To get a sense of what these Olympics mean to some of these players, McDavid’s letter to The Players Tribune spells it out pretty clearly. Give it a read if interested.
https://www.theplayerstribune.com/connor-mcdavid-nhl-hockey-canada-edmonton-oilers
Ray, quite a good article.
What grabbed my attention though was something else: McDavid’s comment about how uneasy he felt being a captain at 19. Johnathan Toews recently said he found the pressure of being captain so young hard to bear.
The NHL seems to have gotten the memo as neither Celebrini or Bedard are captains.
Really interesting insight. Thanks Ray,
Ya, he was really honest about that LJ. Can’t imagine doing that at 19, especially when I think about how I was at that age.
It was funny that one of his first thoughts after being named captain was he had to move out of his parent’s house. Puts it in perspective.
GeorgeO,Bostonhas 2 guys both 1st and 2nd line centers in Lindholm and Zacha who are presently hurt but are supposed to go to the games. Question is which medical staff decides if they play or they sit!
I would hope the final authority lies with those who pay their lofty salaries.
Sabres are good, but they need to learn how to protect a lead late in games. Lost 3 points this week to Montreal and TB because they could not protect a lead.
Ellis has been a huge find. Sabes have three goalies and one in the minors.
Trade Levi, Tuch and a 1st for Robo!
HF30: You around? As you know I don’t often subscribe to your acquisition suggestions for the Habs.
Consider this: I did not want the Habs to draft Caulfield as I thought him too small. I felt the same way about Hutson …
LJ,
Sean Farrell was drafted a year after Caufield, he blew past Caufield in his final USHL season, he’s roughly the same size, a touch bigger.
A 4th round choice that Caufield tweeted was a STEAL.
The kid has been top 4 scoring in Laval for a few years but hasn’t broken through on the Habs,
The draft is always a hope and we as fans really have very little to go on as we don’t see them playing much if at all.
I made a late post yesterday that you may have missed, It was about Braden Schneider and an opinion by Lori Bennett on her Hab At Her blog.
She’s rather insightful and has been around long enough to be pretty plugged in.
The only thing I know about Schneider was an assessment by Yahoo. So you may be correct.
The “but” you sense coming is that of all the Habs’ needs, D seems to me to be the least concern. I do agree that Guhle has been often injured but his return to the line up and the pairing of him and Matheson has been a clear improvement. Unless the Habs move Engstrom, he will be on the team next year, so the question is: do we really need an upgrade on D?
Should the Habs be looking at upgrades elsewhere? In retrospect, your suggestion of Necas from last year was clearly a good one. He may profit by playing with McKinnon, but he would also complement Suzuki.