NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – May 27, 2026
The Golden Knights advance to the Stanley Cup Final, the latest on the Hurricanes and Canadiens, the Penguins re-sign Evgeni Malkin, and more in today’s NHL Morning Coffee Headlines.
NHL.COM: The Vegas Golden Knights defeated the Colorado Avalanche 2-1 in Game 4 of the Western Conference Final, sweeping the series and advancing to the Stanley Cup Final.
Vegas Golden Knights captain Mark Stone (NHL Images).
Mark Stone and Cole Smith scored, and Carter Hart stopped 20 shots for the Golden Knights. Gabriel Landeskog replied for the Avalanche.
The Golden Knights await the winner of the Eastern Conference Final between the Carolina Hurricanes and Montreal Canadiens. The Hurricanes hold a 2-1 lead in that best-of-seven series.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: This is the Golden Knights’ third trip to the Stanley Cup Final in their nine-year history. Their first trip was in their inaugural season (2017-18) and their second came in 2022-23, when they won their first Cup.
Vegas winger Mitch Marner leads all scorers in this postseason with 21 points and is considered among the favorites to win the Conn Smythe Trophy. It’s the first time Marner has reached the Stanley Cup Final.
Golden Knights head coach John Tortorella credited his team’s tight-checking style for their success thus far in this postseason. That system played a crucial role in shutting down the heavily-favored Avalanche, who won the Presidents’ Trophy as the top team during the regular season.
Colorado center Nathan MacKinnon played despite a knee injury suffered in Game 3. The Avs also changed things up between the pipes by replacing Scott Wedgewood with MacKenzie Blackwood, who made 24 saves. However, it couldn’t prevent what felt like an inevitable victory for the Golden Knights.
Martin Necas, Brock Nelson, Cale Makar, and MacKinnon were the notable Avalanche stars who failed to score during this series. Injuries to MacKinnon and Makar hampered their performances, but that doesn’t detract from the fact that the Golden Knights did a masterful job of shutting down the vaunted Avalanche offense.
It will be interesting to see how the Avalanche front office reacts to this disappointing end to a dominant regular season. I’ll have more about that in today’s NHL Rumor Mill.
THE NEWS & OBSERVER: The Carolina Hurricanes aren’t fazed by the pressure of overtime. They are 5-0 in overtime games in the 2026 Stanley Cup playoffs.
Winger Andrei Svechnikov credits his club’s mentality. “We love tight games. Every time, we love that,” Svechnikov said. It was his overtime goal in Game 3 that lifted the Hurricanes to a 2-1 series lead over the Montreal Canadiens in the Eastern Conference.
MONTREAL HOCKEY NOW: The Canadiens have been outshot by a wide margin in this series with the Hurricanes.
The reduction of shot production from stars Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield, and Juraj Slafkovsky is expected because of the extra focus they’ve received from their opponents in this postseason. However, that hasn’t led to any significant increase in shots from the rest of the lineup.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: After being dominated in Game 1, the Hurricanes did a terrific job taking away time and space for the Canadiens to create plays and generate shots in Games 2 and 3. If that trend continues, the Hurricanes will face the Golden Knights in the Stanley Cup Final.
PITTSBURGH HOCKEY NOW: The Penguins re-signed long-time star Evgeni Malkin to a one-year, bonus-laden contract on Tuesday.
Malkin, 39, will be returning for his 21st season with the only NHL team he’s ever played for. The contract is worth $5.5 million against the Penguins’ cap. He receives a base salary of $2.5 million and a $3 million signing bonus on July 1. He will also receive $3.5 million performance bonuses that could take him up to $9 million, though it’s unlikely that he’ll achieve all of them.
The contract also comes with a no-movement clause, but he must present a three-team trade list in January.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: It seemed uncertain for months whether the Penguins would re-sign Malkin. However, recent comments by general manager Kyle Dubas and team captain Sidney Crosby suggested that he would be back for one more season.
Malkin had a bounce-back performance this season with 61 points in 56 games and three points in six playoff contests.
Dubas recently indicated that the Penguins had no one in their system who could step up and replace Malkin in the lineup. That’s the main reason why they’ve brought him back. The Penguins’ exceeding expectations to make the playoffs under first-year coach David Muse also likely factored into this decision.
OTTAWA SUN: Claude Giroux wants to return for another season. The 38-year-old Senators forward pondered retirement, but his agent said his client would like to play in 2026-27.
Giroux told reporters following Ottawa’s elimination from the 2026 playoffs that his priority would be to re-sign with the Senators. While there hasn’t yet been any discussion with management, there’s little reason to believe that they don’t want him back.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Senators GM Steve Staios praised Giroux last month during the club’s end-of-season media availability. It will be surprising if Staios doesn’t bring him back for what will be his 20th NHL campaign.
THE SCORE: cited a report from The Athletic’s Pierre LeBrun, who claimed the Los Angeles Kings held preliminary talks with former New York Rangers coach Peter Laviolette about their head-coaching position.
CBC PEI: Former NHL forward Forbes Kennedy passed away on Monday at age 90.
Kennedy spent 11 seasons in the NHL from 1956-57 to 1968-69 with the Chicago Blackhawks, Detroit Red Wings, Boston Bruins, Philadelphia Flyers, and Toronto Maple Leafs. In 603 regular-season games, he had 70 goals and 108 assists for 178 points and 888 PIMs. He also has six points in 12 playoff contests with 64 PIMs.
After his playing career, Kennedy went on to a long junior coaching career in the Maritimes, most of which was spent in his native Prince Edward Island. Summerside native and former NHL player and coach Gerard Gallant said Kennedy was a mentor for many Island players who hoped to reach the NHL.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: “Forbie” was a trailblazer for aspiring players from Prince Edward Island. He became the first Islander to play over 500 NHL games, and finished fourth in Calder Memorial Trophy voting in 1956-57. My condolences to his family, friends, former teammates, and the players whom he coached.
WOW! While it’s probably way too soon following what can only be described as a “stunning Western Conference final sweep” to start pointing fingers, the fact remains that some serious “soul-searching” will have to ensue by the most potent offence in the league who were embarrassingly dismantled, including blowing a 3-0 lead in one game, by a team that JUST made the playoffs.
Yes, Makar – arguably the best in the league – wasn’t available for the first two games and was gimpy when he did return …. but come on!
MacFarland, for starters, looks at next season with a very tight cap situation, 7 pending UFAs and 2 RFAs, and will likely have to consider trades to free up $$ space, in addition to at least closely scrutinize the future of coach Bednar who is entering the last year of his contract. That will also apply to the goalie tandem of Wedgewood and Blackwood – who account for $7,750,000 combined off the cap – and who were outplayed by – in essence – a reclamation project costing $2 mil off the Vegas cap.
Also to be assessed is why their high-octane top 2 F lines went dry, and how they can improve the offense from the bottom 6.
I’m shocked at the sweep, but I think people under valued Vegas’ roster which is much deeper than Colorado.
Then you have Hart going on a heater which is a bit of surprise.
Finally add in Karlsson returning to play Center which allowed Marner to play exclusively at Wing, and all the pieces came together at the right time.
I didn’t expect a sweep. I was rooting for Colorado. But I’m not shocked Vegas won.
Will be interesting to see if Hart can keep it up once the next round starts.
I’m shocked at the sweep, but I had Vegas winning the series. The team is incredibly deep, hertyl and Stone were at times were penciled in on their third line! But the biggest reason ai had them winning was health. Health,especially for your top players, is probably the most crucial part of playoff victory. Vegas is looking like an unstoppable force. I think if Habs win the series Vegas beats them pretty easily, but if the Canes win it could be a much closer series. Vegas are rolling.
I was shocked Vegas swept them, pretty darn surprised they beat them, but that was before we knew the extent of the Makar injury.
I think it was huge, Makar is the offensive engine and plays huge minutes, averaging close to 25 a game during regular season. Their best player IMO. Runs the PP, plays 2 minutes a game on the PK.
I don’t know how you subtract that and expect the same results.
I don’t think this series goes the way it did if he was healthy as falling down 2 zip and heading to Vegas was huge.
Vegas was a different team after the coaching change and Torts admitted he didn’t change anything system wise. Sometimes it takes a different voice, even even they are singing the same song.
Fair to say they were much better than their regular season record suggested. As they have been for years now, so shouldn’t be that surprised. Recency bias strikes again.
2 things can be true at the same time.
Colorado won’t over react to this, maybe the coach is nervous, as switching them works sometimes. But sometimes it doesn’t.
If it is a Vegas Carolina final, seems to line up as a tight defensive battle. But who the heck knows.
Yeah, Ray, we are seeing what happens when a team’s offence, and certainly how it gets up ice, is challenged when it relies on a single D for the heavy lifting. In the Av’s case, Makar, in the Habs’ case Hutson.
You may remember the Flyers’ strategy against Orr:
“The Bruins, led by Bobby Orr, were heavy favorites, but Shero had a plan to wear down Orr over the course of the series by dumping the puck to Orr’s side of the ice and then forechecking him relentlessly.
Terry Crisp, who played on that first championship club and later became a successful NHL coach, told NHL.com’s Adam Kimelman:
”
When he first said it, we said do you know who Bobby Orr is? We said it was like giving a kid a stick of dynamite and telling him to go play in the street. He said if…you dumped it into Bobby Orr’s corner he has to go back and get it and go the length of the ice. Bobby Orr was famous for leading the charge and then being the first back to defend it — he was that good a skater. After six games that’s a lot of mileage. It wore Bobby down, even as good as he was.”
Ray – LJ – If Makar and Hutson and their agents can ever prove beyond doubt they are THAT valuable to their team that, when suddenly nullified, no one else can can pick up the slack and the league’s TOP scorers are just as suddenly rendered toothless …. well, open up the vaults.
They are good …. but not THAT good.
The margin of difference in the conference finals is what I was thinking George.
The Avs didn’t all of a sudden suck, but they weren’t playing against an average or crappy team either.
When it’s the best teams vs each other it made a huge difference IMO.
With sweep of the Avs you now have to be thinking Vegas may be the Fav to win another cup. Every gm should be taking notes. Vegas one Stanley Cup and an appearance in the cup final plus this yrs appearance in only nine years. Wow!
Making it to the Stanley Cup Finals three out of nine seasons is simply incredible. Mark Stone gave an impassioned response reflecting this team’s 100% buy-in and desire to play nowhere else but Vegas!
Stone is just such a smart SMART hockey player. So unfortunate to see the stars of your team go elsewhere and have success. That was an ownership thing for Ottawa.
Marner was a “marner thing” for TO.
Eichel had a sore neck. Needed to go somewhere else.
I agree. Watching Stone have the success he has in Vegas is bitter sweet. If only Andlauer had been there a little earlier…sigh. Stone is a gem and say what you want about Vegas, they got an incredibly gifted start in the league, but their management makes some really difficult calls and cut throat decisions so that they stay competitive.
Smart move by Dubas getting 3 team trade list. Let’s Malkin maybe join a contender and gets his team some assets at deadline if they’re out of it. Of course Malkin can choose 3 teams that have no chance of trading for him if he doesn’t want to go anywhere. Pittsburgh now showing a 20 man roster and still 10 mil below floor.
I like the way Proteau puts it in The Hockey News – “Pittsburgh embraces being in limbo …”
https://thehockeynews.com/news/latest-news/pittsburgh-penguins-embrace-being-in-limbo-by-re-signing-evgeni-malkin?utm_source=firefox-newtab-en-ca
The remarkably durable Claude Giroux will undoubtedly be back for one more season in Ottawa, again probably with a low basic salary liberally sprinkled with performance bonuses.
Forbes Kennedy once held the record for most PIM in a playoff game. He played for the Leafs against the Bruins in the 1969 playoffs and a huge brawl broke out. He got into several fights and racked up 38 PIM. That was his last game. RIP.
Long ago and far away, I recall seeing Malkin play an exhibition game in the Okanagan with a touring Russian junior team.
Time flies, doesn’t it?
People jump on and off the bandwagon which is fine, I just wonder about the sincerity of conviction.
One blowout and 2 OT losses doesn’t represent a direction of where this series is going by any means.
Habs have proven to be a resilient group and if past is prologue, the series will be tied 2-2 tonight.
Yep. Going to come down to a best of 3 after tonight … and both teams have showed they are capable of winning in the other guy’s domain. This one could go the full 7 and, if it comes to that, toss a coin.
Habs are not going to beat the Canes if they can’t muster more than a dozen shots through 60 mins. Carolina is too aggressive on the forecheck and block shots with the best of them. The Canadian’s best players are holding onto the puck too long looking for the perfect play. They need to throw everything at the net and create havoc if they want to make this a series, otherwise this is over in 5.
I applaud your optimism, but even as I push back against the cult devotion to analytics by the xG crowd, averaging 15 shots a game is not a recipe for success. The Habs have to do a better job defending and applying the forecheck.
Tonight will tell us where this series is headed.
LJ,
I view analytics as one quiver in the bow and there are many different ways to look at those numbers.
By all rights the Habs shouldn’t even be in the playoffs according to analytics never mind winning two series so far.
(AI) The Canadiens have consistently outperformed their underlying analytics and statistical projections, making a mockery of models that rely heavily on expected goals (xG) and possession metrics.
The Montreal Canadiens are notorious in the analytics community for defying the numbers.
I don’t know what MSL has planned for tonight but we have seen all year long that he knows how to gameplan and the players are all-in, that’s the basis for my optimism.
Analytics is one thing, but the eye test is another. Canes are stifling the Habs. No shots in 24 mins is not a recipe I’d say that will win you many games even with a ridiculous shooting percentage. The thing with shots, even a bad one can go in…a deflection there, a screen there…if you get 0 shots you have no chance.
The other eye test I’m seeing is the heaviness that Canes are playing with. The punishing hits and cheap shots are starting to add up. Montreal looked gassed in the second half of the game.
I’m not saying this series is over, but I agree with LJ, tonight will give us our answer if the Habs can hang with the Canes.
HF30, MTL is outperforming, no doubt. But they haven’t made a mockery of the models, they are simply an outlier. All analytics does is predict what is more likely than not, especially over time.
What it doesn’t take into account in the XGF category, which is the one quick and dirty stat if you want one, is shooting and sv%. But they all play a part.
Generally, those 2 #’s fluctuate in short sample sizes, hence are not viewed to be as sustainable as the rest of the game. Because that is what has historically happened the majority of the time.
That’s it. Teams get way deeper than that when measuring players and their individual teams.
The top 11 teams in Xgf% all made the playoffs.
3 of the top 4 made the conference finals, the other is MTL.
Last year, 2 of the top 3 made the SCF. And again 3 of the top 4 made the conference finals. The top team won it.
The year before, 2 of the top 3 in the SCF again. All of the top 4 made the conference finals. The #3 team won it.
If that type of evidence/facts/results doesn’t do it for the folks who shrug off analytics, not sure what else to say.
Has MTL outperformed the model this season to your point? Yes 100%. They did last year to a point as well. So yes, they have bucked the trend for 2 years. Will that change how teams and fans view this stuff? Maybe, we’ll see. My guess is MTL has better #’s as the years go by, they are still the youngest team in the NHL I think. But maybe just the playoffs.
If the Canes beat MTL, 2 of the top 3 will be in the cup final again, and one of them will have won it.
Seems like pretty clear evidence to me, because it is. And if you wanted to bet on every playoff series a pretty darn good way to do it depending on the odds. But the oddsmakers know this too and use it. Wonder why?
Not that I agree with HB30 but he has a point regarding finding ways to win. I think as the Habs, who also had it the regular season, has a favorable PDO which can explain some of their success with minimal shots on net.
Like shooting percentage, PDO isn’t going to last and isn’t sustainable. Personally, I’d like to see the Habs win, but I don’t see it happening. The canes are just too complete of a team, playing the right way.
RB, Owen,
You’re defending a position I’m not taking, I’m not saying analytics don’t belong, I’m saying they are just part of the picture.
You guys can say what you will about shots, zone time, percentages, hits, forechecking, cheap shots and heaviness adding up but at the end of the day there was one blowout, a Hab win.
Carolina won 2 OT games despite the one-sidedness, and the Habs were a post and a crossbar away from being up 3-0 and what would you guys be saying then?
If, if if! If didn’t get a win!
Habs fans swing it out with Carolina for 4 more games and then when all is said and done,Vegas will run over them and win the cup. Look at the forward groups and no one is close to Vegas. Look at your top 4 Defensemen,no one is close to Theodore,Mcnab,Hanifan and Andersen. And Hart has been solid in net the entire playoffs. Talent wins out when everything is on the line!
I would be say MTL is an outlier HF30, riding a hot tender.
Hey good for the Hab fans, it happens from time to time. Sometimes folks pull an inside straight too. MTL doesn’t suck, not saying that, all I’m saying is that teams that produce good results with basic analytics win way more than they lose.
History has proven that, have to admit that right?
The Habs can finish, they have proven that. Dobes is playing great, and keeps playing great, no reason to expect that to change this series either.
So I agree with you on that.
So not sure what we are debating?
If it’s who do I think will win? I’ll take the Canes, with my head and my heart.
You are right. There was one blow out. One period. A period after the Canes hadn’t played in two weeks. That will most likely never happen again. Since that blown out period the most shots Habs have recorded is seven! That’s over 10 periods. I think it’s safe to say that’s the norm in this series. Habs have played way more hockey and that did help for the first game, but as the series goes on, I would say that turns into the Canes advantage. They look fresher and Montreal are having a hard time keeping up.
The Canes haven’t blown any team away. All their games against the Sens and somewhat the flyers were close. Point is they won all those games. They are also undefeated in OT this playoffs and Habs have yet to record a single shot in both OTs they’ve played. So yea the games are close, but the Canes have played these close games to perfection so far.
No one likes and admires Lane Hutson more than me,but if Montreal somehow gets by Carolina which I Don t think they will,he may end up in the morgue. Same thing with Stankoven and Blake if Carolina gets there! Vegas is way more physical than both those teams. Use Floridas 2 Stanley Cup Champs as a comparison for Vegas!
Everybody including Montreal folks doubted Hutson’s ability to translate to the NHL or that he could survive the NHL.
After his great first year most doubted if he could repeat and if he could last through the scrutiny.
Rookie year 82gp 6g 60A 66pts 5 playoff 0g 5A 5pts
yr 2 82gp 12g 66A 78pts playoffs 17gp 3g 12a 18pt
Hasn’t missed a game in two years
Scoring has increased reg season and playoff.
Back to analytics I can keep repeating it’s just one arrow in the quiver, not saying it isn’t important, not saying it doesn’t influence odds-makers.
What I am saying is that the Habs have defied those stats all year long, the playoff success isn’t an anomaly, it’s a continuation.
if if if with regards to misses is 100% true, I have no dispute with the results, but the way you guys are talking the Habs are being run out of the arena.
if if if Habs won an OT game and Carolina won 2 blowouts for a 2-1 series lead then I’d say Hab fans have no reason to be optimistic.
However that isn’t the case, Habs won a blowout game and lost 2 OT games.
If anything Carolina is frustrated by why they can’t pull away despite the numbers and the 0-3 record is in the back of their minds.
That’s why they play the games.
Agree HF30, not the be all end all to measure how good a team, or a player, is playing and what the future success looks like. But a really important one IMO. Looks like I value it more than you do. Fair enough.