NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – June 2, 2026
The latest on the Stanley Cup Finalists, the Canucks name their new head coach, the Canadiens head into the offseason, and more in today’s NHL Morning Coffee Headlines
NHL.COM: Game 1 of the 2026 Stanley Cup Final between the Carolina Hurricanes and Vegas Golden Knights begins Tuesday at 8 pm ET in Raleigh.
ESPN.COM: Golden Knights center Jack Eichel believes teammate Mitch Marner was treated unfairly during his time with the Toronto Maple Leafs.
“As a teammate and a friend of his, and somebody who cares about him and his family, of course I do,” Eichel said. “I think the world of Mitch. Anybody that has negative or bad things to say about him, obviously I disgree with, because I think highly of him.”
Vegas Golden Knights winger Mitch Marner (NHL Images).
Marner leads all postseason scorers with 21 points entering the Stanley Cup Final, with Eichel second with 18 points. That’s in contrast to his playoff performances during his nine seasons with the Maple Leafs, where he was often criticized for failing to produce in crucial games.
Vegas general manager Kelly McCrimmon believes the Golden Knights have given Marner a chance to thrive.
“I think our team is deeper and a better team than what he had played on in Toronto,” McCrimmon said. “Not that Toronto didn’t have real good teams. But you have to have that depth throughout your roster, because everyone’s going to take their turn.” He added that Marner is playing “with tremendous confidence” and is “savouring the moment.”
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Marner is the front-runner for the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP heading into this series. That’s led to the inevitable comparison to his postseason play with the Maple Leafs, much to the consternation of Leafs fans, who believe their team and the city of Toronto are getting a bad reputation for putting too much pressure on their players.
Marner faced considerable pressure during his time with the Maple Leafs. As a Toronto native, he probably put a lot of stress on himself to meet expectations. Some players can rise to the occasion playing for their hometown club while others wilt.
Playing in a market where the spotlight isn’t as harsh has been just as important to Marner’s performance in this postseason as playing for a deeper roster.
TORONTO SUN: Marner isn’t the only former Maple Leaf in the running for the Conn Smythe Trophy. Hurricanes goaltender Frederik Andersen has played a big role in his club’s run to this year’s Stanley Cup Final.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Marner spoke highly of Andersen during Monday’s media availability. He said the netminder was among the first players on the Leafs to make him feel welcome when he joined the club in 2016, calling him “a fun character” and “a joy to be around.”
Andersen returned the compliment, noting how Marner has grown from the young rookie he first met to a family man today.
THE NEWS & OBSERVER: Hurricanes winger Taylor Hall could make history by tying the longest gap between being selected first overall in the NHL Draft and winning the Stanley Cup. The record is 16 years, held by Alex Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals and former NHL defenseman Erik Johnson.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Skating on the Hurricanes’ second line with Logan Stankoven and Jackson Blake, Hall sits third among this postseason’s leading scorers with 16 points.
THE PROVINCE: The Vancouver Canucks named Manny Malhotra as their new head coach.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: This hiring doesn’t surprise me, especially when the rebuilding Canucks recently promoted assistant GM Ryan Johnson to general manager. As GM of the Canucks’ AHL affiliate in Abbotsford, Johnson hired Malhotra as their head coach in 2024, and he led that club to the Calder Cup last season.
TSN: The Montreal Canadiens hope to sign rookie forward Ivan Demidov to a long-term contract extension this summer.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Demidov also hopes to ink a long-term deal with the Canadiens. Both sides will likely try to get this done before Sept. 15, when the maximum term for re-signing players drops from eight years to seven.
THE MONTREAL GAZETTE: A tearful Brendan Gallagher told reporters that he’s played his final game with the Canadiens. The 34-year-old winger has a year remaining on his contract, and could be traded or bought out.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Gallagher spent 14 seasons with the Canadiens, but the decline in his performance led to a drop in his playing time over the past two years. The gritty veteran winger carries a cap hit of $6.25 million for next season, but will be paid $4 million in actual salary.
Gallagher has a six-team no-trade list. He indicated that he’d like to play for his hometown team, the Vancouver Canucks. Whether the two clubs can work out a trade remains to be seen.
TSN: Canadiens winger Patrik Laine is looking forward to landing with another NHL club. The 27-year-old winger played only five games this season before being sidelined by core muscle surgery. He was cleared to return to the Canadiens lineup in December and practiced with his teammates, but didn’t draw back into the lineup.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The Canadiens kept Laine on injured reserve for the rest of the season. Management said it was because he fell behind the pace of his teammates, and since they were in a must-win situation, there wasn’t enough time to integrate him into the lineup.
However, the move raised some eyebrows. Being on IR for the remainder of the season makes Laine eligible to receive a bonus-laden UFA contract with a low base salary. Patrick Johnston of The Province believes the Canadiens skirted the rules regarding injured reserve and called on the league and the NHLPA to look into it.
THE HOCKEY NEWS: The Toronto Maple Leafs hired Judd Brackett as their new assistant general manager overseeing player development. Brackett spent the past six years as head of amateur scouting for the Minnesota Wild.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Zeev Buium, Charlie Stramel, Liam Ohgren, Danila Yurov, and Jesper Wallstedt were among the notable players chosen by the Wild during Brackett’s tenure.
SPORTSNET: The Tampa Bay Lightning acquired prospect Jack Pridham from the Chicago Blackhawks in exchange for a third-round draft pick in 2027. The 20-year-old Kitchener Rangers winger helped his club win the 2026 Memorial Cup, leading the tournament with five goals and nine points.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The Blackhawks traded Pridham’s rights because he wasn’t expected to sign an entry-level contract with them by the 5 pm deadline on June 1. He’s expected to join the University of Denver for next season, which means the Lightning will have two years to sign him to an ELC.
So, Jack Pridham stalled his commitment to the NCAA to get the Hawks to trade his rights. Pretty cagey!
Johnny Z. I don’t get why. Chicago loaded with other younger players. Drafting high again and Pridham wouldn’t even be joining them this season. Now his choices are either sign next off season with an aging Tampa team or go back to college for another year.
If Pridham remained unsigned by the NCAA signing deadline. – and that was the likelihood since he let it be known he was unwilling to commit to Chicago as they were not prepared to “guarantee” him playing time (McGroarty Part Deux) – they decided to at least cover their loss to some degree.
Maybe the Nucks trade Chytil for Gallagher +
The + would be for taking on his entire cap hit.
I don’t want another injury riddled player on MTL. If you’re walking away from Gallagher, why not package home to Vancouver with Dach, Struble and a 1st for Petterson? He’d be an overpaid 2nd line center. Maybe you can convince Ryan Johnson to retain 4mil of his cap hit for that haul.
MTL wants to get bigger, Petterson doesn’t fit that criteria.
Chytil’s concussion history probably makes him untradeable at this point.
Chytil for Gallagher? Habs say where do I sign. Habs save $2.1m in cap both have only one year left on their contracts.
Chytil at best is a C that can be used, at worst LTIR.
habfan30: Are you joking? Being sarcastic? I sure hope so.
Chytil has a lenghty history of concussions. He’s played 15 games or less in three of the past four seasons and only 41 in the other. It doesn’t matter if he only has a year left on his deal, he doesn’t help provide immediate help to the Canadiens roster.
If the Habs bought out Chytle right away it would be a $1.5M savings over buying out Gallagher.
Chytil cannot be bought out if he’s still recovering from injury.
Johnny: Why trade a player to get a player to buy out, when the Habs can just buy out Gallagher and get cap relief?
And as I mentioned earlier, if Chytil hasn’t been medically cleared, he cannot be bought out of his contract.
I’m not being sarcastic.
Gallagher cap- $6.5m
Chytil cap – $4.4375m
cap saving of $2.1m appr
It would cost $2.66m to buy out Gallagher
The cap hit would be $3.83m next year and $1.33 the year after.
Even if Chytil never plays a game the Habs have more cap space to work with.
Assuming Chytil remains on LTIR, it could work. However, if he doesn’t, the Canadiens will have taken on a $4.4 million AAV player whose injuries have hampered his performance over the past four years, meaning he wouldn’t fill the second-line center position, meaning they’d still have to shop around to find someone to address that issue, which creates a further cap headache (no pun intended).
Send him to Pittsburgh with a second.
Habs can bury Chytil most of the season for Cap and dress him the last 20 games of the season
Poor Fil will probably last 3 games but the risk is ok. He can dynamic
Chytil does nothing to address the Canadiens need for a second-line center. Taking him on simply to “bury” his contract (which they really can’t do since most of his cap hit counts against their cap if they demote him) or hoping he’ll stay on LTIR to free up extra cap room by swapping him for Gallagher makes no sense. If he’s not on LTIR, they will have taken on a $4.4 million checking line center who doesn’t address their needs up front, especially when they already have Evans and Danault filling the checking-line center roles.
I’m confused. Wouldn’t Chicago have had his rights for another 2 years if he committed to college? If so, why trade him now?
Could Vancouver take Malholtras kid with 3rd pick?
Is Montreal hoping to sign Laine to incentive Kaiden contract? If not, could be a good pickup for any other team.
Laine is going to market on July 1, Slick62.
Lyle. Was more asking about why Montreal skirted rules. Were they planning on bringing him back? If not, they did rest of league a big favor
The Laine situation is interesting from two perspectives.
First is Patrick Johnston’s call for both the league AND the NHLPA to look into Montreal’s use of the IR in his case, considering he was medically cleared to play again in December but kept on IR!
Which might, in the end, be a good thing in light of similar manipulation of the intent of league rules over the past few seasons by others.
And since he was medically cleared in December, and returned to regular practice with the team and so, within a few weeks of returning certainly physically ready to step back into the line-up, you have to wonder why he wasn’t at least invited to join Finland at the World’s?
Be interesting to see if any NHL team thinks he’s worth a contract offer which, given the circumstances, would likely be a low basic deal containing a list of bonus incentives.
So Laine has 82 game averages of 34 goals / 30 assists. Unfortunately, it usually takes him 3-4 seasons to get to 82 games. Incentive based contract is a great deal for any team. Low risk/high reward. Make him earn his money. Dude has played 130 games during current 4 year deal that paid him 34.8 mil. Curious what kind of relationship he has with Kekalainen, who brought him to Columbus.Could he take Tuchs place in Buffalo.
This reporter is barking up the wrong tree .
Considering Laine was never put on LTIR this year there was 0 cap saving or finagling.
As he himself writes, Laine is a beneficiary in that he’s actually eligible to sign an incentive-laden performance bonus contract. Normally only players over 35.
Habs got no monetary advantage.
Laine had no monetary disadvantage.
Laine did get help for his next contract.
The NHLPA has no issue.
I was thinking about a review – not just because of the Laine situation but other highly contentious cases over the years – which hopefully would state the parameters of IR vis-a-vis LTIR in a less obviously ambiguous manner.
No, Montreal did not place Laine on LTIR after his medical clearance in December … but neither was he ever returned to the line-up through to the end of May. That seems pretty “long-term” to me.
The NHL’s LTIR rules dictate that a player must miss a minimum of 10 NHL games and 24 calendar days. The Laine situation reveals that, while the medical and financial definitions of “long term” are clear, how teams deploy those roster spots introduces significant ambiguity and strategic loopholes. By keeping him on IR, the Habs were able to accrue cap space and significant flexibility leading up to Trade Deadline Day, than reinstating him to active duty.
Laine’s extended absence highlights that ambiguous area dubbed The LTIR Loophole. And although Montreal didn’t do this, otherwise healthy players have previously been stashed on LTIR so teams can acquire replacement talent during the regular season, then is activated for the playoffs. But clearly their path graphically exposes why fans and some GMs are frustrated, as the process exposes a loophole where a player can be physically cleared but strategically sidelined to maximize a team’s financial and roster flexibility.
While Montreal did nothing “wrong” under the current guidelines, it just adds to the call for the league to firm up the wording to make sure an “injured” player remains out because he is, in fact, incapable of playing due to injury – not team convenience.
George,
Laine was not placed on LTIR at any point this season and he was paid in full by the Canadiens.
-His salary counted against the cap
-It cost the Habs money as insurance covers 80% of LTIR which wasn’t used.
-Laine didn’t lose a penny
-Laine gained a possible advantage for his next contract.
-Only edge to Habs was by accruing cap all year, he was a low cost candidate at TDL, which didn’t happen.
-The NHLPA has no problem with a situation which clearly so one-sided to the player’s advantage.
I find it interesting the top story is regarding Mariner’s treatment in Toronto again. I personally don’t see this as an indictment towards stars treatment in the city of Toronto, or playing for the Leafs but rather more proof that when a kid plays in a big market as a superstar like Marner was in Toronto people’s perception and expectations, far outreach, reality and being young with all that pressure one is bound to feel it and underperform when the stakes are at its highest.
Now, fast forward 10 years later, the young star is no longer a young kid, but an actual man in his prime performing as most people would expect him to, however, be it 10 years later and plan on a team who has a lot of mileage plane in these circumstances… A better well structured complete team of grizzled veterans not a group similar aged, all experiencing the same growing pains together.
On more interesting news and thankfully everyone loves to talk about Toronto, it’s good to hear they made another great hire with Judd Brackett. His work with Vancouver as well as the Wild speaks for itself. It be interesting to see where this all goes, but so far another good move. Also not mentioned which I heard a lot of rumblings about this new position called chief of staff who they hired none other than Dougie Hamilton‘s brother for that position. Right off the bat, I heard people saying what is this all about kind of downplay it whereas insiders actually suggested more and more teams are looking to fill this type of position and what it entails. I guess when you hear stuff like this internal workings of organizations, such as we do with the Leafs, and being as big as they are, is kind of interesting and insightful and I’d rather hear more like that than the hearsay and opinionated takes on something most people like the talking heads have no idea about.
Depends on Marner’s treatment by whom, Ron.
I pointed out a while ago fans dumped garbage on Marner’s lawn, and he was subject of a death threat which had him hire security for his home – at a time when his wife was pregnant.
Before that, James Reimer received several death threats and over 300 harassing messages in one night while playing for Toronto.
Could that happen anywhere with the unbridled insanity of social media? It could, but surely more likely in a heated and frustrated market like Toronto than, say, Columbus.
Doesn’t mean every Leaf player feels that way. Nylander recently said he loves playing in Toronto and wants to stay.
But it’s undeniable stuff like that will be a factor for some. Was it a factor in Marner wanting out? Did he not come out and say it was?
I think the examples you mentioned can happen anywhere, even in Columbus. My reasoning is simple; the few crazies don’t speak for all or all fans shouldn’t be categorized by the few, louder and unhinged. I’m sure when Vancouver fans rioted and looted after their defeat, you can’t categorize them as all of the same, right?
The reality is as you said, the spotlight might be too bright to raise a young family and considering who he was a genuine star, one of the best players ever to wear that sweater get talked so poorly it’s kind of obvious what I would do or you would do if you were in the same situation, regardless of the existence of crazy unhinged fans.
Manny manning the helm:
Landing a head coaching job in the NHL, and three weeks later drafting your son in the first round would be one hell of a first month on the job.