NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – August 2, 2026
Making the case for Connor McDavid to become the league’s first $20 million player, Porter Martone could offset the Flyers’ inability to make a significant addition this summer, and more in today’s NHL Morning Coffee Headlines.
THE HOCKEY NEWS: Adam Proteau makes the case for Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid becoming the NHL’s first $20 million player.
Proteau acknowledged the possibility of Colorado Avalanche defenseman Cale Makar or Minnesota Wild blueliner Quinn Hughes getting there first. Both players are eligible to sign contract extensions before their current deals expire next July.
Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid (NHL Images)
McDavid is currently in the first season of a two-year contract at the bargain price of $12 million annually. Proteau believes no one would begrudge the 29-year-old center from seeking top dollar after leaving money on the table with his current contract.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: McDavid is the best player in the world right now. If Makar or Hughes don’t reach the $20 million plateau, the Oilers superstar is the leading candidate to get there. A case could also be made for Toronto Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews, especially if he has a healthy and productive performance this season.
NBC SPORTS PHILADELPHIA: A strong rookie season for winger Porter Martone could offset the Flyers’ inability to make a big splash in this summer’s trade and free-agent markets.
Martone, 19, made his NHL debut late last season with four goals and 10 points in nine regular-season games, followed by five points in 10 playoff contests.
The Flyers are excited to see what the 6’3”, 209-pound winger can do over the course of a full NHL campaign.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The Flyers attempted a major acquisition by signing Anaheim Ducks center Leo Carlsson to a five-year offer sheet worth an average annual value of $18 million. However, the Ducks matched the offer, leaving the Flyers still seeking a reliable first-line center.
Martone won’t address the Flyers’ need for a top-line center, but could help them build on their promising performance last season, when they exceeded expectations by qualifying for the playoffs and upsetting the Pittsburgh Penguins in the first round. If fellow winger Matvei Michkov bounces back from his disappointing sophomore season, he and Martone will provide the scoring punch necessary for the Flyers to remain a playoff contender in 2026-27.
THE HOCKEY NEWS: Florida Panthers head coach Paul Maurice could break Scotty Bowman’s record for most NHL games coached in about one-and-a-half seasons if he helps his club rebound from a disappointing 2025-26.
With 2,019 regular-season games coached, Maurice sits second on the all-time list, only 129 games behind Bowman.
NEW YORK POST: Rangers forward Matt Rempe acknowledged he has a lot to prove in training camp next month after undergoing two surgeries last season to repair a broken thumb. The injury hampered his performance, limiting the 6’9” Rempe to just 26 games.
Rempe, 24, is in the final season of his contract and a roster spot isn’t assured. He’ll be battling with some of his former Hartford Wolfpack teammates for a spot among the Rangers’ bottom-six.
SPORTSNET: Sonny Sachdeva recently ranked the top five under-25 cores across the NHL.
The Montreal Canadiens topped the list, featuring forwards Cole Caufield, Juraj Slafkovsky, and Ivan Demidov, defensemen Lane Hutson and Kaiden Guhle, and goaltenders Jakub Dobes and Jacob Fowler.
Next was the San Jose Sharks, led by forwards Macklin Celebrini, Will Smith, Michael Misa, and Ivar Stenberg, defenseman Sam Dickinson, and goaltender Yaroslav Askarov.
The Anaheim Ducks were third with a core featuring forwards Leo Carlsson, Cutter Gauthier, and Beckett Sennecke, and defensemen Jackson LaCombe and Pavel Mintyukov.
Coming in fourth were the Ottawa Senators with forwards Tim Stutzle, William Eklund, Dylan Cozens, Shane Pinto, and Ridly Greig, and defensemen Jake Sanderson and Jordan Spence.
The Philadelphia Flyers were ranked fifth, featuring forward Trevor Zegras, Porter Martone, Matvei Michkov, and Tyson Foerster, and defensemen Jamie Drysdale and Cam York.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The Canadiens got the nod over the rest in part because their core players are well-distributed throughout their roster, though their weakness is their lack of a center among their group.
So what do you think, folks? Do you agree with this ranking? Is there another team that belongs on this list? Let us know in the comments below.
I would put SJ first with their players being younger with more upside
When you draft that high for a number of years you are bound to have really good young players. Other than Ottawa and Montreal those other teams have several top ten picks over the last 5 years I am assuming!
Sr, over the past 10 drafts (2017 – 2026) those 5 have had the following number of top 10 picks, and the difference is negligible in the overall picture. As well, there have been a number of trades/player movements involving those picks (e.g., Kotkeniemi, Drysdale):
Philadelphia & Anaheim – 5 each
Montreal – 4
San Jose & Ottawa – 3 each.
Of the 7 Habs players mentioned, only 2 of them were top 5 picks. Demidov and Slafkovsky. The others were later in the first round or in the later rounds.
Their other two top 5 picks were Kotkaniemi, which was a huge mistake on Bergevin’s part, and Reinbacher, about whom it’s far too early to judge.
George maybe the list should be revised to how many top 3 picks they have had. Being a Flames fan & never ever having a top 3 pick Im sure that really boosts the high end young player numbers. Also I would include teams not on that list that had several top 3 picks. Hawks come to mind on that one.
OK Potlicker, here are the Top 3 picks by team in that same 10-year stretch (and you’re right, Chicago leads the pack):
Chicago 4; San Jose, Anaheim & New Jersey – 3 each; Buffalo, Montreal & NYR – 2 each; Philadelphia, Dallas, Carolina, L.A., Ottawa, Seattle, Arizona/Utah, Columbus, NYI, Toronto and Vancouver – 1 each.
This will tell the tale of Connors mettle willingness to take a lower scale than some of his peers. Although I know he won’t, A lot nhlers talk about how important it is to have a competitive team & some fume when they don’t have it, yet how can you have competitive team when a player asks for 18 or 19 mill a year? How in the do you balance out all the rest.
Simple answer, John – you can’t!
As I mentioned the other day, somewhere along the line you’ll reach the stage where you don’t have the cap space to re-up your better “glue guys” among the bottom 6 Fs, bottom-pairing D and back-up (or in some cases, starting) goalies) as they reach free-agent status.
Consequently you have to hope that players in your system still on ELC or rock-bottom cap hits can step in and do as well as those you have to let walk – or trade away their rights before then.
Yep. History will repeat itself with another team or two’s version of the Core 4. The salaries will change but if the % of the cap hit (which I recall was in the high 40s) is the same, the effect on competitiveness will be the same.
LJ, that will hit all teams to varying degrees with irritating regularity because, when league revenues rise and push the cap higher, rising right along with it is the player market value. And you know the top “stars” – and, of course, their agents – will, when contract negotiations come due, go after anywhere from 12% to 16% of the cap … ’twas ever thus since the advent of the cap system. Which, of course, means absolute dollar increases do not buy extra comparative breathing room – further hindered by the fact that all contracts do not come up for re-negotiation at the same time.
Consequently, GMs and their “cap expert staff” – especially on those teams where, thanks to having spent almost to the limit, have severely limited resources – are in an almost constant state of sorting, evaluating and prioritizing their financial obligations. And it doesn’t matter how high the top number reaches!
In these pages we have repeatedly brought up for discussion those situations where 5 or 6 of the highest cap hits account for upwards of 60% of whatever the cap is at that stage, meaning such teams have just approximately 40% of that cap with which to fill out the roster. And that can become problematic in the extreme as the depth players – the so-called “glue guys“ reach the stage where they too command higher salaries in an inflated market.
That more or less sums up the unique and unavoidable vicious cycle of today’s game … all due to the “hard cap.”
As matters currently stand, and of course barring any moves between now and opening day, there are 5 teams who will spend in excess of 50% of the $104 mil cap on their top 6 cap hits:
Dallas (not counting Seguin) – 60%
Vegas (not counting Pietrangelo) – 56%
Toronto, Colorado and Minnesota – 53% each
Two come in just below 50%:
Florida – 49%
Washington – 47%
That grouping is a lot higher than I had imagined, George, and the consequence for roster construction is not much improved by having a Core 6 instead of a Core 4.
I’ll have to chew on this, but will for now take heart that the Habs top 6 consume just 40% of their cap.
Actually, Montreal and Ottawa both come in at 45%, LJ, with almost identical totals for their top 6 – Montreal $47,075,000 and Ottawa $47,250,000.
$9,500,000 Dobson
$8,850,000 Hutson
$7,875,000 Suzuki
$7,850,000 Caufield
$7,600,000 Slafkovsky
$6,000,000 Matheson
$8,350,000 Stutzle
$8,250,000 Ullmark
$8,050,000 Sanderson
$8,000,000 Chabot
$7,500,000 Pinto
$7,100,000 Cozens
4 of the last 5 cup winners are on that list.
If you want good players you need to pay them, you can only try to get them to take a little less. Some say yes, some say no.
Late to acknowledge the correction, George. Thanks.
Auston “53 points” Matthews at $20M? Wowza
Auston “two-time 60-or-more goal seasons and only the second player in NHL history to win the Richard Trophy three times” Matthews. Since his rookie season in 2016-17, he leads all players with 428 goals. If he stays healthy this season and reaches 50 goals and wins the Richard again, he absolutely could command $20 million, and there will be teams willing to pay it if the Leafs won’t.
I’m not denying Matthews could rebound but banking 20 MIL on past seasons is not a good look for any newish GM…this is probably the biggest bank season of his career because anything short of 40 goals and at least 70 games played is red flags for anyone thinking about backing up the Brinks as they say.
Maurice has had a great coaching career and deserves recognition as one of the all time great coaches. But he’s still nearly 300 wins behind Bowman’s record. Not likely he’ll get there. And one Bowman record he certainly won’t reach. Nine Stanley Cups!
Brière did himself no favours by inflating the market when he has martone to worry about himself.
He will be kicking himself next year when he can sign an extension for martone. I think the Zegras contract was an over pay.
2027-28 cap will be $18M higher than when McDavid signed his team friendly 2 yr contract.
The money to make him the highest paid player is there.
As frequently mentioned by many others, it’s the % of cap that is more relevant than the $ amount that determines what can be afforded.
The CBA does give an upper limit of 20% to any single player so owners put these handcuffs on themselves. Ultimately they chose how to allocate resources in their investment.
In their opinion these handcuffs are really shackles to lock up the best.
Quite the divide between owners and fans.
McDavid is the best, but Cellebrini isn’t far behind.