NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – September 19, 2026
Evgeni Malkin talks about his future, Simon Edvinsson is in training camp without a contract, Kirill Marchenko ducks questions about trade rumors, and more in today’s NHL Morning Coffee Headlines.
NHL.COM: Pittsburgh Penguins center Evgeni Malkin is entering his 21st NHL season, but he’s not thinking about retirement.
Pittsburgh Penguins center Evgeni Malkin (NHL Images).
“We’ll see what’s going on during the season, you know?” Malkin said. “Right now, I want to say, ‘Yes’ (to playing longer). But we’ll see how my body feels. It’s all about (that) I still love the game. It’s why I’m here, like, 21 years. I love the game. I’m excited every shift, practice, battle. See guys around, you know, have fun. But again, most important, how your body feels.”
Malkin, 40, helped the Penguins exceed expectations last season by qualifying for the playoffs. He had 61 points in 57 games, and signed a one-year, $5.5 million contract with the Penguins in May.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Another season with the Penguins will also depend on the club’s performance and whether he’s still a fit. His bounce-back effort last season helped them improve. More of the same could earn him another season in Pittsburgh, or with another NHL club if he and the Penguins can agree on an extension.
DETROIT HOCKEY NOW: Simon Edvinsson is participating in Red Wings’ training camp despite not having a new contract.
The 22-year-old restricted free agent isn’t allowed to participate in scrimmages, but he is taking part in individual drills. He joked that he’s on a professional tryout offer.
Negotiations between Edvinsson and the Wings stalled when the club relieved Steve Yzerman as general manager. The club has been searching for a full-time replacement. Earlier this week, the team named assistant general manager Shawn Horcoff interim GM.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Edvinsson should have a new contract soon. Nevertheless, the Red Wings are fortunate that he’s been so patient. He’s also been loyal, declining the opportunity to entertain offer sheets from rival teams.
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH: Blue Jackets winger Kirill Marchenko dodged questions from the media about his future in Columbus.
Marchenko, 26, reportedly isn’t interested in signing an extension with the Blue Jackets. That resulted in trade rumors during the offseason.
“I can talk only about hockey,” Marchenko said. He said it’s up to his agent Dan Milstein and Blue Jackets GM Don Waddell to figure everything out, adding that his focus is preparing for the coming season.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Marchenko may not want to talk about his contract situation, but the speculation will persist if he doesn’t want to re-sign with the Jackets. He will become a restricted free agent with arbitration rights next July and is eligible for unrestricted free-agent status in July 2028.
Waddell isn’t interested in moving Marchenko for draft picks and prospects. He wants a return that brings immediate help to his club.
DAILY FACEOFF: Toronto Maple Leafs winger Matthew Knies said he’s “back to 100 percent” after an injury hampered his play last season.
“No issues with it,” Knies said. “It’s not going to be a problem this year.”
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The Maple Leafs need the 24-year-old power forward at 100 percent if they hope to rebound from last season’s poor performance.
DAILY FACEOFF: Anaheim Ducks center Ryan Poehling missed practice on Friday and is day-to-day with a lower-body injury. Defenseman Ian Moore is out for two-to-four weeks with a lower-body injury.
TSN: The Calgary Flames signed restricted free agent Brennan Othmann to a one-year, $975,000 contract.
DAILY FACEOFF: Matt Larkin noted that NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly last week addressed the recent issue of players forcing trades.
“Certainly there’s some sentiment in the league that has concerns with respect to the way things are evolving,” Daly said. “There are several separate but somewhat related elements to that in our collective bargaining agreement. And depending on how this trend evolves, perhaps at some point in collective bargaining, they’ll have to be addressed in a different way than they’re being addressed now. But we haven’t even started our current collective bargaining agreement [as of Sept. 9, the day he spoke to reporters], which is four years. And I certainly don’t expect the need to address this, what looks like it might become a trend, earlier than the next collective bargaining agreement [beginning in 2030].”
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Even if this becomes a trend, I’m not sure what the league could do to prevent it. The collective bargaining agreement doesn’t prevent a player from requesting a trade, and the team isn’t obligated to honor it.
Daly’s statement about “related elements to that in our collective bargaining agreement” probably refers to no-trade protection. The recent trade requests by Detroit Red Wings center Dylan Larkin and Winnipeg Jets goaltender Connor Hellebuyck have some fans (and perhaps some NHL owners and general managers) calling for a rule that voids a player’s no-trade clause if they request a trade.
Player agent Allan Walsh recently pointed out that no one forces teams to give out no-movement and no-trade clauses. “They are freely negotiated as part of NHL contracts,” Walsh wrote. That also applies to what the clauses look like over the term of the contract. For example, Hellebuyck has a full no-movement clause through the first three years of his seven-year contract, followed by a 10-team trade list for the final four years.
The NHLPA would push back against any attempt to eliminate or limit trade requests. They’ll point out that teams trade players all the time, often without warning, leaving the player with no say.
There are already limits on no-movement and no-trade clauses. Players are only eligible for those clauses in the years they reach eligibility for unrestricted free-agent status. That’s when they have seven accrued NHL seasons or reach age 27 or older.
No-movement and no-trade clauses tend to be flexible. More than one player has agreed to waive them when approached by management, or to provide a list of preferred destinations.
Over on another site they were talking about the
interference of Chris Illich in day to day operations of the Wings. He nixed a Dylan Larkin trade because
Detroit only got futures.
So how can Horcoff give Edvinsson a new contract
when ownership interferes.
Probably because Larkin is requesting a trade, whereas Edvinsson wants to stay.
Simple fix asking out voids your trade protection
Simple to say, Mrbruin4. Good luck getting the NHLPA to agree without getting something significant in return. They’ll argue that loyalty shouldn’t be a one-way street, pointing out that players are traded all the time with no warning, with most having no say on where they go.
Lyle
I agree That union won’t want that added to the next cba and would probably cause a walkout if they tried
Mrbruin4: It shouldn’t come to that. The NHL doesn’t want anything to disrupt those sweet revenue streams. This isn’t a hill they’ll want to die on.
As usual it all depends on how you phrase it and who could be more persuasive.
An NTC protects the player by giving him control of where he plays and gives the team control of having a player committed to the team.
A player demanding a trade while under a NTC and providing a list, big or small, allows the player to maintain control of where he plays.
The team however no longer has control of having the player committed to the team.
The player has the benefit of following his contract AND demanding extra benefit to maintain control.
The team loses control on account of the player usurping extra benefit.
In essence a player is being allowed to unilaterally change his NTC to a modified NTC without it being an agreed upon addendum to the contract.
The NHLPA has to give up something significant in return to the owners, at minimum a negotiated agreement on how to modify the contract.
Heading out so will miss the Trade post today–
the Wild have their next 4 1st round picks. Kiril is not getting any younger and they most likely lose Hughes this summer.
There has to be a trade for Larkin where a third team sends a center back to Detroit for Wild assets which would probably include 2 1sts.
This could be the best Wild roster even with Boldy/Faber being young.Billy G has to go all in
Maybe, Detroit finally settles for Yurov, Hartman or Trenin, and Stramel.
With Trennin the salary that needs to go is a wee bit short, so another move would be necessary.
Seems to me that one Martin StLouis demanded a trade and only gave 1team as to where he would go. His problem was with Steve Yzerman.
Larkin had never seen eye to eye with Stevie, but the other wrinkle seems obvious now that Larkin’s problem is with Chris Illich and his control on Stevie Y and the team. Ironically, it was reported that it was that same Illich that stopped Y from trading Larkin when Larks’ last contract was up, and gave him a new contract and the captaincy.
I wonder if Malkin was approached and “asked” to be in the Russian propaganda video?