NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – September 4, 2026
Concerns over the Red Wings’ search for a new GM, Flyers coach Rick Tocchet regrets harsh comments toward Matvei Michkov, the Senators plan a tribute for former captain Brady Tkachuk, and more in today’s NHL Morning Coffee Headlines.
MLIVE.COM: Ansar Khan reports the urgency for the Detroit Red Wings to hire a new general manager is rising as training camp approaches in less than two weeks.
While the search continues, the Red Wings have two significant unaddressed issues. They must address center Dylan Larkin’s trade request and must re-sign restricted free-agent defenseman Simon Edvinsson.
Detroit Red Wings captain Dylan Larkin (NHL Images).
Khan considers it highly unlikely that Larkin is traded before camp opens on Sept. 17. He believes it’s in the Wings’ best interest if the new GM can convince the 30-year-old center to rescind his request. If he still wants out, he must decide if he’ll report to training camp or hold out until he’s traded.
Edvinsson, 22, is due for a significant raise after completing his entry-level contract. If they hope to sign him to an eight-year deal, they must do so before Sept. 15. After that, the maximum terms for NHL contracts drop to seven years for re-signing players and six years for unrestricted free agents.
Kahn reports that interim general manager Shawn Horcoff and assistant GM Kris Draper have both interviewed for the position. Team owner Chris Ilitch wants the next GM to be analytics and data-driven.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The Red Wings have had over six weeks to find a suitable new GM. They’re running out of time to fill that position before training camp opens.
The club could announce the hiring before Sept. 17. If this search continues through training camp, there will be more uncertainty about the status of Larkin and Edvinsson. It will also call into question the competency of those conducting the search.
THE ATHLETIC: Philadelphia Flyers head coach Rick Tocchet believes reports of a difficult relationship with Matvei Michkov last season were overblown. Nevertheless, Tocchet said he regrets his harsh criticism of the young winger’s preseason conditioning and hopes to reset the relationship this season.
Tocchet’s criticism of Michkov immediately raised questions about the promising winger’s future with the Flyers, prompting GM Daniel Briere to give the youngster a vote of confidence.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Tocchet could’ve handled that situation differently, but Michkov took the criticism well. He reportedly worked hard on his conditioning this summer, which could lead to a bounce-back performance from his disappointing sophomore season.
THE SCORE: The Ottawa Senators plan to air a video tribute for Brady Tkachuk when the former captain returns to Canadian Tire Center on Oct. 21. Tkachuk was traded to the Florida Panthers in June after requesting a trade to reunite with his older brother, Matthew.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: It’ll be interesting to see how Senators fans react to Tkachuk’s return. Regardless of how his tenure ended, he played a significant role in the club’s rebuild, helping them to end a long postseason drought. He was active in the community in charity events and never badmouthed the team or the city of Ottawa.
Tkachuk took some heat for denying the trade rumors. However, keeping his request quiet avoided the unnecessary drama currently dogging Red Wings center Dylan Larkin and Winnipeg Jets goalie Connor Hellebuyck after their public trade requests.
TORONTO STAR: Maple Leafs defenseman Chris Tanev is awaiting clearance from team doctors to play this season. He missed most of last season recovering from surgery to repair a groin and core-muscle injury.
Tanev spent the summer working out with longtime trainer Gary Roberts and has been skating with a group of NHLers that includes Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, and Chris’ younger brother, Brandon.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The Maple Leafs’ defense suffered last season without Tanev. Whether the 36-year-old shutdown blueliner can regain his form in his 17th NHL season remains to be seen.
THE MONTREAL GAZETTE: Quebecor, Rogers, and the NHL announced Thursday that TVA Sports will renew its national broadcast rights for another 12 years.
TVA Sports will have national broadcast French-language rights to 32 of the Montreal Canadiens’ 84 regular-season games. They also have the rights to any playoff games involving the Canadiens. TVA Sports will also broadcast 22 regular-season Ottawa Senators games, and up to 350 NHL games a season overall.
Ottawa planning a love fest until the puck drops. Then it will be interesting who goes off first for Florida!
Somehow I knew you’d be hovering over your keyboard (or Ipad or whatever) with a comment on Tkachuk all ready to post.
What they’re planning has nothing to do with a “love fest.” It’s to pay tribute to a guy who did play hard for the team for 8 seasons, became the team captain, and was instrumental in ending their particular long playoff drought. He was also positively active in the community. Sure, there has been disappointment among elements of the fan base with regards to his departure. But … as almost everyone in these pages keeps reiterating … “it’s a player’s right to ask to be moved.” He genuinely wished to play alongside his brother, and since there was no way in Hell Matthew was coming to Ottawa … c’est la vie.
I believe most fans here have since come to grips with the fact he’s moved on. And I somehow also think – although this is purely my feeling with nothing concrete to back it up – that Brady might also have asked Zito to offer a decent package, given that history has shown that the acquiring team in such demands holds all the leverage. Sure, there has been criticism about Ottawa not getting an active roster player in the deal, but when you compare their haul of 3 1st round picks – including the 9th and 25th in the last draft as well as a 2027 2nd round pick, they did well by comparison to some:
For brother Matthew, Calgary got – from Florida – roster players Huberdeau, Weegar and Schwindt, two of whom have moved on (in fact, Schwindt is back with Florida) and the Flames have the albatross. For Eichel, Buffalo got – from Vegas – 1 2nd round pick, Alex Tuch and Peyton Krebs. For Pierre-Luc Dubois, the Jets received, from L.A., 1 2nd round pick, Gabriel Vilardi, Alex Iafallo and Rasmus Kupari, and for Brad Marchand the Bruins got – from Zito – a conditional 2027 2nd round pick and also withhelf 50% of Marchand’s cap hit.
Ottawa, meanwhile, quickly flipped the 2026 # 9 pick to San Jose for William Eklund, Kasper Halttunen, and Brandon Svoboda.
Now, let’s wait and see how things unfold with regards to Eklund before registering the final analysis. Tkachuk has moved on. Goodbye.
Sens got a haul for Brady and I think they will be just fine! It will nice to not have him dominate the Sens media.
Agree there JohnnyZ.
The players they received from San Jose – in addition to Eklund – will help beef up their fading prospect pool to some degree as well.
The Finn, Haltonen, is a 6′ 3″ 205lb RW taken 36th overall (2nd Round) in 2023 by San Jose. In 95gp with London Knights of the OHL he had 53g 49a 102 pts.
Svoboda, a 6′ 3″ 210lb C, is currently with Boston U. He was taken 71st in the 2023 3rd Round.
Well George the Flames just didnt get an albatross when the dust clears, there is actually quite a huge trade tree. The 1st round pick is Potter & this kid has a ton of upside. You’ll be seeing more of him on the US WJC team & will probably make the jump to the Flames after this college season is over. The 3 2nds & Castagna recd back from the Weegar trade needs some time to see what evolves out of that. Yes Huberdeau contract is an anchor but with the recent setback from that hip surgery could be a LTIR trade piece in the future. Right now the cap space lost is a non factor & probably for the next few years anyways.
While it seems that the Blue Jackets ownership is often clueless and makes the dumbest thing possible when faced with critical decisions, the Red Wings currently hold the award for dumbest decision of the decade. Everyone and their brother knows that the correct time to begin the search to replace a GM is the day after the regular season ends. Not at the end of July when all the best candidates already have taken positions somewhere. To me, this clueless move by Detroit suggests that the real problem is the Ilitch family not knowing how to run a professional sports team.
It’s a shame how the wheels have fallen off in Detroit. The Wings used to be one of the most respected franchises in the league. Lately, they have looked lost and without purpose. Get a new GM and get it together again.
Um, Papa Illich did all right winning 3 Stanley Cups and a couple more finals appearances as well. It seems that son Chris has a more “in the way approach” than a “hands on” approach that his dad had.
Papa didn’t have to deal with a salary cap.
Why is it taking so long to decide on a new GM? Especially when the two primary candidates are guys that have been with the organization forever?
Briere to Tocchet:
Play nice I want to sign the RFA early and cheaply or he’ll sign an offer sheet.
I think Michkov and his agent have probably already made up their minds not to be in any big hurry to re-up, given that the blow-back on the Carlsson offer-sheet episode could mean he (Michkov) is going to be the recipient of one next year.
I mean, even if Briere matches, the amount could be significantly higher than what his agent can negotiate in the meantime.
I mentioned that the wings silly mess this summer was going to be compounded by not getting a GM in place quickly.
Now appears more and more likely that position is not going to be filled from within (or it would have been filled already one would think).
We are at the cusp of training camps and besides the two outstanding hot topics, which are significant, the wings have done a whole lot of nothing to address any of the holes in their roster.
It must be a maddening off season for wing fans
1Oilerfan, the Illich ownership has apparently told the agency hired to root out a new GM that that person must possess an analytics and data-driven philosophy in their approach to team management, and one name that might be at the top of any list is definitely outside-the-box Detroit Tigers GM Jeff Greenberg!
The reason being, he does possess that philosophy in the baseball world and he does have a hockey background, once having served as the Blackhawks Associate GM. He would, of course, turn over full baseball management functions to Scott Harris.
But whether it’ll be him or someone else, whoever is chosen, with camps set to open on September 17, is going to have a full plate right off the bat what with the Larkin mess and the need to finalize a new contract with top D-man Edvinsson.
George O – am I the only one that rolls my eyes at that. I mean analytics in hockey is not a new concept with most teams having a devoted department or least a number of analysts hired.
Is this suggesting yzerman, aas well as internal candidates scoffing and not leveraging a tool at their disposal. Seems unlikely to me. Also what teams have GM (other than Dubas) that are analytics driven and how do they compare to others?
And how do you quantify analytics driven lol…see how many spreadsheets are on their computer (i jest)
Oh, I hear you, believe me. The eye-test – to me anyway – is the best approach, and that’s why you hire a GOOD scouting staff. Sure, some analytics can enter into the picture along the way, but you also have to keep in mind that those statistics were being compiled while – in EVERY case regardless of the league involved – the ones a scouting staff were assessing did so against competition that over 95% of whom will never see a pro game of any consequence.
Maybe the GM is in place and his name is Chris Illich. All they need is a puppet to give a title to!
I agree with Johnny Z ,Mike Ilitch let hockey people make decisions,son Chris seem to be in the way.That being said ,maybe Yserman was the scapegoat not the problem
Brady may have been captain but it was a nothingburger tenure. They didn’t even win a playoff series with him on the team.
I mean, great that Brady was there for long. Great that he got some interest in the team from fans again.
But I honestly cannot shake the feeling that this team would be much further in their progress without him. I firmly believe he was a poison in the locker room that was affecting the play of many others.
Maybe I am wrong, but as much as I tried since day one to root for him, I never felt comfortable with him on the team let alone being the captain. Of course this stems from my long hatred of all Tkachuks.
I really believe we are about to see a completely different dynamic from this team this year.
I do not think it will be a warm welcome back for him, but who knows? I believe that in a different political landscape this situation none of this would be as emotional… but the last year has been rough.
For all the criticism aimed at Brady will someone answer to me as to why he was named captain at such a young age.
Now THAT is a good question! A lot of fans here were asking the same question at the time, many of them thinking Chabot should have been named, given that, not only had he been with the team the longest of the viable candidates and had just signed an 8-year extension, not to mention his completely opposite calm, understated demeanor on the ice as compared to Tkachuk’s confrontational, bombastic, physical and emotional approach. D. J. Smith, the coach at the time, even looked upon Chabot as a “co-captain” rather than as an “alternate.”