NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – October 13, 2026
Recaps of Monday’s action, the three stars of the week are revealed, another round of injury updates, the Sabres and Penguins make a trade, and more in today’s NHL Morning Coffee Headlines.
RECAPPING MONDAY’S GAMES
NHL.COM: Tim Stutzle had a goal and an assist, and Linus Ullmark stopped 29 shots as the Ottawa Senators downed the New Jersey Devils 4-1. The Senators improved to 5-1-0, moving into first place in the Atlantic Division and second place in the Eastern Conference with 10 points. Arseny Gritsyuk scored for the Devils, who dropped to 2-3-0.
Ottawa Senators goaltender Linus Ullmark (NHL Images).
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Ullmark improved his record to 5-0-0, joining Ray Emery (2007-08) and Dominik Hasek (2005-06) as the third goalie in Senators history to win his first five or more games of the season.
Injuries continue to bite the Senators. Defenseman Nikolas Matinpalo left this game with what appeared to be a head injury after being boarded by Devils winger Anthony Mantha, who received a major penalty but remained in the game. Matinpalo will be reevaluated on Tuesday.
Buffalo Sabres forwards Noah Ostlund and Tage Thompson scored in the third period to give their club a 5-3 victory over the Florida Panthers. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 13 saves for the Sabres (3-3-0) after Colten Ellis was pulled midway through the second period after giving up two goals on nine shots. Sam Reinhart scored twice for the Panthers (2-2-2), and Akira Schmid turned aside 18 shots after replacing Jacob Markstrom, who left after the first period with a minor injury.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Sabres captain Rasmus Dahlin left this game in the second period with an upper-body injury. He’s listed as day-to-day and is expected to miss Tuesday’s game against the Montreal Canadiens.
The Minnesota Wild got first-period goals from Matt Boldy, Maxim Shabanov, and Danila Yurov to hold off the Vegas Golden Knights 4-2. Quinn Hughes had two assists, and Jesper Wallstedt made 21 saves for the Wild (4-1-1), who moved into first place in the Central Division with nine points. Rasmus Andersson and William Karlsson replied for the 5-2-0 Golden Knights, who hold first place in the Pacific Division with 10 points.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Wild forward Nico Sturm was taken to a hospital for precautionary reasons after being struck in the head by a puck shot by teammate Jared Spurgeon in the first period. It immediately reminded the Wild of teammate Brock Faber, who suffered a fractured skull from a similar incident during a preseason game.
Earlier in the day, the Wild placed forward Marcus Foligno (lower body) to injured reserve. Golden Knights defenseman Parker Wotherspoon missed this game as he’s week-to-week with an upper-body injury.
HEADLINES
NHL.COM: Toronto Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews, Dallas Stars goaltender Jake Oettinger, and New York Rangers winger Alexis Lafreniere were the three stars for the week ending Oct. 11.
TORONTO SUN/SPORTSNET: The Maple Leafs placed defenseman Chris Tanev (upper body) on IR. Meanwhile, center John Tavares rejoined his teammates on their road trip after returning to Toronto over the weekend to celebrate the birth of his son Tucker.
THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS: Stars forward Matt Duchene underwent surgery to repair a core muscle injury. He will be sidelined for about three months.
CALGARY SUN: Flames winger Sam Honzek will be out week-to-week with a lower-body injury.
THE MONTREAL GAZETTE: The Canadiens have recalled forward Owen Beck to replace winger Florian Xhekaj, who appeared to aggravate what looked like a lower-body injury during practice on Monday.
DAILY FACEOFF: The Pittsburgh Penguins placed defenseman Trevor van Riemsdyk (lower body) on IR.
PITTSBURGH HOCKEY NOW/BUFFALO HOCKEY BEAT: Speaking of the Penguins, they traded defenseman Caleb Jones and depth blueliner Daniel Laatsch to the Buffalo Sabres for defenseman Ryan Johnson.
COLORADO HOCKEY NOW: The Avalanche have given assistant coach Dave Hakstol permission to speak with Arizona State University for the head coach position for their men’s hockey team.
Hakstol could be behind the bench for ASU’s upcoming game on Friday. The university has reportedly informed other candidates that they’re no longer in the running.
Wonder if the injury to Duchene will lead Dallas to trade for a center.Will this talk of Larkin start again or would they be interested in a younger player like Poitras of Boston!
Exactly, Sr. You also have to wonder if this may be the beginning of the end for Matt Duchene’s career.
After going to the Stars from Nashville for the 2023-24 season, he had two pretty good years, potting 25g 40a 65pts in 80gp his first season and 30g 52a 82pts in 82gp in 2024-25.
This past season, however he missed 25 games mainly due to a vestibular concussion suffered from a hard hit to the head in the neutral zone during a game against the Minnesota Wild, and now – without having played a game this season – he had to undergo core muscle surgery and is out for some 3 months.
He turns 36 in January and costs $4.5 mil off the cap for the this and the following 2 seasons.
When healthy Duchesne drives offense. He has the puck on a string much of the time he in the offensive zone. I just don’t think the Stars could make the dollars work for Larkin. It would have to be money in and money out. Not sure who they would be willing to give up to make this happen. Would have to be a player like Harley or Johnston and i wouldn’t think that is happening.
The BIG problem for Dallas is cap space. Where Larkin is concerned, and with Detroit sticking to their guns that what they want in return are “win now” players (such as Wyatt Johnston, reportedly asked for by Detroit but rejected by Dallas) and not futures, there is just no way Nill can take on Larkin’s $8.7 mil cap hit without relinquishing top tier assets.
With Duchene placed on LTIR, which frees up just $2.2 mil in temporary cap space, Puckpedia shows Dallas with current space of $2,248,228 and Projected Space of minus $1,404,639.
Heh. We were thinking along the same lines, Starsfan and posted almost simultaneously.