NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – February 18, 2026
The quarterfinal matchups are set for Olympic Men’s hockey, Jeff Skinner becomes a free agent, Patrik Laine is injured again, and more in today’s NHL Morning Coffee Headlines.
QUARTERFINAL MATCHUPS SET FOLLOWING QUALIFICATION ROUND ACTION
NHL.COM: Switzerland blanked Italy 3-0 in qualification round action on Tuesday to advance to the quarterfinal round against Finland.
Nico Hischier had a goal and two assists while goaltender Leonardo Genoni made 20 saves for the shutout. Damian Clara stopped 48 shots for Italy.
Sweden will meet the United States in the quarterfinal after defeating Latvia 5-1.
Team Sweden winger Lucas Raymond (The Hockey News).
Lucas Raymond had three assists, while William Nylander, Mika Zibanejad, and Gabriel Landeskog each had a goal and an assist for the Swedes. Eduards Tralmaks replied for Latvia.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Following Tuesday’s action, Raymond sat second to Canada’s Connor McDavid in tournament scoring with eight points. The Swedes raised eyebrows by scratching defenseman Rasmus Andersson and Jesper Bratt from this game. Some observers believe they’re saving them for the quarterfinal.
Germany beat France 5-1 to face Slovakia in the quarterfinal.
Leon Draisaitl had a goal and two assists, and Philipp Grubauer stopped 30 shots for the Germans. Pierre-Edouard Bellemare scored for France in what proved to be his final game as the former NHL forward announced his retirement following this contest.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: As I write this, Germany is down 4-1 to Slovakia after two periods in their quarterfinal game.
Bellemare’s teammate Pierre Crinon faces prosecution back home in France for punching a goaltender in the face during a game last November. Earlier this week, he was suspended from the remainder of the tournament by the French National Olympic and Sports Committee for fighting Canada’s Tom Wilson during Sunday’s games between the two nations.
Czechia will face Canada for the second time in this tournament after holding off Denmark by a score of 3-2.
Martin Necas and Roman Cervenka each had a goal and an assist while Lukas Dostal turned aside 24 shots for Czechia. Frederik Andersen made 28 saves for Denmark.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Czechia forward Radek Faksa suffered an upper-body injury in this game and will not be in the lineup for today’s game against Canada.
OLYMPIC MEN’S HOCKEY NOTES
TSN: Team Canada forwards Nathan MacKinnon and Sam Bennett skipped practice on Tuesday. Head coach Jon Cooper said they were taking time for maintenance, adding that there wasn’t any cause for concern. Both players are expected to be in the lineup for their quarterfinal game against Czechia.
DAILY FACEOFF: Team USA winger Kyle Connor is expected to be a healthy scratch from today’s game against Sweden. His ice time steadily diminished in his first two games, and he was scratched from their game against Germany.
IN NHL NEWS…
SAN JOSE HOCKEY NOW: Jeff Skinner is no longer with the Sharks. He cleared unconditional waivers on Tuesday, resulting in his contract being terminated by mutual agreement. The 33-year-old winger is now an unrestricted free agent.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: It’ll be interesting to see if he signs with another NHL club this season. He’ll have to do so before the March 6 trade deadline to be eligible to skate in the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
DETROIT HOCKEY NOW: Red Wings defenseman Simon Edvinsson resumed practice with his teammates on Tuesday. He’d missed their last seven games before the Olympic break with a lower-body injury.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Edvinsson, 23, has been an invaluable part of the Red Wings’ blueline. As the article observed, they’re 3-5-2 in the 10 games he’s missed during this season.
TSN: Patrik Laine missed practice on Tuesday as he’s listed as day-to-day with a lower-body injury. The 27-year-old Montreal Canadiens winger has been sidelined since Oct. 16 after undergoing core muscle surgery.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Laine has surfaced recently in the rumor mill as a trade candidate. However, his ongoing injury issues could ensure that he finishes the season in Montreal.
Probably the one factor that would likely cause teams to exercise extreme caution in dealing for Patrik Laine is his all-too frequent visits to the IR – and seemingly always for something different.
https://www.flashscore.ca/player/laine-patrik/hKLVBmEn/injury-history/
An AI summary of his recent injury history says: “Patrik Laine has missed a significant number of games due to injury and illness throughout his NHL career, with his recent seasons being heavily impacted. Based on reports, he has missed over 117 games in the past three seasons (2022-2025) alone. Key injury milestones in his career include:
• 2023-24 Season: Missed the last 51 regular-season games due to a broken collarbone/shoulder surgery and other, as well as personal reasons, ending his season in December 2023.
• 2022-23 Season: Missed time with ankle, elbow, and triceps injuries.
• 2021-22 Season: Missed 19 games with an abdominal strain.
• 2016-17 Season: Missed 8 games due to a concussion.
• 2024-25 Season: Initially missed time with a knee injury, and later missed time with illness.
• 2025-26 Season: Underwent core muscle surgery in October 2025, with a 3-4 month recovery time.
Over the last four seasons (up to early 2025-26), Laine played in only 181 out of a possible 328 games, indicating roughly 147 missed games in that period alone (or 45%).
So he’s well rested going into the playoffs?🤷♂️🙂
Heh. That’s one way of looking at it, I suppose. But then, he was always “well rested” after returning from each one and that never stopped the next one from popping up.
France going a little ape crap over Crinon no? Fine the guy and move on. A little crazy even for a smaller less knowledgeable hockey country. Wow.
Gotta agree Kinger. I’m not a lawyer, and sure as heck not familiar with French law. But, after going on the link and watching the video, my guess is nothing else comes of it and it gets dropped. Or at least it would in Canada.
Flippin’ tenders who stick their nose in the scrums and start poking guys with their blocker while wearing a mask and full body armor, then complain when the guy rips your mask off and gives it back to you. This dickwad filed a formal complaint after that. WTF dude?
The game was out of hand, guys were pissed off, and if what Crinan did was illegal, how isn’t all the other stuff? That was one of many just in that 5 minute clip.
IMO the goalie had it coming, and got it. Goalies can fight goalies, and if you decide to get into it with the other guys you best take your mask off or your full of sh*t.
Or, shut up and stop the puck.
Can’t stand mouthy, fake tough guy, tenders. Most of the time one of their team mates ends up fighting a guy because that’s how it works. Let me at him! Let me at him!
Seriously , what an A-hole. Still gets me fired up!
Laine is UFA at the end of the year, the pro-rated pay of roughly $2m is peanuts if he goes to a team like LA Kings who have no powerplay to speak of and they lost Fiala.
Is that really a gamble?
If he does nothing, don’t re-sign him.
If he pops in 5-6 pp goals that might tip them into the playoffs.
The question is what would it cost? Warren Foegele would do it for me.
High risk high ceiling for low risk low reward.
My rationale being Habs have scoring without Laine, Foegele is strong defensively, pk, energy guy.
hanfan30
Do you really want Montreal adding an asset to rid themselves of Laine? Just put him on LTIR and use the cap space if necessary.
He’s damaged goods. UFA or not, max Montreal can retain is 50% and there is no guarantee he’ll finish the regular season.
High risk, no reward?
Daryl,
The Habs haven’t used any LTIR on Laine this year at all, so adding an asset in exchange won’t cost the team.
In fact it will save something by being a cheaper asset, leaving open the possibility of taking on another contract.
George, only way Flames would entertain taking Laine is as a Cap dump & there better be a 2nd round pick attached to it or part of a bigger package that included Coleman or Kadri. Its laughable when I read Calgary as a landing spot for him. He’s probably looking at a 1 year $1.0 mill show me contract from any NHL team come July.
Probably the only way ANY team will take him, Potlicker.
Lyle, Swedens win yesterday over Latvia was 5-1, not 3-2.
Fixed
Lyle PEB of France is not a defenseman. Most of his career, flyers, Avalanche, lightning has been as a forward.unless on team France he was fulfilling that role, maybe he was? .
Rooting for landeskog, just being able to do what he is doing is incredible. Should be talked about more what a captain this guy is. The main reason the Avalanche are really a serious threat
Once the season resumes, and based upon records since the 41-game half-way point, the final order of the draft lottery looks to be a “race” between these teams if that second-half pace persists – showing % odds to win # 1 if they finish in this order – current seasonal % pace – record & % pace since the half-way point:
32. Vancouver 25.1% – .368 – 2-13-1 5pts.156
31. NY Rangers 13.6% – .439 – 3-12-1 7pts .219
30. Philadelphia 11.6 – .545 – 3-8-4 10pts .333
29. St. Louis 9.5%- .430 – 5-10-1 11pts .344
28. New Jersey 8.5% – .509 – 6-10-1 13pts .382
27. Calgary 7.5% – .464 – 5-8-2 12pts .400
26. Florida 6.5% – .535 7-9-0 14pts .438
25. Chicago 6.0% – .465 6-8-2 14pts .438
24. San Jose 5.0% – .527 – 7-9-1 15pts .441
23. Los Angeles 3.5% – .549 – 5-5-5 15pts .500
22. Nashville 3.0% – .518 – 7-6-3 17pts .531
2-1 Czechia over Canada end of the 1st.
Wouldn’t it be something to see an upset there as well as in the Sweden-U.S. game, and so have the 2 overwhelming favourites playing for the brass … err … bronze?
2-2 in the 2nd – but one of your worse fears may have happened, chrisms. Crosby has had to leave the game favouring a leg.
Cracked ankle?
Yup. Meaningless hockey leads to meaningful injury. Again. What a sick joke.
Far from meaningless for the players Chrisms. These guys are pumped and giving it there all.
And they know the risks, more than anyone.
No players, no NHL, their vote counts more than ours.
Personally, I luv it.
If I was a season ticket holder… I am not… I would seriously look into the agreement I signed with the team. I’m sure nhl teams have pre protected themselves but it should be grounds for a class action lawsuit. You paid to see a product but the team lets that asset compete in a corrupt competition outside of what you paid for simply to pump up the players egos. Russia supposedly gets punished by not playing but it looks more like a reward to me.
Welp. My rants over. Hopefully it’s not season or even career ending.
Class action lawsuit, Chrisms? Seriously?? Have fun trying to find a lawyer willing to take that case on, and good luck finding a labor judge willing to hear it!
You may not like the Olympics, and you’re entitled to that opinion. A lot of NHL fans love it, and so do the players. And as long as the players want to compete in the Olympics, they’re going to make that one of their main negotiating tactics every time the CBA is up for negotiations.
One thing is for certain, you can bet this is going to be raised again at the next bargaining sessions with the NHLPA. First Fiala now Crosby. And it isn’t over yet!
If the players continue to insist, then I could see the owners demanding some sort of clause that says if a player is lost to injury in an Olympics or some such tournament, then their NHL salary goes on hold until they return to action. They are, after all, being paid to play FOR the professional team.
Yeah, good luck with that, George. The NHLPA won’t stand for it, and the owners aren’t going to risk labor strife over it.
BTW, Team Canada coach Jon Cooper reportedly said this will not be Crosby’s last game in this tournament.
To appease the unappeasable, let’s just wrap players in bubble wrap. The only complaint I have regarding players going over to play in the Olympics is, why shut down the season for it? Play on like they would if a team’s superstar isn’t available due to sickness or other injury. Most of this season’s shortcomings and injuries are due to this crappy condensed season.
So, basically Lyle, what it boils down to is, the guys who put up close to a $ billion to buy a franchise, and who pay the top stars upwards of (soon-to-be) $ 15 mil per and up to play PROFESSIONALLY for their franchise, simply have to accept the fact that, despite their viewpoint, they must continue to pay a player who is injured in a tournament that has nothing to do with their franchise.
Talk about having your cake and eating it too!
Yes, George, pity the poor billionaire owners who broke the NHLPA twenty years ago and got themselves a three-tier salary-cap system that works to their advantage. International competition is among the few leverage points the PA has left. And as I said earlier, those same owners don’t seem to have an issue with international tournaments provided they’re NHL-sanctioned which ensure they make money from them, even though the players face the same injury risk as they do at the Olympics.
The class action thing was meant to be deliberately extreme. Trying to draw attention to this tournament putting the players desires over the best interests of the paying fans. I just listened to Tyler Kennedy on his weekly spot on the local sports radio. He highlighted the difference in Canada and the us. Most sentiment if heard at this early juncture in Pittsburgh is get the players out! But he pointed out that in Canada the players walk on water.
You’re overlooking the large contingent of European players, where their players are also highly regarded. And if the USA wins the Gold Medal, most of those fans will probably be leading the “USA! USA!” chants.
As I said, if you and some of your fellow Penguins fans don’t like the Olympics, you’re entitled to that. But Olympic competition isn’t going anywhere. The only reason the owners hate it is because they don’t make any money from it, yet they’re pleased as punch to get behind the 4 Nations last year and the World Cup of Hockey in 2028 because that money gets split among the owners. Funny, nobody whines about those tournaments and how it puts the players at risk of injury.
Ya, the 4 Nations takes the injury argument off the table as the leagues main concern.
These best on best tourneys are great for growing the game, and not just in the North America. There is a reason teams fly to Europe to play games even though there are no European teams in the NHL.
The Olympics are great, and the hockey is the absolute bomb for fans. There is no better hockey played, ever. Add in love of country, and the intensity gets ramped up even more.
Flippin’ awesome and great for the sport and the NHL in a competitive sports market. Injury risk is part of the deal, everyone gets it including the owners.
Overall it’s a win for the fans, league and the players. I would bet my truck Crosby would do it again, even if the injury is serious, which hopefully it isn’t.
I’m all for it, the B’s could lose McAvoy (they did in the 4 Nations) or Pasta and my local Oilers could loose McDavid or Draisaitl. Goes with the territory.
Well, of course those other tournaments are not objected to by the owners … they make money off them and so sanction them.
That’s the BIG difference. An injury to a star player happens in a tournament they sanction – so not happy, but no complaint and they keep paying them.
The Olympics do absolutely nothing for them as owners and salary-payers, however, so on what basis should be content to accept an injury AND keep paying the salary?
The Olympics are the price of labour peace, George. As I mentioned before, it’s among the few solid leverage points the PA has left. The players want to play in the Olympics. If the owners want to avoid a work stoppage, and if they want to have the World Cup of Hockey adding more money to their coffers, then they have to concede to the Olympics. And that’s what they’ve done, with the full knowledge that injuries can happen.
The IOC agreed to pick up the insurance costs, if memory serves. That was an issue that led to the NHL passing on the 2018 Games.
That sounded like a challenge Lyle! Be prepared for plenty of grade a whining when those other tournaments get played as well!
Fine by me, Chrisms, I can do with a laugh! 😉
What happened to the basic tenet that you can’t enjoy both of two desirable but mutually exclusive alternatives?
Most players will never win a Stanley C up and most won’t go far in the playoffs either.
Having the opportunity to be on the top of it all in a sport you love is the goal of all these guys and gone are the days when the Stanley Cup finals had the best players in the world in it.
Best on best has come a long way from the ’72 series and it’s what players and fans want to see.
Update on Crosby, he’s undergoing an MRI. Cooper said they don’t yet know the severity of the injury.
If it’s not season ending Malkin moving back to center and kindel getting more ice time will have to keep them winning enough games.
Also. Maybe this puts pens into laine convo? Another gop nine winger to replace Malkin moving to center.
What do you suggest in a Laine to penguins trade Chrisms?
Tough to say. If Crosby out for year and pens lose more than win before deadline I can see a revert to original plan of moving ufa for futures. Do nothing. If he can return in time for a possible playoff run and pens hold steady I can see Dubas doing some minor buying. But a rhd might be top of list. If that takes a 2nd rounder I think that asset is off table. I’d consider the other extra 2nd rounder in the next two years if salary was held or one of the extra 3rd rounders. Unlike many I don’t think Mont will have to add a sweetener but I don’t think he’ll be expensive to obtain.
Chrisms,
I’m not sure I understand your Penguins offer
Fill in the blank:
Montreal to Pittsburgh- Laine
Pittsburgh to Montreal- ?
2nd rounder if salary held. Third if not. Depending on what else they do the pick would either be 26 or 27.
habfan30
L’aube has played 75 games over the last three NHL seasons.
His cap hit is $8.7M. Even at full retention his cap hit of $4.35M would be very difficult to fit into anyone’s lineup.
Who is Pittsburgh sending back to even out the salaries? Is MTL sending a high draft pick to rid themselves of Laine’s contract?
I have a hard time believing anyone would consider trading for Laine unless it was with 50% retained, an A prospect or minimum 2nd round pick, and “future considerations heading back.
The experiment is over. Laine has no value with a playoff salary cap in effect.
I don’t think this is true. He has value. It’s just minimal. I suggested a pretty decent return for him above due to the pens bargaining from a weak position pending Crosby injury. But I don’t think Mont has to sweeten a deal. Particularly if they hold salary.
Daryl,
Laine has not been on LTIR this year at all, so his cap hit isn’t $8.7m at this point. This means that only the remaining cap on trade day i transferred to the receiving team.
Cap hits go down day by day during the season, in Laine’s case it’s $8.7m divided by 192 day season , a cap hit of $45,312.50/day.
A trade made the first day back from the Olympics leaves 50 days to the end of the season.
Laine’s cap hit then is 50x $45,312.5=$2,265,625 and decreasing daily.
Essentially a $2.3m cap hit to the end of the year and as I said that’s peanuts.
Chrisms, if retaining 50% of $2.3 is the cost, I take that 2nd round pick