NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – June 13, 2026
The First and Second All-Star Teams and the All-Rookie Team are revealed, the latest on the Golden Knights and Hurricanes, and more in today’s NHL Morning Coffee Headlines.
NHL.COM: The league revealed its First and Second All-Star Teams for 2025-26.
The First Team features Edmonton Oilers center Connor McDavid, Tampa Bay Lightning right wing Nikita Kucherov, Dallas Stars left wing Jason Robertson, Columbus Blue Jackets defenseman Zach Werenski, Colorado Avalanche defenseman Cale Makar, and Tampa Bay Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy.
Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid (NHL Images)
SPECTOR’S NOTE: McDavid won the Ted Lindsay Award and the Art Ross Trophy, Kucherov took home the Hart Memorial Trophy, Vasilevskiy won the Vezina Trophy, and Werenski was the winner of the James Norris Memorial Trophy.
The Second Team is comprised of Colorado Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon, Montreal Canadiens left wing Cole Caufield, Boston Bruins right wing David Pastrnak, Buffalo Sabres defenseman Rasmus Dahlin, Edmonton Oilers defenseman Evan Bouchard, and Washington Capitals goaltender Logan Thompson.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: MacKinnon won the Maurice Richard Trophy, while Caufield is the winner of the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy.
The All-Rookie team is made up of Anaheim Ducks forward Beckett Sennecke, Montreal Canadiens winger Ivan Demidov, St. Louis Blues winger Jimmy Snuggerud, New York Islanders defenseman Matthew Schaefer, Carolina Hurricanes defenseman Alexander Nikishin, and Canadiens goaltender Jakub Dobes.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Schaefer won the Calder Memorial Trophy as Rookie of the Year, with Demidov and Sennecke the runners-up.
SPORTSNET: Nikolaj Ehlers wasn’t pleased with his performance in Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Final. Despite collecting three assists for the Carolina Hurricanes in their 4-2 victory, he also took two uncharacteristic delay-of-game penalties.
Nevertheless, Ehlers has earned praise from Hurricanes general manager Eric Tulsky, head coach Rod Brind’Amour and teammates Taylor Hall and Frederik Andersen for his performance since joining the club as a free agent last summer.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Ehlers has provided a much-needed boost to the Hurricanes’ offense this season. He finished second among Hurricanes scorers with 71 points, and is currently third (17 points) among their postseason scorers.
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL: Ed Graney believes the Golden Knights should replace Carter Hart in goal with Adin Hill for Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final on Sunday.
Hart has given up at least four goals in the first five games of this series, becoming the first goalie in Stanley Cup Final history to do so.
Head coach John Tortorella was dismissive of replacing Hart following Game 5, calling the suggestion “the stupidest question” he’s ever heard. However, Hart’s .856 save percentage in this series is concerning, and Tortorella’s stubbornness could cost the Golden Knights the series.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Hill backstopped the Golden Knights to the Stanley Cup in 2023. However, he struggled this season, which prompted management to sign Hart, who became the full-time starter when Tortorella took over as head coach in late March.
Hart rewarded Tortorella’s faith in him, winning all six of his starts to help the Golden Knights clinch first place in the Pacific Division, and he’s started every game in this postseason. Nevertheless, there’s no question that his level of play has noticeably declined in this series.
Barring injury, Hart will get the start on Sunday, and his performance could determine if the Golden Knights can push this series to Game 7.
THE PROVINCE: On Thursday, the Vancouver Canucks named Richard Seeley as their new assistant general manager. He’ll also be the general manager of their AHL affiliate in Abbotsford.
It would appear the Jets badly missed Ehlers. If I recall , nothing to do with salary.
Kind of tough to change out Hart now.
Staal = Conn Smythe
Marner = VGK
Agree on Conn-but a big game from Stank or Ehlers could make it close.
Taylor Hall with 18 pts in 18 games with a +12 is under the radar
I wonder if Torts is leaving the big decisions up to his go to players.Several times I ve heard him make reference to the fact that his guys know what’s at stake and as a veteran team they will handle it. That’s what ran Cassidy out of town his veteran players tired of hearing from him.
I have a problem with Tortorella’s comment.
You’ve got a goalie who has given up at least 4 goals in 5 straight. Asking about a change is hardly a ‘stupid question’. On the contrary, it’s about as legitimate a question as you can get.
Now, I don’t have a problem with him staying with Hart, as that’s typically how it’s done. And he’ll likely ‘stand by his guy’. But to dismiss that question in that way really rankles me for some reason.
The correct response, to me, is “yeah, that SV% isn’t where we’d like it to be, but we aren’t planning on making a change”
And yeah, I know, it’s just Torts being Torts.
And shame on the other reporters for not jumping in with follow-ups, or defending the original question.
Other reporters are afraid to lose access is the reasoning behind not asking follow-up questions or quite frankly, hard questions. Do that enough times you’ll find yourself watching from outside.
The one thing that might get brought up is how differently both teams have been built and the methods used to construct the roster. As much as I’d like to see Marner win, I also like to see Tulsky win simply because I remember his super informative posts on a Leafs blog, early in the 2000’s making his case of the pros and cons of analytics in sports. He would often show how a team or a player actually preformed vs the hype that surrounds them.
To my knowledge Ron, Tulsky is the guy who came up with a mathematical formula for rating the strength of draft picks, round by round, now embraced by NHL teams. So smart cookie.
The legendary Larry Brooks never held back. He was widely recognized as one who constantly directed sharp and often confrontational questions at media scrums, and his columns in the NY Post openly held players, coaches and GMs accountable.
Others of that ilk include Damien Cox, Marc Denis, Michel Bergeron, Steve Simmons, Paul Bissonnette, Mark Spector, Rejean Tremblay, Tony Marinaro.
Yeah, George, but the other side of it are teams banning reporters for coverage the NHL teams don’t like.
Recent examples:
The Canucks banned reporter Trevor Beggs mid game for an article criticizing the Aquilini family.
Maybe most haven’t heard of Beggs but the Golden Knights banned much more well known reporter Mark Lazerus for a game for asking Hanafin about Carter Hart’s history.
Regional commentators are expected to be “easy” on the teams they are assigned to lest their access, or even employment be affected.
Hypocrisy that the NHL allows this by teams yet fined Torts 900,000K for not attending a post game press conference.
Remember the clout that Red Fisher had?
Yeah, 58 years covering the Habs … I can just imagine the reactions back then if any team tried banning him for asking “tough questions.”
Brooks had that aura as well, and others approaching that level includes guys like Eric Duhatschek and, yes, Frank Serevalli.
I noticed, too, that no such move was made towards Steve Simmons after that classic, brutal confrontation on the hiring of Chayka.
Yes George we’ll never agree with me but good journalist know how to ask question, they know how to engage with their subject in an intelligent and respectful manner not ask clarification on gossip by using the insults as he did. Classic.
I can’t fathom anyone looking at what, as in the method he choice, do what he did being classic in a positive manner. It’s a classic 100% of how not to get to the bottom of things.
If I was in charge of handing out credentials, the one for Simmons would get mysteriously misplayed. This isn’t a control of the media other than understanding that respect is a two way street. No one should ban people but if they don’t show any respect then they don’t have an unbiased opinion like they are supposed to have, not push their personal opinions and narratives….because doing that is not only unfair to the team but robs the public of actual useful information feeding speculation and hearsay.
What exactly did Simmons do to impress you again?
Ron: If a person doesn’t have biases, then they don’t have opinions.
And who says biases by definition are wrong?
Simmons, who began his career with The Calgary Herald in 1979, joined the Toronto Sun in 1987 and s covered the Leafs for 39 years. In that span they have missed the playoffs 14 times (same as Calgary and the NYI) during which time there have been some off-the-shelf moves contributing to the fact that the franchise failed to deliver a full 36% during those years. So, it’s understandable that doubt and frustration would have him digging deep into significant moves, such as the hiring of a GM.
And at that media scrum with Pelley he told him he had spoken to 20 prominent NHL figures, only one of whom supported Chayka’s hiring, while the other 19 called it a “sham” and used terms like “con artist,” “liar,” and “salesman”. Simmons then asked how it was that Pelley came to a different conclusion, to which Pelley responded, “We must have talked to different people.”
Simmons doesn’t shrink from asking the hard questions and that question was NOT based on “gossip” and I think you’re well aware of that. How is asking a hard, direct question not “showing respect?” Is Pelley mob connected? It was an attempt to elicit an explanation for the hiring of an individual that also had others around the league raising eyebrows.
Ray Ferraro stated flat out on TSN that he was “incredibly stunned by where the organization landed for its new front-office leadership. John Gambadoro, a sports radio host in Arizona who had seen Chayka in action, openly backed the criticism that followed the hiring and called Chayka a “total fraud.” Keith Yandle predicted on Spittin’ Chiclets that it would eventually go down in league history as “one of the worst moves ever.”
Maybe Chayka does wonders in the new role and so expose all these critics as know-nothings. But if he doesn’t and things go from bad to worse, don’t expect a “respectful” and “kind” I-told-you-so response from Simmons.
That’s just not in his nature.
Yes calling someone an insult while you ask a question is professional. What on earth was I thinking there’s something wrong with that.
Thanks for posting all that useful stuff about him. 🙄
When Jim Kelley was covering the Sabres for the Buffalo News Dominik Hasek went after him in a famous blowup in Buffalo. After the game when Dom didn’t like being asked a question concerning his play, he went after Kelley and they had to be separated. Kelley was never one to back down and ask fluff questions. He was a tough old South Buffalo guy.