NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – July 10, 2026
Leo Carlsson is staying with the Ducks, Red Wings center Dylan Larkin slightly expands his trade list, Sharks center Macklin Celebrini receives the top individual international hockey award, and more in today’s NHL Morning Coffee Headlines.
THE DUCKS MATCH THE FLYERS’ OFFER SHEET FOR LEO CARLSSON
THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER/PHILLY HOCKEY NOW: The Anaheim Ducks matched the Philadelphia Flyers’ offer sheet to center Leo Carlsson, making him the highest-paid player in the NHL this season.
Anaheim Ducks center Leo Carlsson (NHL Images)
Carlsson, 21, was a restricted free agent lacking arbitration rights after completing his entry-level contract. His new deal is for five years, with a league-leading average annual value of $18 million, the largest in league history.
More than 40 percent of the $90 million contract will be paid out in signing bonuses.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Carlsson got a $19.5 million signing bonus for this season. He’ll get $18.1 million in 2027-28, $17.050 million in 2028-29, $15.2 million in 2029-30, and $15 million in 2030-31.
Forget about the recent grumbling over no-trade/no-movement clauses. That isn’t a hill the NHL will die on in the next round of collective bargaining in 2030. Signing bonuses will be the real bone of contention. Expect those to be capped in the next CBA.
DAILY FACEOFF: Carlsson said he’s happy that the Ducks matched the Flyers’ offer.
“It was an offer that 99% of people would sign too,” Carlsson said. “It’s a pretty simple answer. I really wanted to be here, though. I really wanted them to match. I wanted to be an Anaheim Duck.”
Carlsson also said he spoke with his Ducks teammates, who were supportive of his decision.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Most observers expected Anaheim to match the offer. Ducks general manager Pat Verbeek is publicly pleased to retain Carlsson, but his lack of foresight in this situation has significant salary-cap consequences for his club.
Keeping Carlsson screws up the Ducks’ salary cap for this season, leaving little space to re-sign high-scoring winger Cutter Gauthier and to bolster their young blueline. It will also affect their cap plans throughout Carlsson’s contract, potentially hampering their development as a future Stanley Cup contender.
However, not matching the offer would’ve cost them their first-line center, setting them back for a few years as they tried to find a suitable replacement.
Some observers suggested using the four compensatory first-round picks they would’ve received from the Flyers as trade bait to address that issue. That’s much easier said than done, and anyone they find might not adequately replace Carlsson.
Where do both teams go from here? Find out in my NHL Rumor Mill.
IN OTHER NEWS…
MLIVE.COM: Ansar Khan reports Detroit Red Wings center Dylan Larkin has expanded his list of trade destinations to include the Dallas Stars. However, the Red Wings would prefer that he include some other options.
Larkin’s request for a trade was reported a month ago. His original list includes the Minnesota Wild, Vegas Golden Knights, and Florida Panthers.
Khan cited a league source claiming the Red Wings had trade discussions with the Stars. They asked for young center Wyatt Johnston in return, but there was no chance of that happening.
It’s believed the Stars offered up winger Jason Robertson, but he’d had to agree to sign a long-term contract with the Red Wings. There’s no reason to believe he will do that after rejecting a long-term offer from the Seattle Kraken worth $15 million annually, and it’s unlikely the Red Wings will pay him that much.
Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman wants young NHL talent in return for Larkin. He’s not interested in a return of draft picks and prospects unless he can turn that return into assets that can help the Wings right away.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Khan believes that if a deal could’ve been had to send Larkin to Minnesota, Vegas, or Florida, it would’ve happened by now. He thinks it could take a three-team deal to pull this off, or Larkin expanding his list of destinations further.
IIHF.COM: San Jose Sharks center Macklin Celebrini has been voted the IIHF’s Male Player of the Year for 2025-26. Winnipeg Jets goaltender Connor Hellebuyck finished second in the voting, with Carolina Hurricanes center Sebastian Aho finishing third.
Celebrini led the 2026 Olympics with five goals and was second in points with 11. He later played in the World Championship, finishing second in scoring and being named the tournament’s top forward. In the NHL, he finished fourth in scoring with 115 points, the third-highest by a teenager after Wayne Gretzky (137 points) and Sidney Crosby (120).
SPECTOR’S NOTE: This won’t be the only individual hardware Celebrini will receive in his professional career. The kid is something special and will be a contender for the Hart Memorial Trophy and the Art Ross Trophy in the coming years.
NEW JERSEY HOCKEY NOW: Devils captain Nico Hischier is being lauded for his role in rescuing a family in distress from a river in Switzerland.
Hischier downplayed his role in the rescue, crediting others who joined him in helping the family until first responders arrived. No one was hurt in the ordeal.
THE NEWS & OBSERVER/TSN: Carolina Hurricanes owner Tom Dundon is facing criticism for having his name and that of his wife and five school-age children engraved on the Stanley Cup.
The Dundon family took up the first two lines etched into the side of the Cup to commemorate the Hurricanes winning the NHL championship in 2025-26.
SPORTSNET: The Dundons aren’t the only family members to be engraved on the Cup. In 2024 and 2025, Florida Panthers owner Vinnie Viola included his wife, Teresa, and their three sons. Penny Vinik, the then-wife of Tampa Bay Lightning owner Jeffrey Vinik, had her name engraved on the Cup.
In 1984, Edmonton Oilers owner Peter Pocklington had his father’s name etched on the Cup, but it was later covered with Xs because he had nothing to do with the championship.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: This is an embarrassment for the NHL and the Hockey Hall of Fame. Whoever approved this should be sacked.
Tom Dundon is the only member of his family who has any official role with the team. His wife and children do not. Like Basil Pocklington with the 1984 Oilers, they had nothing to do with the Hurricanes’ championship.
Dundon’s name should be on the Stanley Cup as the club’s owner. The rest of his family doesn’t belong there.
As for the other families, they are there because the spouses and adult children held official roles with those teams.
Viola’s wife is the co-owner of the Panthers, as was Vinik’s then-wife in 2021. Viola’s sons also have roles within the Panthers’ organization.
The Illich family have their names engraved on the Cup commemorating the Red Wings’ 2007-08 championship. Like the Violas, they also had official roles within the franchise.
The league and the HHoF can easily fix this by making a rule that only the primary owner of the team will have their name engraved on the Cup. But of course, they won’t do that because it would upset the team owners.
TSN: Haley Wickenheiser announced she is no longer working for the Toronto Maple Leafs. She’d served as their assistant general manager in charge of player development since 2018.
SPORTSNET: The Maple Leafs named Steve Sullivan as the new head coach of their AHL franchise, the Toronto Marlies. He replaced John Gruden, who was promoted to assistant coach with the Leafs.
OTTAWA SUN: The Senators avoided salary arbitration with forward Xavier Bourgault, signing him to a one-year, two-way contract worth $850,000 at the NHL level.
Congratulations to Celebrini. But Hellebuyck was much more deserving of the award. His team won gold and it was 99% because of his stellar play in goal.
As for family members names of the Cup, I agree with Lyle. Only the principal owners name should be on the Cup even if family members have roles with the team. And maybe not even the principal owner as owners don’t get involved in structuring the roster. It’s become a joke.
Celebrini played stellar hockey in TWO International tourneys though. Helly only played in one.
Johnny, the Olympic tournament was a best on best competition where the real McCoys show up. Hellebuycks excellence in stealing the gold medal for the USA in a game they were outplayed in itself deserves the award.
Whereas the IIHF world championship is a tournament for restless and disappointed NhLers whose teams didn’t make the playoffs and aren’t yet ready for the offseason.
Howard, the IIHF doesn’t share your opinion regarding the worlds. It isn’t full of washed up or lesser NHL players at all. To them it’s an international event unlike the Four Nations Tournament which I think, the IIHF didn’t recognize as a legit international event.
Regardless a teenager who killed it in both international tournaments is a very valid choice, and it’s hard to see how anyone would disagree, even though others may have also played well.
at this point, I’m waiting for the new Cup winner to have the owners’ pets engraved on that Cup. Dogs, Cats, fish, birds, etc etc
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I agree, but only if they are service animals.!! lol
Regarding Larkin, Vegas has neither the “ready now” prospects to take his place at Center nor the cap space to fit him.
Florida doesn’t either if they refuse to move Lundell.
Minny doesn’t have the cap space and Yurov and some picks won’t get it done for Yzerman. Maybe Yurov & Strammel? (but that still doesn’t fix the cap issue).
For Dallas, not sure why he’d want to go there if Robertson is going the other way. Adding Larkin and losing Robertson does not make Dallas better.
I guess I don’t see Larkin going anywhere straight up in a trade. Maybe a creative multi-team deal is out there, but it will be tough.
Maybe Robo goes to Pittsburgh, Dallas will have the assets to trade for Larkin….But when they get a young center back from the Pens (Kindel or Novak), why not just keep him to replace Seguin?
I think Robo has caused more consternation in Dallas than Larkin has in Detroit!
Y asked for Boldy in the return from Minny and now asked for Wyatt Johnson in the return from Dallas.
This is a non-starter for both clubs and Stevie knows it. His belligerence is not helping his team in this situation just like his understudy, Verbeek, was blinded by his own belligerence in signing his RFA’s.
Yzerman has an asset locked in for 5 more years at a sensible contract.
Any trade that he makes has to be for the Red Wings benefit not a favour to Larkin.
If Larkin really wants to get out of Detroit he should give Yzerman the tools to make it happen instead of this drip drip adding teams one by one as if Yzerman has nothing else to do but be tied up with him.
Detroit has plenty of cap space, 1 young RFA to be signed and locked up, 4 old UFAs to replace.
Larkin is the belligerent one, making himself the story. I thought Pat Brisson was smarter than this.
habfan30, spot on here. Larkin has really put Stevie Y in a tough spot.
Nope…you can take SY to take for a decade of mediocrity in Detroit but his handling of Larkin is being done as it should be done….with a wings first approach. They need an equal player in return.
This is not a firesale, or a rebuild attempt.
Larkin if not traded either holds out…the wings arent likely any worse for it next season for it than they would be if acquired picks and prospects.
If Larkin reports…the locker room deals and gets over this issue in camp and the wings are no worse for it. Larkin would not be the 1st player to ask for a trade while still playing on said team.
There is zero urgency or pressure on SY to break and accept anything but a deal he is happy with.
As for his asks of lundell, Boldy, Wyatt….what would you be asking from those teams if Larkin was your asset…they dont have much else that would motivate me to trade Larkin.
Isnt it about 85% thats in bonuses? Or even higher, I just made a quick calculation
Flyers were desperate, they don’t have a #1 center in their system (they moved Zegras to wing because of his poor defensive play), but Carlsson didn’t deserve to be the highest paid player. This is just going to shatter the pay for all upcoming restricted free agents. Callebrini (SJ) will easily expect at $20M AAV next season, Connor Bedards’ importance to the Hawks is worth at least $18M
Cale Makar, Quinn Hughes and Zach Werenski are all approaching unrestricted free agency. They each can easily exceed $20M+ for each of them.
Connor MacDavid is signed through 2027-2028, what will he expect? $30M+ ???