NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – August 8, 2026
Check out the latest on Penguins captain Sidney Crosby, former Kings captain Anze Kopitar, Blue Jackets defenseman Zach Werenski, and more in today’s NHL Morning Coffee Headlines.
THE ATHLETIC: Josh Yohe commemorated Sidney Crosby’s 39th birthday (August 7) by examining his legacy and what the future could hold for the long-time Pittsburgh Penguins captain.
Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby (NHL Images).
Yohe noted that Crosby told him in May that he’s not finished with his playing career. He’ll be starting his 22nd NHL season in 2026-27, and Yohe believes the Penguins superstar would like to reach the 25-season milestone if his health allows it. That could put him within range of 750 goals and 2,000 points.
Crosby is poised to become the longest-tenure professional athlete in Pittsburgh sports history, surpassing Pittsburgh Pirates star Willie Stargell (21 years). He’s also ahead of Penguins teammates Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang, who will be starting their 21st seasons.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Crosby is unquestionably one of the greatest athletes in Pittsburgh sports history, one of the greatest players in NHL history, and the greatest player of his generation. While he’s not the player he was in his prime, he still performs at a level that exceeds that of his younger peers. While decline is inevitable for Crosby at this stage of his career, it hasn’t reached the point where retirement is unavoidable.
If Crosby reaches 750 goals, he’ll become the fifth player in NHL history to do so. If he tallies 2,000 points, he’ll join Wayne Gretzky as the only two players to reach that plateau.
Crosby is also in the final season of his two-year contract, which will likely result in the resumption of media conjecture about where he’ll continue his playing career, especially if the retooling Penguins miss the playoffs. Until we hear otherwise, expect Crosby to ink a one-year extension with the Penguins at some point before 2027-28.
TSN: The Los Angeles Kings will retire former captain Anze Kopitar’s No. 11 during the 2026-27 campaign. They will also honor him with a bronze statue outside of Crypto.com Arena.
The Kings will unveil the statue and hold the retirement ceremony before their game against the Montreal Canadiens on Feb. 24, 2027.
Kopitar spent his entire 20-season NHL career with the Kings, retiring at the end of the 2025-26 campaign. He helped them win the Stanley Cup in 2012 and 2014, and is the franchise leader in games played (1,521), assists (864) and points (1,316). He’s third in goals among the Kings’ all-time leaders (452), behind Luc Robitaille (557) and Marcel Dionne (550).
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Well-deserved honors for the player I consider to be the greatest in Kings history. He was among the best and most self-disciplined two-way forwards of his generation, winning the Selke Trophy twice and the Lady Byng Trophy three times. Kopitar tied with teammate Dustin Brown for the playoff scoring lead in 2012 (20 points each) and led all postseason scorers with 26 points in 2014.
NHL.COM: Whether Zach Werenski can block out the noise about his future is among the three big questions facing the Columbus Blue Jackets this season.
The 28-year-old Werenski led the Blue Jackets with 81 points last season, becoming the first player in franchise history to win the Norris Trophy as the top defenseman. However, he was dogged by weeks of trade speculation, prompting him to release a statement affirming his commitment to the franchise.
Werenski has two years remaining on his contract, which means his future will remain the subject of conjecture until he signs an extension this summer or is traded.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: This season could become a critical one for the current incarnation of the Blue Jackets. Whether they can improve under a full season with head coach Rick Bowness could be a significant factor in determining Werenski’s future in Columbus.
THE HOCKEY NEWS: Russell Macias examined why the New York Islanders didn’t bother to buy out the final season of aging winger Ondrej Palat’s contract this summer.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Palat’s performance has steadily declined in recent years. The 35-year-old winger’s contract is a $6 million hit against the Islanders’ salary cap for this season. Buying him out would’ve saved the Isles $3.3 million this season, but it also would’ve resulted in $1.65 million of dead cap space for 2027-28.
The fact the Isles didn’t do it is likely because there was no reason to do so. They have over $2.9 million in cap space for 2026-27, giving them over $13 million in projected accrued cap space by the March 1 trade deadline.
It’s also a signal that Isles management isn’t planning on making any significant roster additions before the start of the regular season.
THE HOCKEY NEWS: NHL Hall of Famer Zdeno Chara was involved in a bicycle accident in Slovakia when he accidentally collided with a jogger on a bike path.
Chara remained on the scene, provided first aid to the injured jogger, and cooperated with authorities. It was determined the jogger was at fault, as he wasn’t supposed to be on the bike path.
Two of my favorite all time players are on discussion here. Not sure of all the statistics other than cup victories but would be interested how people would rate Kopitar and Bergeron 1 and 2!
I own an ebike. I stick to the side of the road. Now
a jogger is at fault for being in a bike path. Please
forward this news to the citizens of Edmonton who
won’t shut up about their bike path controversy.
Do you mean bike lanes Alan? This was a path.
That is more about trying to balance the needs of drivers and street parking in some communities with folks who use bikes as a mode of transport.
I live in St Albert, and so far nobody is complaining, but we don’t have many bike lanes. Folks do what you do and drive on the road, like we all did our entire life. I get them downtown and high traffic areas, so bikers don’t get smoked with all the traffic. Residential seems like overkill to me, but I only bike for recreation, not going to and from work. Either way no big deal to me not hard to deal with.
But we have plenty of bike paths, and ya people walk on them. Which is what this is.
When I read Lyle’s post I immediately thought it would be some dipsh*t with headphones on and oblivious to his surroundings. It was of course, so he wouldn’t have heard him even if he rang his bell or whatever.
Even when your driving now you have to watch out for them, or in an airport they will veer and run right into you if you don’t stay on your toes to avoid them. Amazing how some folks are so wrapped up in their own world these days. Totally oblivious to the world around them.
Ray: yes: I have seen e-bike riders on a mixed use path fly past at top speed, completely indifferent to the danger they pose. First class A holes.
But re Chara: Yes a villain to Habs fans because of the Pachioretty hit for which IMO he deserved much criticism.
But he was also the same guy who stayed on the ice to make sure Danault was ok when his slap shot nailed Danault in the head, genuinely concerned. It was nice but not surprising to read how Chara did his best for the guy on the path.
Everything said above about Crosby is 100% … and more … and although we’ve bandied about the chances – and “logic” – of his signing with another franchise to a) win one more Cup and/or b) bring a wealth of assets to an aging Pittsburgh team, there is little doubt that he will join an elite group of players who played their entire careers with one franchise.
Led, of course, by Mario Lemieux, and also including the likes of (a short list, admittedly – feel free to add any name you think should be included):
Maurice and Henri Richard, Jean Beliveau, Stan Mikita, Joe Sakic, Steve Yzerman, Nicklas Lidstrom, Denis Potvin, Mike Bossy, Martin Brodeur, Alex Delvechio, Patrice Bergeron, Rod Gilbert, Henrik Sedin, Anze Kopitar … and soon to be joined by Alex Ovechkin
correction: “soon to be joined by Alex Ovechkin and Evgeni Malkin.”
Hello George,
Enjoy reading your contributions . Never would I profess to have your hockey acumen, but I do believe that Martin Brodeur played 7 games for the St. Louis Blues at the very end of his career. Please continue the excellent work that you do.
Didn’t Brodeur play for St. Louis in 2014-15.
Yeah Joe and Starsfan, you’re both right, of course. As soon as I hit “send” I recalled the Brodeur move … but here, unfortunately, we can’t “edit” after the fact. LOL.
Originally, I had also added Dave Keon there … but in time I remembered that he not only jumped to the WHA, but remained with Hartford after they joined the NHL.
I’ll add a bunch of Habs to the list,
John Ferguson, Jacques Lemaire, Bob Gainey, Ken Dryden, Mario Tremblay, Andrei Markov, Jacques Laperriere , Yvan Cournoyer, Claude Provost,
And a few big names,
Gilbert Perreault, Daniel Sedin, George Armstrong, since we mentioned him the other day Bobby Clarke.
There are others
All valid additions for sure.
Inadvertent omission George: Daniel Sedin.
Otherwise, a pretty good list and I won’t quibble save to suggest Bob Gainey. After all, Victor Tikhonov said of him: “technically the most complete player in the world.”
Yeah – Gainey should have jumped to mind when I first compiled the list (from memory) ,,, as well as Joe Provost … habfan30 mentioned them as well
Here’s an (old) trivia question for you Montreal followers: “we are both ex-Notre Dame Fighting Irish back-up QBs who played as pros in Montreal … who are we?”
Normally, I don’t pay much attention to $ and more on what’s transpiring on the ice but I am curious how does a team accumulate that much cap space like the Islanders do before TD? That seems like a lot? $2.9 M to $13 M? If someone can explain please I am interested! ……
Can’t imagine getting run over by chara on a bike path; that couldn’t be a good thing!
Got this quick explanation from The Hockey News: “Accrued cap space is calculated with the formula: Projected Cap Space x (Total Days in the Season / Days Left in the Season). Accrued cap space is essentially saved-up cap space that teams can use to afford bigger transactions later on. Let’s say a team comes in $2 million under the salary cap all season. By the 100th day of the 192-game season, they can spend $3.84 million and still be under the salary cap.”
Thanks Lyle . I didn’t realize they could accumulate that much or how they determine it