NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – August 27, 2026
The questions facing the Lightning this season, four Oilers will miss training camp, the top Vezina Trophy candidates for 2026-27, and more in today’s NHL Morning Coffee Headlines.
NHL.COM: Whether Victor Hedman can return to form as an elite No. 1 defenseman is among the big questions facing the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2026-27.
Tampa Bay Lightning captain Victor Hedman (NHL Images).
The 35-year-old Lightning captain appeared in just 33 games last season, including missing the final 22 games of the regular season and all seven of his club’s playoff games. He revealed that he took a leave of absence to prioritize his mental health.
Hedman said he has no regrets about taking that leave of absence, saying that he was dealing with performance anxiety, which in part was related to injuries that hampered his play. The long-time Lightning star claims he’s “feeling great” now and has been skating regularly during the offseason.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: A bounce-back season for Hedman would be a significant factor in the Lightning’s performance this season.
Whether John Carlson can replace the departed Darren Raddysh and whether young players such as Conor Geekie and Sam O’Reilly can make an impact are other notable questions for the Lightning this season.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Raddysh parlayed a career-best 70-point season with the Lightning into a lucrative contract with the Toronto Maple Leafs. Carlson is older than the 30-year-old late-blooming Raddysh, but the 36-year-old is an experienced puck-moving defenseman who had 60 points in 71 games with the Washington Capitals and Anaheim Ducks last season. He should have enough left in the tank to replace Raddysh’s offense.
As for Geekie and O’Reilly, the jury remains out. Geekie is entering his third NHL season while O’Reilly is entering his first pro season after four seasons of junior hockey.
EDMONTON JOURNAL: Goaltender Frederik Andersen is among four Oilers who will miss training camp for medical reasons.
Andersen and winger Matt Savoie are still rehabilitating injuries that occurred during offseason training. Forward Mattias Janmark and defenseman Alec Regula are still recovering from surgeries performed last season.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The absence of Andersen and Savoie could be the most concerning for the Oilers.
Andersen, 36, was signed to a one-year, $2.8 million contract. He helped the Carolina Hurricanes win the Stanley Cup last season, but has been sidelined frequently by injuries. TSN’s Ryan Rishaug reported Andersen could be sidelined until late October. Meanwhile, the 22-year-old Savoie is coming off a promising 37-point rookie campaign.
SAN JOSE HOCKEY NOW: Former Sharks defenseman Shakir Mukhamadullin said he wasn’t happy during his final season in San Jose.
“In the games I played, I thought I played well,” Mukhamadullin said. “There was some misunderstanding with the coaching staff. I won’t spell it out clearly, but there were some disagreements.”
Mukhamadullin, 24, was traded by the Sharks to the Oilers in July as part of the return for blueliner Darnell Nurse.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The trade to Edmonton gives Mukhamadullin the chance to reset his NHL career after struggling to crack the Sharks’ roster over the past three seasons. He could become a key part of the Oilers’ blueline if he can make the most of this opportunity.
DAILY FACEOFF: Matt Larkin listed his top Vezina Trophy candidates as the NHL’s top goaltender for 2026-27.
Logan Thompson of the Washington Capitals sits atop his list, with 2025-26 Vezina winner Andrei Vasilevskiy of the Tampa Bay Lightning in second place and Ilya Sorokin of the New York Islanders in third.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Follow the link for the full listing. Feel free to share your thoughts on that list in the comments section below.
NHL.COM: The league released its US television schedule for 2026-27. 172 games will be broadcast on TNT Sports and ESPN this season, beginning with the season-opening triple-header on Sept. 29.
What Andersen injured.? Shocker
It’s not that the Oilers have plenty of goaltenders
to replace him. But where is his stabilizing influence?
He has to rise from his sick bed to give guidance.
So Frederik Andersen, fresh off a Stanley Cup, will miss all of training camp. It’s almost as if someone, in the early 90s, placed a curse on Edmonton when it comes to ever having stable goaltending again, once Grant Fuhr, Andy Moog and Bill Ranford ended their dominance in the nets when the team was winning multiple Cups in the 1980s and 1990.
Since then, the position has resembled a revolving door. In the mid-1990s it looked like they had struck gold again with Curtis Joseph, who was exceptional in the playoffs … but he wound up only staying there for 3 seasons (1995 – 1998). And Dwayne Roloson, who was there from 2006 to 2009, was brilliant in their run to the finals in 2006, before he got hurt in game 1. From 2009 to 2014 Devan Dubnyk floundered in Edmonton before going on to put in stellar seasons in Minnesota. Then there were in and out guys like Tommy Salo, Nikolai Khabibulin, Mike Smith (who wasn’t bad in his short time there but he was getting long in the tooth by that time), Jack Campbell, Stuart Skinner.
And, it seems, the beat goes on.
Jet Greaves picked (@#10) as a Vezina candidate? I saw that and wondered if I was dreaming.
I’m not one to generally question someone’s mental health dx…. But missing the playoffs as a vet star player because of stage fright? Something seems off here.