NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – September 3, 2026
The questions facing the Winnipeg Jets heading into this season, the Blues name a new captain, Panthers winger Brad Marchand trolls Senators center Tim Stutzle, and more in today’s NHL Morning Coffee Headlines.
NHL.COM: What will happen to goaltender Connor Hellebuyck after he publicly revealed his trade request is the top question facing the Winnipeg Jets entering the 2026-27 season.
Hellebuyck, 33, raised eyebrows with end-of-season comments expressing disappointment about his performance and that of his teammates after the Jets missed the playoffs. He’s spent his entire 11-season career with the Jets, who will need a substantial return if they decide to trade him.
Winnipeg Jets goaltender Connor Hellebuyck (NHL Images).
SPECTOR’S NOTE: With training camp two weeks away, there’s speculation suggesting Hellebuyck could refuse to report until he’s traded. Doing so would be a considered breach of contract, allowing the Jets to suspend him without pay, fine him, and toll his contract forward if he sits out the season.
General manager Kevin Cheveldayoff could avoid this by shipping Hellebuyck to the highest bidder before training camp opens. However, Cheveldayoff has proven he won’t rush to make a deal when other players (Evander Kane, Jacob Trouba, Pierre-Luc Dubois) tried to force their way out of Winnipeg. Trading Hellebuyck for a meager return won’t sit well with Jets fans.
How the Jets intend to regain their 2024-25 Presidents’ Trophy form and what impact rookie center Viggo Bjorck will have on their roster are the other questions facing the club this season.
THE HOCKEY NEWS: The St. Louis Blues named Robert Thomas as their new captain. He’s the 25th player in franchise history to hold that title. Thomas replaces Brayden Schenn, who was moved to the New York Islanders at the March trade deadline.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Naming Thomas captain should silence any lingering conjecture about his future in St. Louis, which raised considerable speculation before the March trade deadline.
OTTAWA SUN: Florida Panthers winger Brad Marchand weighed in on Tim Stutzle being considered among the candidates to replace Brady Tkachuk as captain of the Ottawa Senators.
“HAHAHAH…..STUTZLE…..HAHAHA,” Marchand replied on his Instagram account.
Tkachuk became Marchand’s teammate when he was traded to the Panthers in June.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Marchand is doing what he usually does in his role as the NHL’s biggest pest. It’ll likely stir up some Ottawa fans, but it’ll be interesting to see whether the Senators rise to the bait.
THE HOCKEY NEWS: Adam Proteau observed that free-agent forward Evander Kane is clashing with former San Jose Sharks teammate Kurtis Gabriel after the latter called him out as a selfish and absurd teammate. Kane also took umbrage with Sportsnet’s Mark Spector after the Edmonton Oilers’ beat writer criticized his controversial comments on COVID issues.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Kane is trying to find a new NHL club to play with this season. He earned a reputation as a difficult teammate after wearing out his welcome with the Winnipeg Jets, Buffalo Sabres, and the Sharks. Proteau suggests that his latest off-ice controversy might signal the end of his playing career.
DAILY FACEOFF: New York Islanders GM Mathieu Darche said Semyon Varlamov will be a full participant in training camp after missing most of the past two seasons with significant knee issues.
Varlamov’s last NHL game was Nov. 29, 2024. The 38-year-old goaltender had since undergone multiple knee procedures. Darche called Varlamov’s recovery “almost a miracle”, praising him for the hard work he put into his rehab.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Varlamov could become the favorite to win the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy if he stays healthy and puts in a full season with the Isles.
YAHOO! SPORTS: Jonah Sigel of the Toronto Star reported earlier this week that Sportsnet’s NHL insider Elliotte Friedman and NHL analyst Kevin Bieksa are free agents after their contracts expired on Monday.
Sigel wrote that it doesn’t mean Friedman and Bieksa won’t return, but his sources claimed neither had yet to do so.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: No word yet from Sportsnet, Friedman or Bieksa regarding their status. The network declined to extend long-time NHL analyst Kelly Hrudey’s contract. Letting Friedman and Bieksa join a rival network in Canada or the United States would signal a shakeup of their NHL television team.
LOL. I doubt the Senators will “rise to the bait” over Marchand’s mocking laughter. By now they know the source’s history as a s**t-disturber.
To paraphrase German composer Max Reger (considering Stutzle is German), and his famous response to a hostile critic “I sit in the smallest room in the house with a print-out of your opinion before me … soon, it will be behind me.”
But the best response would be to see Marchand meeting Tyler Kleven at high speed at some point during the season.
Anyway, it’s all immaterial – Chabot will get the C with Giroux and Sanderson the alternates.
Marchand just said what everybodies know about Stutzle, he would be a perfect captain for a diving or soccer team.
That “reputation” surfaced in his first year in the league as a rookie employing what has become the “norm” among European hockey players who also played “soccer” – a sport where it has become an art form, as witnessed throughout the recent World Cup. And the biggest complainer at the time was another noted s**t-disturber … Gallagher. But if you follow hockey even reasonably close, you will have noticed that that was purged from his “game” through internal “advice” by his second season.
If you don’t believe me, consider this from the Web:
“Tim Stutzle no longer gets called for actual embellishment penalties, but the external reputation from opponents and fans persists.
The Reputation vs. Reality
• The Label Persists: Opposing players, coaches (such as past comments from Sheldon Keefe and Brendan Gallagher), and rival fan bases still frequently accuse Tim Stutzle of exaggerating contact to draw penalties.
• Lack of Official Penalties: Referees do not view him as an official embellisher. He has rarely been penalized for diving or unsportsmanlike conduct for embellishment in his career.
• Play Style Factors: Analysts and supporters note that Stutzle plays with high speed, attacks high-traffic areas, and often loses his footing or fails to brace himself when impeded by defenders, which makes legitimate trips look more dramatic.
• Drawing Penalties: Because he continuously moves his feet and attacks defenders, he consistently draws a high volume of infractions rather than being punished for diving by officials.”
There isn’t a team in the league that wouldn’t want his C skills. But if you want to continue to believe that baseless horse-s**t … well, fill your boots.
George, he just learned to dive…with style!
Yeah, OK, fine Champs. You apparently have “insight” that no one else possesses, including those that led to the consensus analysis I posted above.
We’ll leave it at that.
Marchand just trying to kill some time recovering from surgery and trying to hype the season. Stutzle should be flattered, as Marchand obviously has Stutzle and the Sens on his radar. Not like Marchand did too well as captain. After one decent year he led his Bruins to a disastrous campaign and jumped ship to one of their biggest rivals…kind of like Tkachuk.
Agree
Plenty of divers around the league and they come from all over.
The one I dislike the most is M Tkachuk.
Because he is also a cheap shot artist he gets the label of “pest”. Because diving while falling on an exposed goaltender down making a save, is considered a savvy move by provoking your opponent into taking a retaliatory penalty. His buddy Bennett is the same way.
Refs let them get away with it. It was so bad the playoff year Panthers won their first cup, it brought back memories of pro wrestling where the ref was distracted and misses a guy whacking another guy with a chair over the head. Seriously NHL, catch on already.
So an American and a Canadian. Not sure soccer has much to do with it.
I can’t stand that guy, or the entire Panthers team outside of Barkov, who is probably the best 2 way C in the NHL.
Game misconduct for lack of originality has been assessed to Champs.
You are about as creative and funny as Marchand.
Marchand continues to cement his reputation as a top level slimeball. Best thing for the Sens and Stutzle to do is nothing. Let the story die and don’t give that jerk the attention he thrives.
As someone who is currently rehabbing a knee surgery, I will be rooting for Varlamov to have a serious amount of success this season. I hope he beats the odds!
Two interesting teams to watch who are rebuilding while they overhaul their rosters. That is the St. Louis Blues and the NYR. I feel Washington s acquisitions over the summer were outstanding!
Kane was a good Oiler. I dont recall any issue that existed between Kane, the team, or his teammates. I dont believe I have read anything negative about him as a canuck either.
Maybe he matured, maybe they managed him better idk.
If i was to wager a guess, I suspect if Kane was willing to play a third line role at 3rd line money, he’d have a contract.
Love to have him back in edm for that role.
Kane’s season with the Canucks was baffling. He was given every opportunity to flourish and yet he just seemed inconsequential game in and game out. The effort just wasn’t they, and therefore neither were the results. He didn’t appear to have a positive or a negative impact on the locker room culture either.
Or they just ignored him and didn’t talk about him 1Oilerfan.
He’s lost at least a step, and he’s a selfish player who takes dumb penalties, and did in Edmonton too. Not as physical as he used to be either. The guy is obviously a goof or it wouldn’t be this many guys and teams bringing it up over the years. I forget the SJ player, but there was a video of him screaming “selfish” at Kane on the ice in practice. Big Buff in WPG, that is as telling as anything.
He never takes responsibility for anything, always somebody else’s fault.
Dach is a big thick guy who hits everything, all the time. I like that player, he separates guys from the puck. Frederic needs to find that game again too. Podkolzin is a banger that produces too for the top 6, and Hyman has always been that guy. They’re fine in that department.
No Savoie until end of October I hear, tough break for him, he would have had a real shot at top line minutes out of the gate. Good on the PK too. If he takes another step, it would be huge for the Oil’s top 6. It’s the winger they need.
While naming Thomas captain should quiet trade rumors it’s worth pointing out the last 2 captains, Schenn and O’Reilly had relatively short tenures. More interesting to me are the players named as alternative captains Parayko, Neighbors, Broberg and Holloway.
Other than Parayko the Blues have turned their leadership over to their young core. Also demonstrates the shrewd move of aquireing Broberg and Holloway and how far they have come In a short time
Schenn and O’Reilly had short tenures for different reasons. Both were in their thirties, whereas Thomas is 26 and in his prime. O’Reilly was also coming to the end of his contract when he was traded to the Maple Leafs.
The oilers not matching one of them never mind both was sure a head scratcher. They could sure use their youth and Holloways speed/scoring
Icebear – cant debate that but Holloway continues to be plagued by injuries since being drafted.
The one season he had 77 games played he got knocked out and missed the playoffs for the Blues.
I hope he overcomes all that and puts a string of complete seasons together but it somewhat lessons the blow to date for me.
It wasn’t the not matching that was the problem, it’s that Jackson put the team in the position they couldn’t match without trying to move guys they didn’t want to move. He signed UFA’s that didn’t even pan out. Kinda brutal, even though I’m sure they tried, but other GM’s would have smelled blood and tried to hose them. Tough when you only have a week.
Broberg was the prize IMO. He’s tall/long and is one of the best pure skating, fast D-men in the league. He’s so smooth you don’t even realize how fast he is going until you see him live and catch guys or blow past guys with ease.
Took him a while to learn it all, but now that he has, he will be a high quality defender/minute muncher for a decade. Bouwmeester, but faster.
If Marchand renamed a lake his cottage is on I would care less. He’s a putz. And now an older damaged putz.
That team will score lots but keeping the puck out of the net will be Florida’s issue. I look forward to a toilet bowl circling season for that group.
You Sens fans Don t you think Marchand did this for a reason. It s to take the pressure off of Brady T.
Sr, I think you are putting way more thought into this than Marchy did.
IMO he’s he’s just talking sh*t like he has everyday of his life. Probably since he first said Mommy, and then slagged her boobs.
He would be a fun guy to drink beer and go fishing and golfing with, just need to understand he is doing this for his own amusement, and won’t respect you unless you fire it back at him.
Just have fun with it Tim, and fire back.
WHAT pressure? From where??
When he is welcomed back to Ottawa with open arms. Question George O, does the organization give him a short video tribute?
Of course they will … and I bet the fans respond positively. “Thanks for the memories” as Bob Hope might say. But after that, the gloves come off and he’s just another opposing player.
Looking forward to Oct. 21 ,I hope that is a nationally televised game.