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.
Yep – that’s about it.
We thought we may have had that guy in Skinner but…nope.
I think most Oiler fans are hoping Levi can grow into being that guy…but that is far from a certainty. I also think all Oiler fans expected Andersson to deal with an injury or 3 this season. So not shocking to the more stable fan.
I may be in the minority but I also expect a rebound season from Jarry. He is better than what he shown in Edm last season coming back from injury.
Savoie is the injury that probably impacts most. Top 6 winger for the team now and a top pk forward. Hopefully he is not out too long and can hit the ground running when he does.
1Oilerfan, when it comes to Jarry, both Pittsburgh and now Edmonton have been hoping for a rebound performance of the type he had in 2021-22 with the Penguins when he posted a .919 save % over 58gp with a 34-18-6 record. And that was going on 6 seasons ago.
But in that same stellar season he suffered a severe foot injury late in the schedule that derailed everything. And while his performance and save % (.909) was improved again in 2022-23, he also had to deal with lingering lower- and upper-body maladies that had been flaring up repeatedly since the 2023 Winter Classic in Boston.
In 2023-24 he did set a career record with 6 shut-outs, but his overall save % took another dip, this time to .903, and that did not improve in 2024-25 (,893). When the Oilers dealt for him during 2025-26, his save % in Pittsburgh, with 14gp, was back up to .909, but in the ensuing 19gp with Edmonton, it dropped back to a poor .858.
And it wasn’t as if one of the two teams were demonstrating significant overall defensive qualities over the other … at season’s end Pittsburgh had given up 268 goals while Edmonton had relinquished 269.
George O – i hear ya. But my idea of a rebound is simply being at a 90% save %. I am not even contemplating an all star season – that would be a pipe dream and I dont think you thought I was by any stretch. I just anticipate a more stable and consistent performance than what he gave coming back from injury last season.
The Oilers were dead last in save % last season. Pens middle of the pack. So I do think the defensive struggles of the Oilers as a team certainly impacted to a degree and while wrong to do so, Jarry lamented the same.
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.
Chrisms: Being a star player doesn’t make you immune to performance anxiety. Good on Hedman for admitting he had a problem and taking the time to deal with it. He and the Lightning will be better because of it.
Being able to perform in front of big crowds at the highest level is essential in the general job description. And after years of being able to do so to have this just rear up? I just think a significant part of this story is missing.
I also don’t believe the whole story needs to be public. But what has been made public doesn’t add up.
“For me, it was not really feeling low, but it was performance anxiety, kind of feeling that pressure in your chest as soon as a gameday would hit,” Hedman said. “It kind of locks you up. You make a mistake and in the past you’d be able to shake it off, but I couldn’t do that. And I wasn’t feeling 100 percent physically.”
“I felt it was important for me to do to get a handle on everything mentally and physically,” Hedman said. “Someone told me that for good leaders sometimes doing the right thing for the team is to kind of step away. I thought that was the right decision for me. I wasn’t myself on the ice. I felt I wasn’t helping the team. So, I felt the best thing for the team was for me to focus on myself away. I don’t regret that decision at all. It was the right thing to do.”
Here’s the link to the story on NHL.com.
https://www.nhl.com/news/victor-hedman-ready-to-return-to-tampa-bay-lightning-after-taking-leave-of-absence
Also, he wore the C for the first time last year. While never outspoken in his career, he took the job seriously, and, for the first time, was the face of the team to the press. If one is not a natural, one can drive one’s mind in circle trying to think of what to say about some else in a way that would be a bother if you only had to account for yourself.
Perhaps that’s the catalyst I was wondering about. Could explain what was different last year than the previous years.
I think we look at it too much as a sport, as a recreation activity. That is what it is to us. For them its their career and livelihood.
First we see the millions they make and think that alleviates all the anxiety and stress, which is silly.
Stress is relative, personally i dont see what Hedman describes being all that much different than a trader being gun shy after a taking a massive loss, or a machine operator being apprehensive of getting back in a bucket after a big screw up etc…
Sometimes you push through…sometimes the only answer is taking a step away for a bit.
Did Hedman make some huge mistake? I guess I’m looking for a catalyst. Peoples mental health can change sure. But why now? I think that’s the part of this story that seems to be missing.
Simone Biles is the greatest gymnast of all time and possibly one of the greatest athletes of all time. She competed on every massive world stage imaginable and always seemed like an absolute rock.
After years of solid success and records and medals…she suddenly got the “yips” mid Olympics.
It happens to he absolute best. Mental health is not something that can be exercised away or prevented with a good diet. It can happen to anyone at any time.
Chrisms,
I tell you this as a veteran with PTSD who is 21 years clean and an abuse survivor. When you have a behavioral health problem even the littlest thing, like getting dressed in the morning, can seem impossible. I don’t expect you to understand because, unless you’ve experienced it, explaining sounds like whining &/or complaining. I simply ask you to accept that I am telling the truth.
Congrats on successful recovery Paul. I’ve been employed as a mental health professional for 20 years and concur that that underlying mental health issues can be triggered by a variety of things. That’s kinda the point of my posts. Hedman had been playing for many years at the highest level in the most stressful situations and environments. He previously either did not have this issue or had the coping skills necessary to address it. No human behavior comes out of nowhere. So something changed with his situation. He does not owe us an explanation of what changed. But something did. Hence there is something missing from this story.
For example, if he did treatment for his newfound anxiety the professional working with him could say… this wasn’t an issue before to the point it affected you professionally but it is now. What’s changed from before till now.
I like ricks theory that maybe getting the c was a factor.
Again. Props on adapting and surviving your condition Paul. Can’t be easy.
I’ve had very good therapists, a good psychiatrist and Moose, my emotional support Dachshund. I’ll never be “normal”, but I can cope.