2025/2026 Season Trade Rumours and Speculation Thread

[PeteMoss]

WTF - they traded BLAKE BENNETT?

[D as in David]

Originally Posted by PeteMoss

WTF - they traded BLAKE BENNETT?

Classic Flames.

[gvitaly]

Originally Posted by Geeoff

AHL deal, so still at 49 contracts?

Yes, it doesn't affect the SPCs cap. Though I'm not sure if it's currently at 49 contracts. Puckpedia shows it as 48, and capwages as 44. I'm too lazy to count.

[DionTheDman]

Originally Posted by PeteMoss

WTF - they traded BLAKE BENNETT?

We need to acquire Sam Coleman to replace him.

[The Cobra]

Originally Posted by SuperMatt18

You see that a bit with the Flames.

I think reality is Tkachuk and Gaudreau were the only two Stars the Flames had. With them gone the Flames fell off.

Over the last three seasons they then moved around everyone else...but it really actually hasn't made a huge difference in their play.

The key is to not overpay the middle of your lineup, as it seems like those guys are replaceable.

You need depth still and don't want to be too top heavy, but the mistakes are generally overpaying the guys in the middle of the lineup that aren't true difference makers.

And to avoid paying your middle and depth players, you need to have younger guys coming into your lineup. Which means not wasting draft picks trading for depth players. The Hamonic trade is a classic example of that mistake.

Trying to speed up the rebuild by trading draft picks may help for a short time only, but will ultimately shorten your contention window.

[Strange Brew]

Originally Posted by GioforPM

It's not a matter of one player (and you have to replace a Farabee, BTW). It's paying $20M plus $12M to Parekh, plus $15M to Mckenna, plus $9M to Gridin, plus $7M to Kuznetsov, plus whatever Reschny, et al make.

We've seen how teams to when they overpay at the top and it doesn't pan out. Plus I'm not even sure how good Bedard is going to be. He's not Celebrini level right now. Is he going to be as good ever? Is he going to be a top 5 player in the league? Or is he going to be just below that? The proposed salary says he's the number one player in the league.

I'm not so sure about the bolded. I'd rather have top talent and figure out how to pay them.

If the Flames have all the guys you mention and they are worth the contracts you suggest, what a glorious problem to have. Replacing Farabee and Kuznetsov is a challenge you take on happily.

[Shazam]

Originally Posted by DionTheDman

We need to acquire Sam Coleman to replace him.

Put them both into The Fly teleporter.

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by Strange Brew

I'm not so sure about the bolded. I'd rather have top talent and figure out how to pay them.

If the Flames have all the guys you mention and they are worth the contracts you suggest, what a glorious problem to have. Replacing Farabee and Kuznetsov is a challenge you take on happily.

I just have a hard time paying any player that large a chunk of the team cap. Are you confident Connor Bedard is the best player in the league in 3 years?

[Geeoff]

Originally Posted by gvitaly

Yes, it doesn't affect the SPCs cap. Though I'm not sure if it's currently at 49 contracts. Puckpedia shows it as 48, and capwages as 44. I'm too lazy to count.

I thought it was at 48 and then we signed the college free agent Tyson Gross, making it 49. Maybe it's 48 after. I suspect the Wranglers will be going through a big turnover in the offseason

[FlamesAddiction]

Originally Posted by gvitaly

Yes, it doesn't affect the SPCs cap. Though I'm not sure if it's currently at 49 contracts. Puckpedia shows it as 48, and capwages as 44. I'm too lazy to count.

I think Puckpedia is more reliable when it comes to that kind of stuff. We were at 47 before signing Gross, now we are at 48.

[Shazam]

Originally Posted by GioforPM

I just have a hard time paying any player that large a chunk of the team cap. Are you confident Connor Bedard is the best player in the league in 3 years?

What is it that you'd like the Flames to do? I'm sure all that matters to you is enjoying some wins at the Dome before you die of a MI.

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by The Cobra

Bédard is close to a 100 point season based on his PPG. With little help. He was near the top of the league when he got injured.

Let’s see how he does once guys like Frondell and Kantserov are playing with him.

But yes, the premise I think was based on him being a top player.

But you have to make the deal now, before you know, correct?

I'm not sure I call Teravainen, Bertuzzi and Burakovsky "little help". Or Nazar for that matter.

Maybe at the end of the day I'm just not as high on Bedard as some people. I think he has a ceiling that's below what others think of him.

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by Shazam

What is it that you'd like the Flames to do? I'm sure all that matters to you is enjoying some wins at the Dome before you die of a MI.

I'd like the Flames to build a whole team off of what Conroy has done so far, draft well, and not take wild stabs which disrupt that plan.

I'm not sure why that deserves the snark.

[Strange Brew]

Originally Posted by GioforPM

I just have a hard time paying any player that large a chunk of the team cap. Are you confident Connor Bedard is the best player in the league in 3 years?

That seems like a slightly different argument than worrying about paying Kuznetsov and Farabee. Of course I'm not convinced he is the best player in the league three years from now.

But I was commenting on your claim that teams fail because they overpay top talent. In general, top talent seems to win whether it's a cap system or not. More teams fail because they don't have any top talent.

[dino7c]

I think some underestimate how hard it is to get a Bedard

[The EBUG's EBUG]

Discussion on roster construction aside Bedard rocks so freaking hard.

Genuinely awesome player who's electric to watch and seems to have a bit of that throwback psycho mentality that the game needs more of. Guy buries the winner last night in OT and celebrates but talking trash to some Mammoth fans in the front row. Hell yea brother.

League is going to be in trouble if Chicago ever gets their roster together and puts him with some elite running mates.

[AFireInside]

Originally Posted by GioforPM

But you have to make the deal now, before you know, correct?

I'm not sure I call Teravainen, Bertuzzi and Burakovsky "little help". Or Nazar for that matter.

Maybe at the end of the day I'm just not as high on Bedard as some people. I think he has a ceiling that's below what others think of him.

I don't understand people that think Bedard isn't that good. How many players in the league under the age of 24 have more points per game than Bedard this season?

I think it's just one.

Bedard is on an awful team on top of that.

[bigrangy]

Yeah I wish the Flames had just one or two more pieces and then I’d gladly trade the next 4 firsts for Bedard and sign him to something stupid.

But the hole at center is just too big to go all in right now.

Can you imagine if the 2015 flames for example would have offer sheeted a Bedard?

Trade the 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 firsts? Tkachuk/Valimaki/Dobson/Pelletier? I make that trade all day. Would have been ever better if they’d wait another year and swap Tkachuk with Braden Schneider (at the Flames original pick that year) but teams that are starting to come out of rebuilds should be way more aggressive with these. And that was at a time that the team drafted well!

Biggest problem is the truly elite players usually get locked up before they get a chance to seek one, I don’t know why Chicago is waiting.

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by Strange Brew

That seems like a slightly different argument than worrying about paying Kuznetsov and Farabee. Of course I'm not convinced he is the best player in the league three years from now.

But I was commenting on your claim that teams fail because they overpay top talent. In general, top talent seems to win whether it's a cap system or not. More teams fail because they don't have any top talent.

I never even mentioned Farabee, so I don't know why he's relevant. I'm commenting on 20% of cap. And the effect of a whole bunch of guys hitting RFA at about the same time.

Teams that win tend to have top talent, that's true. But often they did it before they have to pay them top dollar (Chicago with Kane and Toews on ELCs and decent RFA deals and not after they got paid top dollar) or when the rest of the team hadn't caught up to demand higher pay (Colorado with Mackinnon on a cheap deal, Makar on an ELC and before they had to deal with Rantanen). Florida won with elite guys on pretty reasonable deals. $10M for Barkov.

Teams haven't won that often AFTER they shelled out league max salaries to their top guys. Minnie hasn't yet with Kaprizov. And when Hughes comes up in 2 years we'll see what happens. Toronto hasn't with the salaries they are paying Matthews and Nylander. TB won with Kucherov but there's a big asterix on that one as far as cap percentage goes.

That's why RFA salaries were a good deal before - it gave teams a chance with elite talent but before they got the top salaries. Offering an RFA maximum NHL salary might be good if you have a lot of other players on good deals. The problem comes, IMO, when you start out with the max salary and then face a bunch of guys who also want a lot.

EDIT: maybe the point is that teams have typically been successful with (a) elite talent that (b) became elite before they had to pay them the commensurate salary.

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by AFireInside

I don't understand people that think Bedard isn't that good. How many players in the league under the age of 24 have more points per game than Bedard this season?

I think it's just one.

Bedard is on an awful team on top of that.

I just think to get max salary you have to be the best player in the league. No matter how old you are.