2025/2026 Season Trade Rumours and Speculation Thread

[bluejays]

Originally Posted by sureLoss

Lebrun on Early trading:

priority for Panthers is 1. Bennett. 2. Marchand 3. Ekblad
thinks Ekblad will go to market

no guarantee that Tavares and Leafs reach agreement

in a perfect world Habs would want a #2 centre but those are so hard to find
Habs would be fine with a top 6 winger instead
habs willing to be patient and not overpay

I really like what Montreal is doing. They’re not jumping to add vets just because the hockey book says it to. They’re really letting their young player progress dictate the next steps. I think it’s great.

[Bonded]

Originally Posted by bluejays

The assertion that the time to act is now to get a centre who is 23-26. We need that from the draft. Not a mid level 23 year old. There’s no replacing getting a potential star through the draft under control.

All depends on who that player is and what the cost is. I don’t think there will be a fit on a trade but crazy trades have happened out of the blue. I’m still hoping for the Flames to be on the right side of an Erat/Pacioretty type trade.

[bluejays]

Originally Posted by Bonded

All depends on who that player is and what the cost is. I don’t think there will be a fit on a trade but crazy trades have happened out of the blue. I’m still hoping for the Flames to be on the right side of an Erat/Pacioretty type trade.

The chances are so small. Things can happen but the chances are pretty tiny.

[Enoch Root]

Originally Posted by bluejays

I really like what Montreal is doing. They’re not jumping to add vets just because the hockey book says it to. They’re really letting their young player progress dictate the next steps. I think it’s great.

Anderson, Gallagher, Laine...

They have some vets, and I think they need to add another veteran defenseman

[SuperMatt18]

Originally Posted by Bonded

All depends on who that player is and what the cost is. I don’t think there will be a fit on a trade but crazy trades have happened out of the blue. I’m still hoping for the Flames to be on the right side of an Erat/Pacioretty type trade.

If you look at C's drafted in the top 12 picks since 2020 that could get moved you have:

2020:
Rossi

2021:
Beniers
McTavish
Sillinger

2022:
Wright
Kasper

2023:
Nate Danielson

Of that list the two that would be most interesting to me are Wright and Danielson.

I doubt either get moved and the list of guys you could even target is quite small. Hopefully you can hit a HR and get one of these guys in a trade, but really the reality is you need to draft your own.

Originally Posted by bluejays

I really like what Montreal is doing. They’re not jumping to add vets just because the hockey book says it to. They’re really letting their young player progress dictate the next steps. I think it’s great.

They did add some vets though and already had vets.

They added Laine, Matheson, and Carrier. Already had Anderson, Gallagher and others like Armia / Dvorak who are now UFAs. And tried to accelerate things by moving 1sts for pieces like Newhook (31-Gulyayev and 37 - Gauthier) and Dach (13 - Nazar and 66 - Hayes).

If other NHL teams did the smart thing and didn't let Hutson drop to the 62 OV then I think people wouldn't be as high on what Montreal is building.

[Jiri Hrdina]

Originally Posted by SuperMatt18

If you look at C's drafted in the top 12 picks since 2020 that could get moved you have:

2020:
Rossi

2021:
Beniers
McTavish
Sillinger

2022:
Wright
Kasper

2023:
Nate Danielson

Of that list the two that would be most interesting to me are Wright and Danielson.

I doubt either get moved and the list of guys you could even target is quite small. Hopefully you can hit a HR and get one of these guys in a trade, but really the reality is you need to draft your own.

I don't think Danielson is on that list. He is apparently a Yzerman favorite.

I wonder if at some point Byfield becomes available. Not now obviously but 1-2 years out?

[Bonded]

I don’t see it happening but a trade for McTavish would be awesome.

[Paulie Walnuts]

Originally Posted by SuperMatt18

If you look at C's drafted in the top 12 picks since 2020 that could get moved you have:

2020:
Rossi

2021:
Beniers
McTavish
Sillinger

2022:
Wright
Kasper

2023:
Nate Danielson

Of that list the two that would be most interesting to me are Wright and Danielson.

I doubt either get moved and the list of guys you could even target is quite small. Hopefully you can hit a HR and get one of these guys in a trade, but really the reality is you need to draft your own.

Verbeek said they traded Zegras as they view Leo and McTavish as their top 2 going forward.

Wright seemed to come on towards the end.

[Ped]

Larry Brooks says the Rangers are giving the 12th overall pick to the Penguins to complete the JT Miller trade, and therefore they keep their 2026 1st.


Also, the way Wright finished off the year, hard to see the Kraken moving him.

[bluejays]

Originally Posted by Ped

Larry Brooks says the Rangers are giving the 12th overall pick to the Penguins to complete the JT Miller trade, and therefore they keep their 2026 1st.


Also, the way Wright finished off the year, hard to see the Kraken moving him.

Pretty ballsy of the Rangers. Weak draft, uncertain future themselves as to how good they’ll be next year. Ballsy.

[Demzy84]

Originally Posted by bluejays

Pretty ballsy of the Rangers. Weak draft, uncertain future themselves as to how good they’ll be next year. Ballsy.

If it’s a weak draft, isn’t this a good thing?

[camm13]

Originally Posted by bluejays

Pretty ballsy of the Rangers. Weak draft, uncertain future themselves as to how good they’ll be next year. Ballsy.

Ballsy how? The 2026 next year is unprotected. They could very much win the lotto next year or be in top 10 pick range.

[Samonadreau]

Ya, the Rangers were in tough here. If next years draft is better and they could risk losing a lottery win, they almost had to give up this year's pick.

[saillias]

Yeah I'm surprised at the lack of critique or pushback to this dogged insistence on acquiring guys in the 23-26 year old age window. Our upcoming core of players is still in their teens, what do we need to clog up the roster with more flawed middle 6ers for. Is Sharangovich and Farabee not enough of a lesson. This strat is just preventing our 2021, 2022 2023 draft picks from getting a fair shake. If they don't want to repeat the Sam Bennett situation there has to be opportunity.

[Bonded]

Originally Posted by saillias

Yeah I'm surprised at the lack of critique or pushback to this dogged insistence on acquiring guys in the 23-26 year old age window. Our upcoming core of players is still in their teens, what do we need to clog up the roster with more flawed middle 6ers for. Is Sharangovich and Farabee not enough of a lesson. This strat is just preventing our 2021, 2022 2023 draft picks from getting a fair shake. If they don't want to repeat the Sam Bennett situation there has to be opportunity.

The problem is that they have no centre prospects to block. So if they can get the right player then they should go for it. They need a long term #1c and #2c. 26 is probably too old though.

[PepsiFree]

I haven’t seen a single situation lately where a young player is being blocked. Guys who earn the time get the time. Then it’s up to them to keep it and, if they lose it based on their play, earn it back. Saw it with Honzek. Saw it with Klapka. Coronato and Zary before that. etc.

[ForeverFlameFan]

Originally Posted by Jiri Hrdina

I don't think Danielson is on that list. He is apparently a Yzerman favorite.

I wonder if at some point Byfield becomes available. Not now obviously but 1-2 years out?

Just for fun:

To LAK: Robertson, Andersson
To DAL: Clarke, Coleman (50%), Pospisil
To CGY: Byfield, 2025 1st (LAK)

[Paulie Walnuts]

Frost is 26 so we are long in tooth now with "young" cs.

Has to be 18-22 to grow with the team.

[Paulie Walnuts]

Originally Posted by PepsiFree

I haven’t seen a single situation lately where a young player is being blocked. Guys who earn the time get the time. Then it’s up to them to keep it and, if they lose it based on their play, earn it back. Saw it with Honzek. Saw it with Klapka. Coronato and Zary before that. etc.

The team is overloaded with wingers, and soon we will need to trade guys like Coleman etc. The guys will be grown and vets by the time our recent draft picks make it to the team and make an impact.

[Jiri Hrdina]

Originally Posted by saillias

Yeah I'm surprised at the lack of critique or pushback to this dogged insistence on acquiring guys in the 23-26 year old age window. Our upcoming core of players is still in their teens, what do we need to clog up the roster with more flawed middle 6ers for. Is Sharangovich and Farabee not enough of a lesson. This strat is just preventing our 2021, 2022 2023 draft picks from getting a fair shake. If they don't want to repeat the Sam Bennett situation there has to be opportunity.

What dogged insistence? The article said they need to acquire a center - and tabled several different ways of doing that including the draft.

Why would the organization just rule out a potential path? They should consider all avenues and the pros and cons of each.