2025/2026 Season Trade Rumours and Speculation Thread

[Cleveland Steam Whistle]

Originally Posted by Roko

If Kadri wants out, he is a must move. Eat the retention.
Makes little difference if we do it now or later. We are gonna retain either way.
Get him out of here.

Coleman you can wait on but his contract isn’t that scary. Easier to make the math work there.

All of this reeks as one extra piece (see Whitecloud) for the flames to eat the money. It’s just posturing. It has to be.

Coleman not moving will lead to him being mad since his family isn’t here. And then Kadri will stew if he stays and ruin the room.

I don't understand the logic on Kadri being a must move now if he wants out? Lots of reasons to want to move him, but I don't understand why his desire to leave should force our hand to a deal right now. If you can get what you want, great, but if you are CC and you think offseason, or next year you might do better, why not hold on?

We aren't in our window now, we aren't trying to compete this year or next. So the urgency to move on from a player who doesn't want to be here anymore isn't that high IMO. Kadri has skin in the game to if he wants to be moved, he has some stake in playing well next year and after the deadline if he wants to head to a contender.

[Yanda]

Flames would be stupid to tie up a retention slot on Kadri for years. All for what.. an extra second or B prospect? Instead you could use it on expiring contracts yearly and accrue a much bigger return.

Dont lose out on a better package for Frost or Whitecloud down the line with retention just to get an extra late 2nd in 2028 on Kadri. Tying up that retention slot on Kadri would be the dumbest Flames move since trading a 1st to move Monahan.

[dino7c]

Originally Posted by flambers

I doubt it

Basically to trade the player the Flames need to retain salary in my opinion

For sure the Flames want something extra if they retain

you are disagreeing and agreeing in the same post lol

the two teams will debate who should "pay" for the retention, its part of the dance

[Rhett44]

The same people who were saying a few months ago to be patient and wait until the trade deadline to trade Kadri are now telling us we don't have to move him. And that we can wait until the off season.

I can't wait until the offseason when the goal posts move again and people say to wait until next trade deadline to trade him.

You do understand that older players lose value as they age, right? Kadri is worth more last year than he is this year. And he will be worth less in the off season.

[Red Potato Standing By]

Originally Posted by Rhett44

Also for everyone who is saying we will get more in the off season. Dreger just said he believes there is a good chance Kadri's stock drops considerably in the off season and for next year.

Guess we will have a number 1 centerman who is in the decline for the tank next year. Or he will get traded…win win

[Knut]

Originally Posted by Rhett44

The same people who were saying a few months ago to be patient and wait until the trade deadline to trade Kadri are now telling us we don't have to move him. And that we can wait until the off season.

I can't wait until the offseason when the goal posts move again and people say to wait until next trade deadline to trade him.

You do understand that older players lose value as they age, right? Kadri is worth more last year than he is this year. And he will be worth less in the off season.

You don't seem to understand that there are other teams involved in this process.

[flambers]

Originally Posted by dino7c

you are disagreeing and agreeing in the same post lol

the two teams will debate who should "pay" for the retention, its part of the dance

No I am just saying there is no chance he can be moved without retention

[taxbuster]

Personally I find it amazing how easy it is for some people to say “just retain” or “take back a bad contract” as if it were Monopoly money. Most of those are REAL dollars and someone needs to pay them. A player already in hand is a sunk cost. Paying to move them is paying for nothing (mostly) other than a potential future opportunity.

But folks who make small money are happy to give away someone else’s millions - or tens of millions - for nothing. Like I said: amazing!

[Bingo]

Originally Posted by Rhett44

The same people who were saying a few months ago to be patient and wait until the trade deadline to trade Kadri are now telling us we don't have to move him. And that we can wait until the off season.

I can't wait until the offseason when the goal posts move again and people say to wait until next trade deadline to trade him.

You do understand that older players lose value as they age, right? Kadri is worth more last year than he is this year. And he will be worth less in the off season.

Lets see some receipts on this one.

Who said what and when?

Personally I've said many times that I thought a Kadri move would be hard and people would be disappointed when he does.

[trackercowe]

Someone previously mentioned Kadri to the Habs for Laine++. I think that's a sensational idea, provided they can convince Laine to waive his 10 team NTC. Laine can be moved next deadline, and would still be an attraction in the meantime. That seems perfectly sensible to me, and Laine only has one year left on his deal.

[Strange Brew]

Originally Posted by Jiri Hrdina

If anything this year shows us how quickly those slots can be used up. They need to be considered valuable particularly if you are locking one down for multiple years.

Frost
Farabree
Weegar
Shark
Whitecloud
Hanley
Players acquired between now and 3 years.

That's the expanded list. Not saying you'll need to retain on all, but 3 years is a long time and there will be a lot of roster turnover still.

Yep. Flames felt they had to retain on Andersson and he had the best value contract on the team. Those slots are useful.

[dino7c]

Originally Posted by Rhett44

The same people who were saying a few months ago to be patient and wait until the trade deadline to trade Kadri are now telling us we don't have to move him. And that we can wait until the off season.

I can't wait until the offseason when the goal posts move again and people say to wait until next trade deadline to trade him.

You do understand that older players lose value as they age, right? Kadri is worth more last year than he is this year. And he will be worth less in the off season.

Retaining for 3 years also has pretty large value

[Knut]

Laine can likely be moved to LA or something if MTL needs the space. He would likely waive to go there and they have the room.

[Burning Beard]

Originally Posted by Rhett44

The same people who were saying a few months ago to be patient and wait until the trade deadline to trade Kadri are now telling us we don't have to move him. And that we can wait until the off season.

I can't wait until the offseason when the goal posts move again and people say to wait until next trade deadline to trade him.

You do understand that older players lose value as they age, right? Kadri is worth more last year than he is this year. And he will be worth less in the off season.

Do you think that trading Kadri is going to make or break the rebuild? Will the difference between trading his this week, in the summer, or even never, be the difference between never competing and being a constant contender?

This team will have no problem being at the bottom even if he is here next week IMO.

[Torture]

I can't see Coleman sticking around. If he's one of the top pieces of trade bait we should strike while the demand is there. Sure he'll be desired next year too, but you never know about injuries, etc.

Kadri might want to go, but the timign and deal has to work for the Flames too. I think Conroy's shown he'll accomodate the request, but wait it out for the right deal.
My guess is that one way or another this is his last season as a Flame - but if it isn't done at the deadline Conroy will wait until the offseason just like with Markstrom.

So if retention is either not available or pricey, it comes down to how motivated teams are to fit him in for this playoff run vs doing something in the offseason.

[Rhett44]

Originally Posted by Burning Beard

Do you think that trading Kadri is going to make or break the rebuild? Will the difference between trading his this week, in the summer, or even never, be the difference between never competing and being a constant contender?

This team will have no problem being at the bottom even if he is here next week IMO.

I think not trading both Coleman and Kadri by Friday will delay the rebuild by at least a year.

And I also think it could be the difference between us drafting a superstar in the top 3 picks and a 2nd pairing guy at pick 6 or 7. We need to bottom out.

So yes, I do think it would be an epic failure to not trade both.

[Bonded]

Originally Posted by Rhett44

I think not trading both Coleman and Kadri by Friday will delay the rebuild by at least a year.

And I also think it could be the difference between us drafting a superstar in the top 3 picks and a 2nd pairing guy at pick 6 or 7. We need to bottom out.

So yes, I do think it would be an epic failure to not trade both.

I just doubt the Flames view it the same way. If all they have from a workable trade partner is a mediocre return for a retained Kadri then I don’t think they’ll trade him. If Kadri really wants out there are apparently two teams willing to pay a good price…

[Yanda]

Being firm in thinking that Kadri cant be traded without retention is just silly. Taking back a bad contract like Kotkaniemi would literially achieve the same thing. 2nd line centers are worth 7mil, Kadri's contract isnt bad or need retention.

[SuperMatt18]

Okay here are my uninformed guesses for the day.

Coleman + Hanley to Dallas for Hemming + 2026 2nd + Lybushkin

Lindell - Heiskanen
Harley - Lundkvist
Bischell - Myers
Hanley - Petrovic

Dallas sheds the cap hit of Lybushkin for this year and next year, but gain Coleman and Hanley to help balance their depth on defense between LH and RH shots. Hanley at $1.75M and Coleman at $4.9M is combined $5.6M - so taking back Lybushkin and his $3M pretty much means that you're retaining 50% of that for Dallas.

Kadri ($2.25M retained) to Colorado for 2027 1st + Gulayayev + Brindley

[Matty81]

I'm in the camp of rather move Naz over Coleman now fully if you feel you can get market value for one or the other by retaining.


I think his trade value is a lot more likely to crash than coleman.


But it sounds like fron dreger that the two teams who made decent offers on him he won't go to anyway so moot point.


Coleman sure looked like he was ok a farewell tour leaving practice this morning to me.