2025/2026 Season Trade Rumours and Speculation Thread

[Burning Beard]

Originally Posted by bert

so i was thinking today. Assume the following (and my question afterwards)

calgary drafts 1/2 this year and takes mckenna
calgary again tanks next year and gets one of the centers or dupont
makar comes home

do we have enough cap space and pieces in place we can attract mcdavid after his contract runs out? We have the goalie, and would have stellar defence. Young pieces and drafting well with a deep pipeline.

Is that enough to convince him to come and join his hated rival to chase cups? Can we pull it off? Would you want to?

no

[Jiri Hrdina]

Even if it was theoretical possible, I think McDavid cares too much about his legacy and reputation to do that.

[UKflames]

Originally Posted by Bert

So I was thinking today. Assume the following (and my question afterwards)

Calgary drafts 1/2 this year and takes McKenna
Calgary again tanks next year and gets one of the centers or DuPont
Makar comes home

Do we have enough cap space and pieces in place we can attract McDavid after his contract runs out? We have the goalie, and would have stellar defence. Young pieces and drafting well with a deep pipeline.

Is that enough to convince him to come and join his hated rival to chase cups? Can we pull it off? Would you want to?

That's a big no to post apex Mcavi

[Monahammer]

I am confident in saying that Connor McDavid will never play for the Calgary Flames, and I think that is a good thing.

But seriously, if he was going to stay in Alberta, no doubt he would just stay in Edmonton. When he's gone I doubt he even plays in the Western Conference again.

[Vinny01]

I think if McDavid leaves the Oilers it will be a team like Chicago or San Jose who can make the deal work. They will have very good young assets and have franchise pillars that McDavid can play with. If Edmonton can’t win this year or next I see McDavid getting dealt in the last year of his deal to a team of his choice and he will want to play with one of the young superstars in the league is my guess

[howard_the_duck]

Even if he were open to it, the Flames ascension won't line up with McDavid's window. Best case scenario we get top 3 picks in the next 2 years, they're still likely a few years away from being star players ready to anchor a winning team.

[Tbull8]

I think he’ll go somewhere already in a contending window. Like Tampa.

No chance he wants to waste any more years (already done that way too much and he’s not getting any younger)

[GFG#1]

Originally Posted by Geeoff

if the teams don't like NTC/NMC they could just not hand them out like candy?

I just think they should be what they are, if you hand them out or sign one.

You play the entire contract for that team.
or
If the team is unhappy, Team buys out the contract (1 contract that was over 6+ years that you can buy out off the books no cap penalty, contract must be halfway through the length of the deal. If you bought out a contract in 2025/2026 that was supposed to go until 2029/2030 you can't buy out another one until 2031 etc. )

If the player decides he wants to be traded, NMC is out the window and has no control over where he goes.

or player and team both agree to a mutual termination.

NTC just means you can't trade the player to a team on his list. I would think the max should be 8 teams (no more than 4 per conference).

You signed the deal live with it, or deal with the repercussions both sides.

I do think there would need to be some rules like you can't just sit the player in the press box unless there are some prior agreed upon stats that back it up etc. to protect the player from being treated like garbage essentially some version of HR.

[Jiri Hrdina]

I still think it's Toronto. He's not just chasing a cup. He's chasing a legacy.
If he leaves Edmonton, without winning the cup, he becomes the best player to not win a cup with the team that drafted him.
He doesn't salvage that by joining a team like Tampa and winning another. That makes him the Kevin Durant of the NHL.
But joining the Leafs, and leading that franchise to a cup? That's a legacy.
And that's what he is chasing.
I think Toronto would try to bring him in to play with Matthews and go from there.

Nylander+Knies+other pieces would go back to Edmonton.

[ForeverFlameFan]

Originally Posted by Jiri Hrdina

I still think it's Toronto. He's not just chasing a cup. He's chasing a legacy.
If he leaves Edmonton, without winning the cup, he becomes the best player to not win a cup with the team that drafted him.
He doesn't salvage that by joining a team like Tampa and winning another. That makes him the Kevin Durant of the NHL.
But joining the Leafs, and leading that franchise to a cup? That's a legacy.
And that's what he is chasing.
I think Toronto would try to bring him in to play with Matthews and go from there.

Nylander+Knies+other pieces would go back to Edmonton.

I don't think anyone wants to gut their team enough to bring in McDavid. Everyone will just save their increasing cap space and try to offer him a ridiculous contract instead. Like a 6 year, 120m deal.

[Jiri Hrdina]

Originally Posted by ForeverFlameFan

I don't think anyone wants to gut their team enough to bring in McDavid. Everyone will just save their increasing cap space and try to offer him a ridiculous contract instead. Like a 6 year, 120m deal.

I agree that's a challenge because if you gut your team, you replicate the same issues in Edmonton.

But I still think teams do it. The financial impact of McDavid alone makes it worth it for big market teams.

That's why I would put my money on Toronto first, then NYR and LA.
My 2nd tier group would be teams with a young superstar to pair him with: Chicago, San Jose, NYI.

I also don't think he ever hits free agency. Again he's too concerned about his reputation. When he decides he wants out, he will engineer a trade from Edmonton to where he wants to go, including so they get assets back. And then he will extend with that new team, probably not a max term deal, but another 3-4 year deal so he retains optionality at the end of it.

And he will likely accept a deal well below the max so that team can add pieces around him.

So if teams are going to wait so they can just throw a massive deal at him - I doubt they ever get the chance.

He is going to decide all of this. Where he goes, for how long and how much.

[ForeverFlameFan]

Originally Posted by Jiri Hrdina

I agree that's a challenge because if you gut your team, you replicate the same issues in Edmonton.

But I still think teams do it. The financial impact of McDavid alone makes it worth it for big market teams.

That's why I would put my money on Toronto first, then NYR and LA.
My 2nd tier group would be teams with a young superstar to pair him with: Chicago, San Jose, NYI.

I also don't think he ever hits free agency. Again he's too concerned about his reputation. When he decides he wants out, he will engineer a trade from Edmonton to where he wants to go, including so they get assets back. And then he will extend with that new team, probably not a max term deal, but another 3-4 year deal so he retains optionality at the end of it.

And he will likely accept a deal well below the max so that team can add pieces around him.

So if teams are going to wait so they can just throw a massive deal at him - I doubt they ever get the chance.

Of that list I’d say San Jose should go for it.

They’ve got Misa and plenty more. You could even offer to take on Nurse’s albatross.

Nurse and McDavid for Misa + Dickinson + a couple other assets.

Would be a hard reset for Edmonton but could be well worth it.

[dammage79]

Originally Posted by ForeverFlameFan

Of that list I’d say San Jose should go for it.

They’ve got Misa and plenty more. You could even offer to take on Nurse’s albatross.

Nurse and McDavid for Misa + Dickinson + a couple other assets.

Would be a hard reset for Edmonton but could be well worth it.

What did the Misa family ever do to you? Why would you put them through this awful thought excersize of ending up on the Edmonton Oilers! We have one of them on our ranks!


You should feel great shame and I wish you many stubbed pinky toes for these remarks.

[ForeverFlameFan]

Originally Posted by dammage79

What did the Misa family ever do to you? Why would you put them through this awful thought excersize of ending up on the Edmonton Oilers! We have one of them on our ranks!


You should feel great shame and I wish you many stubbed pinky toes for these remarks.

We can all armchair GM better than real life Bowman, no need to worry about the Oilers making good moves.

I am already waiting for Jarry + 1st for Binnington in the offseason

[Ba'alzamon]

Originally Posted by Jiri Hrdina

I still think it's Toronto. He's not just chasing a cup. He's chasing a legacy.
If he leaves Edmonton, without winning the cup, he becomes the best player to not win a cup with the team that drafted him.
He doesn't salvage that by joining a team like Tampa and winning another. That makes him the Kevin Durant of the NHL.
But joining the Leafs, and leading that franchise to a cup? That's a legacy.
And that's what he is chasing.
I think Toronto would try to bring him in to play with Matthews and go from there.

Nylander+Knies+other pieces would go back to Edmonton.

"Hmm, Toronto's offering us John Tavares and some kid named Knees for McDavid. I recognize that first name, Tavares, he's probably still really good, right?"

^ Oilers' management, probably.

[Yeah_Baby]

Originally Posted by Jiri Hrdina

I still think it's Toronto. He's not just chasing a cup. He's chasing a legacy.
If he leaves Edmonton, without winning the cup, he becomes the best player to not win a cup with the team that drafted him.
He doesn't salvage that by joining a team like Tampa and winning another. That makes him the Kevin Durant of the NHL.
But joining the Leafs, and leading that franchise to a cup? That's a legacy.
And that's what he is chasing.
I think Toronto would try to bring him in to play with Matthews and go from there.

Nylander+Knies+other pieces would go back to Edmonton.

The real sliding doors moment though is the fact that the Leafs may be spiraling into a rebuild post Marner.

[howard_the_duck]

Originally Posted by Jiri Hrdina

I agree that's a challenge because if you gut your team, you replicate the same issues in Edmonton.

But I still think teams do it. The financial impact of McDavid alone makes it worth it for big market teams.

That's why I would put my money on Toronto first, then NYR and LA.
My 2nd tier group would be teams with a young superstar to pair him with: Chicago, San Jose, NYI.

I also don't think he ever hits free agency. Again he's too concerned about his reputation. When he decides he wants out, he will engineer a trade from Edmonton to where he wants to go, including so they get assets back. And then he will extend with that new team, probably not a max term deal, but another 3-4 year deal so he retains optionality at the end of it.

And he will likely accept a deal well below the max so that team can add pieces around him.

So if teams are going to wait so they can just throw a massive deal at him - I doubt they ever get the chance.

He is going to decide all of this. Where he goes, for how long and how much.

Toronto has the same asset deficiencies as Edmonton. They'll have cap space so could technically build a super team if players come together, but I'd imagine most serious suitors will open up a bunch of cap space to get creative and lure McDavid.

The best contenders, IMO, will have the combination of big market appeal, strong support cast that's ready to win now, and the legacy angle.

Chicago, Montreal and NYI would be top of my list that sort of hit on everything.

[Bert]

This is why I’m suggesting free agency. If you’re McDavid and want to win a few cups, why ask for a trade and lose assets for your new team that will impact how you can win with them. Montreal would be head of the pack if they would give up some of the young pieces, San Jose maybe have enough expendable players (no defence)

Which is why I posed the question with good drafting and a solid base, and system in place, it would be a good of a spot as any to actually build a team around him.

I’ve been watching the dude since he was 14, and hated him since the oilers drafted him, especially living in Edmonton and dealing with the fans and media with that being all they can talk about.

Detroit might have the assets, and Montreal. Seems like the only two who could make it work.

[Vinny01]

Toronto is equally or more screwed than Edmonton. If McDavid leaves he is chasing cups and wants to be on a team where he can win some. Going to Toronto will cement his legacy as the best player to never win a cup.

If he joins Celebrini or Bedard then he likely chases cups for the bulk of his 30’s. Montreal, Utah, SJ, and Chicago all make the most sense to me. Ducks as well

[blankall]

Originally Posted by Vinny01

Toronto is equally or more screwed than Edmonton. If McDavid leaves he is chasing cups and wants to be on a team where he can win some. Going to Toronto will cement his legacy as the best player to never win a cup.

If he joins Celebrini or Bedard then he likely chases cups for the bulk of his 30’s. Montreal, Utah, SJ, and Chicago all make the most sense to me. Ducks as well

....or McKenna in Calgary? Might make more sense as McKenna is a winger.