2025/2026 Season Trade Rumours and Speculation Thread

[The Yen Man]

Originally Posted by GioforPM

I'm not sure you can call finishing last, and getting lotteried by Edmonton for McDavid "lucky". And Eichel's a good player but in a redraft I'm not sure he goes top 3. Marner, Rantanen, Kaprizov probably go ahead. Aho and Connor aren't far behind either.

Lol, you're kidding right? 10/10 I take Eichel over all those players. All those players have similar production, except they are wingers, and Eichel is well ahead of Aho as a centre.

[ComixZone]

Originally Posted by The Yen Man

Lol, you're kidding right? 10/10 I take Eichel over all those players. All those players have similar production, except they are wingers, and Eichel is well ahead of Aho as a centre.

Yeah, it's Franchise Centre, Stanley Cup Champion Jack Eichel all day.

[Sandman]

If we’re trading with Canadian teams, I would suggest Montreal or Winnipeg as partners- they have many WONDERFUL prospects that they could part with, without batting an eye. Vancouver has Braeden Cootes, but it’s doubtful that they would consider trading him.

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by The Yen Man

Lol, you're kidding right? 10/10 I take Eichel over all those players. All those players have similar production, except they are wingers, and Eichel is well ahead of Aho as a centre.

They don't have similar production.

Eichel is just under a PPG historically (617/620). Rantanen is consistently well above PPG (710/655), so is Kaprizov (395/323), so is Marner (745/661).

And I said Aho and Connor were just behind him and they are (635/680 and 587/616).

[Macho0978]

Originally Posted by GioforPM

They don't have similar production.

Eichel is just under a PPG historically (617/620). Rantanen is consistently well above PPG (710/655), so is Kaprizov (395/323), so is Marner (745/661).

And I said Aho and Connor were just behind him and they are (635/680 and 587/616).

Eichel is a 2-way superstar center and better than anyone you listed.

Eichel is right there with Draisaitl, Barkov and Matthews just behind McDavid and Mackinnon.

[blankall]

Originally Posted by Monahammer

I would move anyone not named Wolf, Coronato, or Parekh.

It should be open season on our players.

Edit: I should add any prospect drafted in the last two years to the list. So, Reschny, Gridin, Potter etc.

If you trade guys like Zary you end up with a team with no depth on it and you burn the good years of your franchise players trying to find that depth.

Obviously, if there's a deal you can't refuse, for example a trade involving Zary for a #1 centre prospect, then you do it, but a team needs to be always looking towards the future. By this logic, even a player like Parekh is on the board. What if someone drafts McKenna, and he pulls a Lindros, stating he won't play in X city.

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by Macho0978

Eichel is a 2-way superstar center and better than anyone you listed.

Eichel is right there with Draisaitl, Barkov and Matthews just behind McDavid and Mackinnon.

Disagree. His production is way off of them and he's really not that great defensively (he does play with a great two way winger though). He's nowhere near Barkov or Mackinnon or even Matthews as a two way centre.

[blankall]

Originally Posted by GioforPM

They don't have similar production.

Eichel is just under a PPG historically (617/620). Rantanen is consistently well above PPG (710/655), so is Kaprizov (395/323), so is Marner (745/661).

And I said Aho and Connor were just behind him and they are (635/680 and 587/616).

Winning the Stanley Cup is the goal, not having a player who can come top 5 in regular season scoring. Eichel is a proven commodity when it comes to winning a cup.

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by blankall

Winning the Stanley Cup is the goal, not having a player who can come top 5 in regular season scoring. Eichel is a proven commodity when it comes to winning a cup.

Lots of centres have been on cup winning teams. Eichel has won as many cups as O'Reilly and Kadri. Brayden Point and Sam Bennett have more (and Bennett has a Conn Smythe).

[Jason14h]

Originally Posted by blankall

If you trade guys like Zary you end up with a team with no depth on it and you burn the good years of your franchise players trying to find that depth.

Obviously, if there's a deal you can't refuse, for example a trade involving Zary for a #1 centre prospect, then you do it, but a team needs to be always looking towards the future. By this logic, even a player like Parekh is on the board. What if someone drafts McKenna, and he pulls a Lindros, stating he won't play in X city.

Depth is irrelevant in the NHL

Flames fans are the only ones who care about depth

Star power is what wins

[Macho0978]

Originally Posted by blankall

If you trade guys like Zary you end up with a team with no depth on it and you burn the good years of your franchise players trying to find that depth.

Obviously, if there's a deal you can't refuse, for example a trade involving Zary for a #1 centre prospect, then you do it, but a team needs to be always looking towards the future. By this logic, even a player like Parekh is on the board. What if someone drafts McKenna, and he pulls a Lindros, stating he won't play in X city.

You you are planning a team, any good GM will find depth for the 3rd and 4th line through the system and trades/free agency. Most teams have 2-3 vets that have declined but still can play a big role on the 3rd and 4th lines. If you are a cup contender, vets will sign cheap to try and win a cup.

You need to be planning your top 6 forwards right now, your core is the key.

You also have to plan future draft picks as some of the picks we select in 26/27/28 also could be core players.

If we end up with a top 5 pick, that player will be our top prospect. Even if it isn't McKenna. Could be building block #1. Wolf and Parekh are also building block #1 type players. Parekh is 19 and Wolf is 24.

Gridin stock as a core player is on the rise. He is 19.

Reschny is probably our #1 prospect not playing on the Flames. He is 18.

Coronato is our top young forward, he is 22(23 in November)

Other than Wolf, we could be looking at our 4 core pieces being 17-22 right now. You have 5 years to figure it out.

Does Zary fit in the core? Sure, but so does Coronato. He's signed long term. There are only 2 centers and 4 wingers spots in the top 6.

We need a franchise center at some point, I hope we draft 1. Maybe in 2026, but that player is not on the roster yet. Long term I have at least 4 players/prospect forwards ahead of Zary already and that does not include future 1st round picks.

As fans we don't have to make the call, but the main core of this team is very young and probably 5 years out. Zary is 24 and playing 4th line right now. Clearly, he doesn't deserve that but at that age on this team, he clearly is not a franchise type player, otherwise he would not be 4th line. He could be a very good 2nd line center, but he will be 29 and UFA status by the time the rest of the core is ready. You can keep him, but if you get a good return, he is very tradeable.

[Burning Beard]

Originally Posted by Jason14h

Depth is irrelevant in the NHL

Flames fans are the only ones who care about depth

Star power is what wins

Oilers (s### depth) vs Panthers (great depth) sure begs to differ with this bold statement.

[Macho0978]

Originally Posted by Jason14h

Depth is irrelevant in the NHL

Flames fans are the only ones who care about depth

Star power is what wins

I don't think it is irrelevant. I do think that fans often want young star potential depth when all you need is good role players who accept that role. Typically, veteran players.

[Jason14h]

Originally Posted by Burning Beard

Oilers (s### depth) vs Panthers (great depth) sure begs to differ with this bold statement.

The Oilers went to back to back finals with no depth

That’s the argument ? Wish we had that problem


The Panthers “depth” is hall of famers on their 3rd line in marchant haha

[Burning Beard]

Originally Posted by Jason14h

The Oilers went to back to back finals with no depth

That’s the argument ? Wish we had that problem


The Panthers “depth” is hall of famers on their 3rd line in marchant haha

Why is your argument depth is irrelevant then? Seems it isn't if it beat the back to back finals Oilers.

[dissentowner]

Originally Posted by Jason14h

The Oilers went to back to back finals with no depth

That’s the argument ? Wish we had that problem


The Panthers “depth” is hall of famers on their 3rd line in marchant haha

The Oilers went back to back with a ridiculously stacked PP. Their bottom 6 was not exactly great.

[Jason14h]

Originally Posted by Burning Beard

Why is your argument depth is irrelevant then? Seems it isn't if it beat the back to back finals Oilers.

The players on Floridas 3rd line aren’t depth players .

They have guys like Rodriguez , Lundell and Marchant playing on their 3rd line

That would be better or as good as the Flames first line

Worrying about trading pieces for stars because of “depth” is nonsensical but something Flames fans seem to worry about since the early 2000s

Go get your 5-6 stars first , and worry about the fillers after . Not the other way around

[Jason14h]

Originally Posted by dissentowner

The Oilers went back to back with a ridiculously stacked PP. Their bottom 6 was not exactly great.

Exactly . Depth doesn’t matter . Stars do

[SuperMatt18]

And the Florida scenario isn't just "depth".

It's "Stars + Depth", and there is a big difference there.

I think in the end it's Stars + Depth that wins championships.

Being too top heavy with just stars won't do it (Edmonton is the closest but they have 2 of the top 3 players in the NHL, impossible to replicate), and having just depth won't do it come playoff time. You need to have Stars + Depth.

Florida, Vegas, Tampa Bay...all the recent cup winners had the high end stars + depth when they won their cups.

[GioforPM]

The seas parted for the Oilers in two consecutive runs. They were handled easily by Fla (albeit the Panthers set up sweep and then coasted in the first year).

The Oilers had better depth in their second run and were never really a threat in the finals.