2025/2026 Season Trade Rumours and Speculation Thread

[Enoch Root]

Originally Posted by Monahammer

I hope your bones are right, but historically speaking I highly doubt that.

In fact I will bet you basically anything that both of these players are not traded this season. One may be, but certainly not both. Our front office doesnt have it in them. They don't have the horsepower.

Well it takes a lot of ducks lining up in order to get two trades of this magnitude done in one season. So that's not exactly a bold take.

Now if you want to back up this statement:

Rasmus will not be traded.

with a bet, I'm in for anything you like.

[Enoch Root]

Originally Posted by Shazam

ok, um, thanks? But thanks for the patronizing explanation. I thought they tire kicked because they were bored and had nothing else to do.

Wasn't trying to patronize you, was simply agreeing, and running with the notion.

Apologies if it came off that way.

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by Monahammer

Phaneuf trade, Gilmour trade at the bare minimum. Happens to the flames more often than other clubs, I suspect because it is actually not GM but ownership who wakes up and makes a snap decision and pushes GM hand.

I think you just know about the Flames examples more than others.

A ton of trades happen at the draft. Those are often snap decisions.

[Monahammer]

Originally Posted by Enoch Root

Well it takes a lot of ducks lining up in order to get two trades of this magnitude done in one season. So that's not exactly a bold take.

Now if you want to back up this statement:


with a bet, I'm in for anything you like.

Plenty of teams are able to achieve this, but I agree that it is extremely unlikely that the flames ownership/management are capable.

And no, that is still a 50/50 at best. But, ask me again in January and I will probably take you up on it. I don't think they have the mental fortitude to even trade rasmus.

[Jiri Hrdina]

Originally Posted by Monahammer

Plenty of teams are able to achieve this, but I agree that it is extremely unlikely that the flames ownership/management are capable.

And no, that is still a 50/50 at best. But, ask me again in January and I will probably take you up on it. I don't think they have the mental fortitude to even trade rasmus.

Hasn't Conroy demonstrated, numerous times, that he's not going to allow UFAs to walk for nothing?

[Vinny01]

I think it is fair to question if the Flames will trade Kadri or Coleman but anyone doing the mental gymnastics to think he is not going to trade Andersson needs to step back from the ledge.

Andersson will certainly be moving. The Flames won’t turn around and give him 8x9. Rasmus is certainly playing with a ton of personal motivation to represent his country at the Olympics (and play a bigger role than he did at 4 nations) but most importantly he is looking for that big payday as this is his last long term deal. It is clear to me there will be a parting of ways for the team and Ras via a trade. With Parekh, Brustewicz, Mews and the possibility of Verhoeff there is little reason for the flames to extend Andersson and the team is likely several years away from competing.

I am going to remain optimistic that what Frank has said will be true that a team will put an offer for Kadri that the Flames will not be able to refuse to which we should be looking at the Lindholm/Markstrom return (hopefully more)

[indes]

I mean the amount of time we spend thinking through & posting scenarios on here should pale to the time the guys who get paid to do this stuff right?

[Sofa GM]

Originally Posted by Vinny01

I think it is fair to question if the Flames will trade Kadri or Coleman but anyone doing the mental gymnastics to think he is not going to trade Andersson needs to step back from the ledge.

Andersson will certainly be moving. The Flames won’t turn around and give him 8x9. Rasmus is certainly playing with a ton of personal motivation to represent his country at the Olympics (and play a bigger role than he did at 4 nations) but most importantly he is looking for that big payday as this is his last long term deal. It is clear to me there will be a parting of ways for the team and Ras via a trade. With Parekh, Brustewicz, Mews and the possibility of Verhoeff there is little reason for the flames to extend Andersson and the team is likely several years away from competing.

I am going to remain optimistic that what Frank has said will be true that a team will put an offer for Kadri that the Flames will not be able to refuse to which we should be looking at the Lindholm/Markstrom return (hopefully more)

If the Flames get to a draft position where they select Verhoeff, it is a massive fail. They have to use that position to draft high end forward skill, full stop.

[Vinny01]

Originally Posted by Sofa GM

If the Flames get to a draft position where they select Verhoeff, it is a massive fail. They have to use that position to draft high end forward skill, full stop.

You won’t see me disagreeing but if the Flames pick 4 and McKenna, Stenberg and Lawrence are gone should they pass on the Dman? I don’t think so. With the Iginla and Reschny connections I can see them being overjoyed to add Verheoff.

Personally I am with you I want the top forward

[Sofa GM]

Originally Posted by Vinny01

You won’t see me disagreeing but if the Flames pick 4 and McKenna, Stenberg and Lawrence are gone should they pass on the Dman? I don’t think so. With the Iginla and Reschny connections I can see them being overjoyed to add Verheoff.

Personally I am with you I want the top forward

Agreed, but looking at the teams the Flames are grouped with that are likely to be vying for those top picks it is likely they would take Verhoeff off the board before he got to the Flames if they are at 4.

But I 100% agree with you.

[Groot]

Originally Posted by Enoch Root

100%

It is going to be fascinating to see how it plays out because just about every team could make just about any case they wanted.

I think this adds to why you see GM's wait until after the Olympics for any meaningful trade. Standings will be clearer by then, there will be more accrued cap space, and any potential injury at the Olympics will have passed.

*All rough, quick calculations*

Each Olympic team carries 22 skaters and 3 goalies (not including goalies in this calculation). There's 12 teams so 264 skaters. Not all are NHL players, Switzerland only has 7 out of 22. Other teams have 22/22. Assume 70% of participants are NHL players so 185 NHL players participating. There were 726 players on opening day NHL rosters. Remove 64 goalies and that's 662 skaters. So 185 out of 662 skaters participate or 27.9% of skaters.

That's nearly 1/3 of the league. I imagine GM's are leery about committing resources and then seeing a key injury over the Olympics which would derail any plan. I think most GM's will have a plan and barring anything unforseen you see them pull the trigger post-Olympics with a flurry of activity.

[Bingo]

Originally Posted by Monahammer

Seems to me like we are about to be sold on team culture again. I feel it in my bones.

Rasmus will not be traded.

Hasn't talked to his agent since September, but you think they'll reverse course and get him signed?

That tells you the agent hasn't been approached by the Flames.
The agent hasn't been approached by Andersson.

I give that 5%.

[Bingo]

Originally Posted by Monahammer

Phaneuf trade, Gilmour trade at the bare minimum. Happens to the flames more often than other clubs, I suspect because it is actually not GM but ownership who wakes up and makes a snap decision and pushes GM hand.

Think you'll need to show your work on that one.

[Groot]

Originally Posted by Bingo

Think you'll need to show your work on that one.

Murray Edwards is so bad, he manipulated the Gilmour trade 2 years before he was even an owner!

[Wolven]

Originally Posted by Sandman

Some tidbits from nhltraderumors:

-Buffalo might trade G Ukko Pekka-Luukkonen before next year's draft, as his no-trade protection starts in July.

-Rob Couch lists 4 players that the Sabres should move on from: G Alex Lyon, D Owen Power, LW Jordan Greenway, and LW Beck Malenstyn.

This is more fun than the other stuff...

Getting Power would be amazing. I just cannot see how the Flames could put together a package that entices the Sabres. Perhaps it is because I do not see any glaring holes in their roster outside of RD depth and maybe G, but I think their goaltending situation is more of a team issue than an actual problem with the guy playing goalie. What they really need is new coaches, management, and probably ownership too.

I guess one would try to build a package around Kuznetsov and Brzustewicz to try and get Power? A couple of strong, stable defenders instead of a flashy expensive guy... probably not.

Originally Posted by Sandman

Some tidbits from nhltraderumors:

-Kypreos says that Chris Tanev and the Leafs are deciding on whether or not surgery is an option, in order to get him back "before the end of the season". Damn.

-4 teams in the Quinn Hughes sweepstakes are the Devils (of course), Rangers, Penguins, and Red Wings.

-3 destinations for the Blues' D Justin Faulk: Carolina, Detroit, and Dallas.

So Faulk is the main competition for Andersson. Faulk has a 15 team no trade list, which gives him a lot of control, and a $6.5M cap hit with one more year on his contract. He plays ~22 minutes on average and has 15 points on the season.

Hughes is higher profile, sure, but he is also a LD that never plays on the right side (so not really competition) and the list of teams in on Hughes doesn't really overlap with the RD market.

Andersson's smaller cap hit, bigger minutes, and more points definitely sets the pecking order with Faulk. It will be interesting to see who goes first and whether teams wait for Andersson to move before looking at Faulk or visa versa.

The bit about Tanev definitely reinforces the idea that the Leafs should be looking to add a RD this season if they do not think they can get Tanev back.

Originally Posted by Sandman

Some tidbits from nhltraderumors:

-Michael DeRosa list 3 teams he thinks are in the hunt for Blake Coleman: Colorado, Dallas, New Jersey.

-LA is looking for secondary scoring.

-Pagnotta suggests that with injuries to Seguin, who may go on LTIR, the Dallas Stars may try to add Coleman AND Andersson.

The injury to Seguin definitely changes things for the Stars this season... but man does that cap structure get messy next summer. I also struggle with the return. Bischel would be a good starting point but he is definitely not enough to get Coleman AND Andersson and they do not have much else of interest to add. Late 1st round pick and B prospects? Pretty Meh.

Also, acquiring Bischel would create a bit of a logjam with Bahl, Kuznetsov, and Bischel all wanting top 4 time on LD and still have a glaring hole in the one position we need to fill. Note: The logjam is not the end of the world but creating a logjam in LD when you desperately need to fill another position (C) is not ideal asset management.

So much hurry up and wait.

[Jay Random]

Originally Posted by Enoch Root

Each organization has TEAMS of people working on these things full time. The cap implications of every possible deal they might be considering, are already calculated, for instance - you don't sit around waiting until you're about to make a trade before saying "hey Bob, what are the cap implications if we trade XXXX?"

It's gotten to be like military planning. There are people at NATO HQ and in the Pentagon who spend their time planning and wargaming every conceivable scenario, even the ones that appear impossibly silly. There is zero chance the U.S. will go to war with, say, Latvia, but somebody has worked out a detailed operational plan for an invasion of Latvia – or else they're not doing their job. Similarly, I suspect every team in the NHL has a starting offer already planned for snagging McDavid in case the Oilers lost their marbles and decided to deal him.

(Of course the plans never work out just so. As Mike Tyson said, everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face. But you don't win the fight, or the trade, if you haven't got a decent plan going in.)

Originally Posted by Bingo

And the never seen before level of parity is likely slowing things down considerably.

This is true, and vexing!

Originally Posted by Bonded

Or one day a GM wakes up and decides to make an awful trade without really shopping them/ The Flames have had a few

GMs who do that tend to get fired soon after. It's a career wrecker.

[Geeoff]

If I had to choose between keeping Andersson, Kadri or Coleman, I'd keep Andersson just because I think he has more high level years left

[Vinny01]

Originally Posted by Geeoff

If I had to choose between keeping Andersson, Kadri or Coleman, I'd keep Andersson just because I think he has more high level years left

That’s kind of Wild because Andersson will require an 8 year deal likely over $8M per year. I don’t think he will come close to living up to that deal.

Kadri makes the most sense to keep because the team is short on centers, he has the most term remaining, and is the best player of the 3

[Bingo]

They need to move Andersson, but I'll miss the guy.

One of my favourites.
Home grown, solid minute munching defenseman with a hilarious edge.
Good interview.
Good in the room.

[D as in David]

Originally Posted by Bingo

They need to move Andersson, but I'll miss the guy.

One of my favourites.
Home grown, solid minute munching defenseman with a hilarious edge.
Good interview.
Good in the room.

I will miss all three, but they need to go. Eventually.