Real Kyper's Trade Board 8.0: What to expect during draft week and beyond

The build up to the NHL Draft on Friday has been busy with trades and even more trade talk, so I'll take another pass at my trade board today and this evening. First, some of the latest buzz I'm hearing...

• Dallas is taking more calls on Jason Robertson in the past few days. They're aware of where the market is moving. It doesn't sound like matching Mikko Rantanen's $12 million AAV would be enough for Robertson, which means if teams are talking about $14-million plus on potential offer sheets or extensions, then Dallas is going to have to be north of Rantanen and they may not be willing to do that.

• Add Robertson's name to the list of players that have turned down a trade to the Seattle Kraken, a list that also includes Jordan Kyrou, Robert Thomas and Panarin before him. 

As Elliotte Friedman reported, Seattle offered him "approximately $15 million per year on an eight-year deal," but he declined to go there. I'm hearing the Stars are none too happy that Robertson turned down the contract offer, as they had a trade worked out with the Kraken that included three first-round picks, possibly including the seventh overall pick on Friday.

• Despite the trade noise around goaltender Connor Hellebuyck, things seem relatively quiet around him at the moment. 

The Jets, who have Hellebuyck under contract at a very comfortable $8.5 million for the next five years, may not be feeling the same pressure points that a team like Ottawa did with Brady Tkachuk, or Detroit is with Dylan Larkin’s public request going into the draft weekend that they don’t have to trade him at all. 

They will, however, consider serious deals that need to include impactful players right away.

Florida refused to trade Anton Lundell to Ottawa, but that won’t keep the Jets from asking for a package that could include him and perhaps Eetu Luostarinen.

• Interesting to hear the about-face on Morgan Rielly in Toronto. Recently, John Chayka had asked Rielly's camp for a list of teams he'd be willing to go to and as I had written earlier, there's not that strong of a market. When Chayka found out there wasn't much of a market, the alternative was to keep Rielly and see where things lie after 20 games or so next season.

• Dougie Hamilton is someone I'm taking off the list because the Devils moved Simon Nemec and Hamilton may be Sunny Mehta's strongest analytical defenceman left. With Nemec out, there is no longer a pressing need to move Hamilton.

As mentioned above, the Jets don't feel the same pressure to deal their star as other before them in Vancouver (Quinn Hughes), Ottawa (Brady Tkachuk) and currently with Detroit (Larkin). And there's no indication he has asked for a trade yet. But speculation continues.

The 33-year-old netminder did not have his best NHL season in 2025-26, but starred at the Olympics and excelled on the biggest stage. Now he wants to have that same shot in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Are the Jets a team he can still do that with? Hellebuyck has a full no-movement clause for one more season on his contract before it turns to partial protection. Winnipeg has a few roster needs – namely a No. 2 centre – that a Hellebuyck trade could address, but that would in turn leave them with far more uncertainty in the crease. Whatever happens here is almost entirely in Hellebuyck’s control.

As Toronto’s new front office puts its mark on this roster, with clear intentions of being a playoff team again in 2027, they are considering almost every option and Knies is caught up in that. A 23-year-old winger with excellent size and upside after a career-best 63-point season, the Maple Leafs are listening to the many calls they’re getting on Knies to weigh the potential returns. While a deadline deal with Montreal nearly came to pass and will be explored again with the Canadiens, there are several other teams with plenty of interest.

Regardless of whether they trade Knies or not, the Leafs are looking for a buyer in the event John Chayka can hit a home run. That would need to work around a return of two roster players and a draft pick coming back. 

Zach Werenski is becoming an issue in Columbus the same way Brady Tkachuk became an issue in Ottawa. A trade involving Werenski may or may not happen this week, but I'm prepared to have him on my trade board through the summer and into next season until a deal is made or, perhaps, an extension is signed, which he's not eligible to do until 2027.

There is a link to Toronto here and it's that Werenski's agent, Judd Moldaver, is the same as Auston Matthews' and they both have contracts expiring in two years. The first question is: would Werenski be willing to come to Toronto? The second question is, if so, what kind of offer would it take from the Leafs to get him from Columbus? Would a deal around Matthew Knies and Colorado's 2027 first-round pick be a good place to start? Does prospect defenceman Ben Danford excite anyone after his performance in the Calder Cup playoffs? Would the Jackets want to explore having Rielly in this package? If Werenski is willing to come up north and Columbus acts as quickly as Ottawa did with Tkachuk, this could be a go big or go home chance for Toronto.

Tippett is in the same category as Knies in that a team is really going to have to blow the socks off GM Daniel Briere to get a deal done. There is value in shopping him right now because there is flexibility on his trade list, which has just 10 "no-trade" teams. Briere is willing to listen, but Tippett is getting healthy again after an internal bleeding issue kept him out of the second round of the playoffs. He's going to start lifting weights again this week and will be back. The only reason he's on my trade board is because the Flyers are interested in shaking things up and exploring all their options trying to get the team to the next level.

The Oilers would like to find a trade partner for Nurse, and the defenceman, whose contract has a no-movement clause, has told the organization he’d like to be traded. Now, can the right return be found? Though Nurse’s $9.25 million AAV is staggering, don’t underestimate how many teams are exploring the possibility of trading for him. With a no-move clause, Nurse is in control of his destiny for one more year before his contract goes to a 10-team list. I'm hearing his preference right now is Philadelphia, where he has family ties to his quarterback uncle Donovan McNabb. However, the rival Pittsburgh Penguins may also be a factor here. Kyle Dubas has his eye on Nurse and wants to add muscle to the back end.

Frustration and lack of playoff games finally got Larkin to a point where he requested a trade from Detroit with multiple years left on his contract and a full no-trade clause. While Larkin will have some control over his next destination because of that clause, GM Steve Yzerman also has control over whether Larkin gets traded at all. There is a strong push for Larkin to expand his list of teams he’s willing to go to. Yzerman will not move him if he feels he’s getting squeezed. Look for Yzerman's former assistant GM, Pat Verbeek, to try and get in on this. However, it appears Larkin's destination of choice is Dallas.

It’s a big week for Robertson and the Stars, as we creep towards July 1 when the 45-goal scorer could be a target for an offer sheet. It would no doubt take an exceedingly high number for the Stars to not match, however. Instead, it’s an important few days to see if these two sides can come together on a multi-year extension worth more than $12 million AAV to lock in Robertson, or if they instead trade him for a large package. As we now know, a trade and contract with the Kraken was rejected, so the Stars are looking elsewhere.

The Blue Jackets acquired a winger earlier on Thursday, picking up Valeri Nichushkin from Colorado, but might they move out another this weekend? Kirill Marchenko's name is out there, and Eric Engels reported that Montreal is one of the teams poking around on him. Marchenko has been around 30 goals and 70 points two years in a row now and will be due for an extension by next summer when he'll be an RFA.

As has been the case since the middle of the season, New York is searching for the return it wants on Trocheck as they try to get younger this summer. Teams around the league are starved for centres and Trocheck, at 32 years old, is one of the more experienced ones still capable of providing key minutes in big games as evidenced by his play at the Olympics. 

Binnington was great for Canada at the Olympics but his NHL season was a lot rockier with an .873 save percentage. It’s time for Joel Hofer to take over the crease in St. Louis, so rather than have Binnington walk to free agency in 2027, the better course of action for St. Louis is to trade him this summer. Turning 33 in July, there is plenty of reasons to believe Binnington could have a bounce back season in an environment that provides a defensive style in front of him that protects his weaknesses a little better than the Blues were capable of. What happens with Binnington could play off the domino effect of what happens to Bobrovsky in Florida.

Toronto’s sign and trade for Darren Raddysh brings them in a new PP1 quarterback with a booming shot. That doesn’t necessarily mean Rielly has to be traded, but it certainly opens the possibility even more now that Toronto knows it has a capable, right shot, replacement. It’s believed that Rielly’s no-movement clause will not be an issue if it comes time to ask him to waive. The Leafs are set to be aggressive in their approach to this off-season and moving Rielly is among the many things GM John Chayka could do.

An RFA this summer, Nikishin showed well in his first full NHL season at 24 years of age, but his name is out there because the Hurricanes probably feel they won't be able to afford him over the long term and want to get ahead of the cap situation. Then again, Jalen Chatfield has one more season left on his contract and the feeling is he may be able to pull in $6-7 million per season. The Canes may have to choose between them, trading one while re-signing the other.

Vegas has just $4.625 million in cap space, and all indications are that pending UFA Rasmus Andersson will re-sign, so the Golden Knights have to unload money. They're going to try with Adin Hill (more on him below), but they also want to take a run at re-signing RFA Pavel Dorofeyev, which might cost them Hertl. He could draw interest from Minnesota, who we know needs another centre and wanted to take a run at Evgeni Malkin before he re-signed in Pittsburgh.

The Canucks, under new leadership from GM Ryan Johnson, are one of the few teams that could tear it down this summer and into next season. For a winger with 25-goal upside – and even the potential to reach 30 on the right line – DeBrusk’s cap hit is very manageable and he’s signed for several more seasons. He will turn 30 in October and, like Rielly, is not likely to use his no-movement clause to get in the way of moving on from the Canucks. 

Two years removed from an 89-point season, and three years past a 101-point season, Pettersson is still in his prime age range at 27 years old and could really use a change of scenery. The Canucks won’t be eager to so easily cut ties for just the salary dump, but would want to get prospects or draft picks to help them rebuild. Despite two soft seasons of offensive production, the upside of Pettersson is still tantalizing. It’s not often centres with point-per-game potential come available in trade, but the key question becomes: is there a team that believes he can get back to that level on their roster?

With a new management structure in Vancouver led by the Sedins, there is a sense the club could be more flexible in retaining salary if the right trade came along. 

After Carter Hart took over Vegas’ crease in the playoffs, Hill did not find his way into any action even after Hart started to struggle a bit more in the final. The Golden Knights are another team close to the salary cap, with UFA Rasmus Andersson and RFA Pavel Dorofeyev their most important expiring contracts to figure out. Ideally, Vegas wants to keep both. Given that Vegas was reluctant to use Hill in the playoffs, you have to think it's a top priority to lose his $6.5 million AAV as soon as possible.

We continue to watch the market on Wright, the fourth overall pick from 2022, who had a 17-point dip in production this season. As I wrote last week, the Kraken are under more pressure than ever from ownership to show progress on the ice and it’s clear their top desire is to add more scoring this summer. Wright might be able to help them attain that player. As disappointing as his 27-point season was, he’s still a 22-year-old centre another team might want to try and get more out of. 

While Zacha isn't making too much money for next season, the Bruins may look to trade him this summer because they don't like his price point in regards to what his next contract would be when the current one expires in 2027. Another centre to add to the market, a position teams covet greatly.

There’s a very good chance Ristolainen is finally traded this summer before he heads into the final year of his contract. He’ll turn 32 in October, shoots right, and is a huge blueliner who was a positive in helping get the Flyers to the playoffs when he was available, and contributed five points in 10 post-season games. Look for the Oilers to be a team with lots of interest here.

As noted on the last trade board, the Flames are open to just about everything as they continue tearing down the present to rebuild the future. Coleman stands as their team representative here and is the one who would most likely bring back the best return.

As we've mentioned at spots throughout this piece, the Penguins have interest in several players as they look to move forward after a good season. But I'm hearing Rakell's name come up as a possible trade candidate as they look to make those changes and maybe shed some salary cap to do it. The same goes for Tommy Novak, who makes $3.5 million against the cap for one more season.

Buffalo needs to free up money this summer and did so by moving out Bowen Byram and Jordan Greenway. Another one to watch is Zucker, who will make $4.75 million against the cap for one more season.

The Rangers had interest in Brady Tkachuk before he was moved to Florida, but it doesn't sound like that went anywhere. Chris Drury wants to make his team tougher and nastier and is considering many ways to achieve that. Lafreniere's name as a trade candidate has popped up, but he makes a lot of money and has a lot of term left on his contract, so it's unclear if they could move him for the type of return they'd find acceptable. We should consider that Lafreniere has one more season without any trade protection in his contract before he gets a modified no-trade list. Give the Rangers your best offer they can't turn down and Lafreniere could be had, but is that offer out there?

Teams have been kicking tires on the defenceman for the last year and a half and will continue to do so this summer. However, New York's problem is that if they move Schneider, they would want a comparable player in return. I'm not sure how probable this is to happen anymore, but he remains on my list because there is certainly league-wide interest.

As the Kraken look to make changes, Kakko is another young asset they'll try to turn over in some way. It's unclear if the market is strong enough for Seattle to make the move. He'll turn 26 midway through next season and has a career-high of 44 points.

Traded off Kyper's Board: Jordan Kyrou, Simon Nemec, Bowen Byram, Jordan Greenway, Valeri Nichushkin, Mason McTavish, Brandon Carlo, Evan Rodrigues, Jacob Markstrom