NHL Rumor Mill – February 28, 2026
Predators forward Steven Stamkos denies he’ll waive his NMC, an update on Canucks defenseman Tyler Myers, several teams are interested in Rangers center Vincent Trocheck, and much more in today’s NHL Rumor Mill.
STEVEN STAMKOS DENIES REPORTS HE WOULD WAIVE HIS NO-MOVEMENT CLAUSE
THE TENNESSEAN: Alex Daugherty reports Steven Stamkos is denying a report from Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic that the 36-year-old Nashville Predators forward might be willing to waive his no-movement clause to go to a contender.
Stamkos said he’s never talked to Predators general manager Barry Trotz about it, adding that there was “zero chance” he’d be willing to waive his NMC.
Nashville Predators forward Steven Stamkos (NHL Images)
“Obviously, there’s stuff that gets reported,” Stamkos said. “But what I’ll say, with this group, we want to be together. I can only control what I control, but I love it here.”
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Given Stamkos’ remarks, it’s probably safe to assume that he’s not going anywhere.
In fairness, LeBrun didn’t report that Stamkos was willing to waive his clause to join a contender. He stated that the veteran forward was happy in Nashville and didn’t want to be traded.
LeBrun claimed that the Stamkos camp provided Predators management with a list of potential destinations as a preparatory move in case management approached him about a trade.
TYLER MYERS REMAINS WITH THE CANUCKS AS RUMORS SWIRL
THE PROVINCE: Patrick Johnston reported Tyler Myers was absent from the Vancouver Canucks’ practice on Friday, but the 36-year-old defenseman remains with the team amid reports of the Detroit Red Wings and Dallas Stars expressing interest in him.
Myers has a year left on his contract with a full no-movement clause for this season. He was held out of Wednesday’s game against the Winnipeg Jets for “roster management reasons”, which usually means a trade could be imminent. TSN’s Darren Dreger reported the Canucks had an offer on the table from the Red Wings, but Myers and his agent were still deliberating.
A trade to the Stars could be more appealing to Myers. His mother is from Texas, and he lived there until moving to Calgary at the age of 10 to play hockey. The Stars also placed forward Tyler Seguin on season-ending LTIR, freeing up $6 million in cap space.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Be it Detroit, Dallas, or elsewhere, Myers could be playing with a new team by the March 6 trade deadline. It’ll be interesting to see how long this plays out.
WILD, AVALANCHE, AND PENGUINS COULD BE PURSUING VINCENT TROCHECK
SPORTSNET: Elliotte Friedman reports speculation tying Vincent Trocheck to the Minnesota Wild. There’s also talk linking the 32-year-old New York Rangers center to the Colorado Avalanche, but Friedman reports his preference is to remain in the Eastern Conference.
Friedman also mentioned that there was some speculation that the Pittsburgh Penguins might pursue Trocheck, who is a Pittsburgh native. He also mentioned the Detroit Red Wings, who attempted to sign him in 2022.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Minnesota is west, but maybe not so far west that Trocheck might say no. We’ll see.
As for Pittsburgh, acquiring the 32-year-old center would pretty much go against everything that GM Kyle Dubas has been doing for the past two years, which is acquiring players in their twenties who can be part of the club’s long-term plans. Trocheck has three years left on his contract, but his effectiveness will diminish as he ages.
THE LATEST ON THE BLUES’ PLANS FOR THE TRADE DEADLINE
THE ATHLETIC: Jeremy Rutherford recently reported on what he’s been hearing about Robert Thomas, Jordan Binnington, and other St. Louis Blues players ahead of next Friday’s trade deadline.
Thomas, Binnington, Jordan Kyrou, Colton Parayko, Pavel Buchnevich, Justin Faulk, Brayden Schenn, and Cam Fowler all have some form of no-trade protection. General manager Doug Armstrong recently met with them to discuss the club’s trade deadline plans. As of Thursday, none of them had been asked to waive that protection.
It’s believed the Blues are willing to trade their older players, specifically those over 25. Thomas is 26, and Kyrou is 27, while the rest are over thirty.
Rutherford reports Armstrong’s asking price for Thomas is “three first-half-of-the-first-round assets”. That could mean an established young player, a prospect, and a draft pick who were all selected or could be chosen within the top 15 picks.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman also believes the Blues are setting high prices for some of those players. He claimed the asking price for Faulk is comparable to what the Calgary Flames received in the Rasmus Andersson trade. The Flames got an established player, a prospect, and a pair of draft picks.
LATEST CANADIENS SPECULATION
TSN: Craig Button took note of the recent speculation over whether the Florida Panthers might trade UFA-eligible goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky. The 37-year-old netminder has not yet signed a contract extension with the Panthers, resulting in trade conjecture.
Button believes a trade sending Bobrovsky to the Montreal Canadiens would make a lot of sense if the veteran netminder were open to it.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Bobrovsky has a $10 million cap hit this season. The Canadiens have roughly $1.4 million in projected trade-deadline cap room. They’ll have to move out some salary to take on the remainder of his cap hit. He also has a 16-team no-trade list and might not want to go to Montreal.
Even if it were possible, it’s doubtful the Canadiens would do it, as it would go against what they’ve been trying to build with younger talent. While their goaltending has been questionable this season, they prefer to make trades for younger players who have term left on their contracts. They’ll likely stick with their current tandem for this season.
SPORTSNET: Elliotte Friedman reports the Montreal Canadiens have “poked around” about Nashville Predators center Ryan O’Reilly, but he isn’t sure how feasible it is.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: It’s not feasible. The Predators are pushing for a playoff spot, and O’Reilly wants to stay put.
Friedman also believes the Canadiens have looked into the availability of Philadelphia Flyers defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen.
RG.ORG: Marco D’Amico reports forward help remains a priority for the Canadiens, but they’re also looking at adding a depth defenseman. He indicated that the Canadiens made a brief call to the Flyers about Ristolainen to gauge their asking price, but there was no serious push.
D’Amico said the Canadiens are open to adding some toughness to their blueline, but only if the cost makes sense for where they are in their competitive window.
TVA SPORTS: The Canadiens have been trying to move Patrik Laine for some time. Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic reported they allowed the winger’s agent to speak with other teams about a trade months ago.
MAPLE LEAFS PROJECTED TO BE SELLERS AT THE TRADE DEADLINE
RG.ORG: James Murphy reports the Toronto Maple Leafs’ flat performance coming out of the Olympic break has GM Brad Treliving listening to offers for his players who are on expiring contracts.
That includes Bobby McMann, who appears all but certain to be moved. Murphy claimed the Edmonton Oilers are among several clubs interested in the 29-year-old winger. McMann wants to stay in Toronto, but there’s no sign of progress in contract negotiations.
Murphy acknowledged the trade speculation about Maple Leafs goaltender Anthony Stolarz. However, sources suggest Joseph Woll as the more realistic trade chip. They also have Dennis Hildeby under contract, and Treliving could attempt to clear the club’s logjam in goal.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Woll and Stolarz are both signed beyond this season. Injuries in his brief NHL career have frequently sidelined Woll. He’s also easier to move than Stolarz because he lacks no-trade protection (Stolarz has an eight-team no-trade list) and a slightly more affordable cap hit than Stolarz’s $3.75 million AAV on his new contract that begins in July.
EDMONTON JOURNAL: David Staples indicated that Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman believes the Oilers have a “real interest” in Maple Leafs defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson. The Oilers are trying to move Andrew Mangiapane to free up salary-cap space, but haven’t found any takers yet for the struggling winger.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Ekman-Larsson has a 16-team no-trade list. Assuming the Oilers aren’t on it, his $3.5 million AAV through 2027-28 could be a good fit if they can shed Mangiapane’s $3.6 million AAV through next season, and if the Oilers can meet the Leafs’ asking price.
Yesterday there were some interesting comments from the Leafs faithful regarding the struggles of their team and, based on the above-mentioned speculations, perhaps they can chime in here with a reasonable explanation about the Easton Cowan situation.
Because, from this vantage point, what they’re doing with the ongoing “healthy scratch” antics involving their best prospect defies all logic. I mean, sitting on his duff game after game can’t be doing him any good, and it’s not like he’d require waivers to be sent to the Marlies as he’s clear from that until the 2028-29 season or until he reaches 160 NHL games played. He’s played all of 43!
Surely they are not still harboring hopes of making a late-season surge to get into a playoff spot? This morning they sit 14th in the Conference – and dead last in the Division – 8 points b/o Boston who hold the last WC slot at the moment with – due to Divisional configurations – the Habs in the first WC slot with 73 points, and the NYI, in the Metro, in 3rd place in that Division with 71 points.
Up to the Olympic break, it kept looking like 97 points would be the cut-off in the East to grab a WC spot, but following the flurry of games since the return to action, it suddenly looks more like it will take 99/100 as someone suggested (Howard? Owen”) a few days ago! Either way, with just 23 games and 46 potential points left to them in their schedule, to get to 97, 99 or 100 the Leafs would need to raise their % pace to .739, .783 or .804 from their current .534 by going something like 15-4-4, 16-3-4 or 17-3-3. That, given their roster construction and performances to date, (3-6-1 in their past 10 while being outscored 39-26 and 7-9-4 over their past 20 and being outscored 36-34) seems highly unlikely.
So why aren’t they using what’s left of the schedule to let Cowan gain some invaluable NHL experience? All he’s gaining now are hemorrhoids.
Maybe the TML are showcasing their UFA’s for a possible trade and Cowan will get plenty of TOI after March 6.
Since Jan 29?? That’s the last time Cowan dressed for a game – in the NHL. Nor has he played in the AHL for well over 6 weeks.
That’s ridiculous.
There’s no “showcasing” a Maccelli, Joshua, Jarnkrok or Domi … I think everyone associated with a team’s management knows exactly what they bring – or don’t – to the table.
George the simple answer is, once again this team is plagued by the wrong management. You can call it incompetence or safe, whatever the case is, this isn’t the right people to do the job.
George O
It’s become a terrible Leafs strategy to draft a player based on his skill in junior only to ask him to be a completely different player when he gets to the NHL.
Look at what they’ve done with Robertson. He scored 55 goals his last year in Peterborough while missing time to play at the WJC. Leafs draft him in the 2nd round due to his offence, then give him the run around when they call him up and play him with a bunch of stiffs for 9 minutes a night and wonder why his confidence crashed.
Same can be said for Steeves and Minten. You can’t tell me either of these two young players aren’t better than Domi, Lorentz, and Jarnkrok.
Leafs are having trouble moving the puck out of their end. Instead of calling up Villeneuve, a RH puck moving defenceman, they play Benoit or Myers or Dermis…you can put Niemeka into this category as well…never got a taste of NHL minutes.
They need to clean house. They’re wildly inconsistent. Play with zero fire, and none of them are worried they may get moved out of town or sat for poor play.
Rielly is struggling on D this year. Has he missed a shift? How about sat for poor performances?
Every player on this roster should be available. The GM and coach should be on the hot seat too
It’s like trading a 1st round pick for a 4th line center who was becoming a UFA the following season.
“Steven Stamkos is denying a report from Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic that the 36-year-old Nashville Predators forward might be willing to waive his no-movement clause to go to a contender.”
Just another example of “fake news” In our hockey world. I admit passing on such “news”. But some always matters to slip by, no matter how vigilante we are. There is so much conjecture that is passed on as gospel truth!!!!
Johnny: Pierre LeBrun is among the most respected and well-connected reporters covering the NHL. He wouldn’t have reported it if his sources weren’t solid. Either his source was misinformed (which does happen sometimes), or the Stamkos camp is trying to back away from this.
“Fake news” is deliberately reporting stories that are baseless or just made up. I can assure you that LeBrun did neither of those things.
Yes, but maybe LeBrun’s source was not unimpeachable.
Johnny: His sources are solid, but that doesn’t make them infallible. They might’ve been mistaken, which wouldn’t have been LeBrun’s fault if they’ve been reliable before. It happens sometimes. Then again, maybe his sources were right, and the Stamkos camp is backpedalling.
Remember, LeBrun’s original report states Stamkos was happy in Nashville and he didn’t want a trade. What it said was they made a preparatory list in case management approached him about a trade.
Lyle I don’t follow LeBrun’s X account or his podcasts. I get my news here and some other sources that quote the “insiders” and they usually are very condensed and not in full detail. So, the headlines were very misleading in Stammer’s case and there was not all the details that you have relayed in your account today. I did not specially say LeBrun was lying, I said basically that the report of Stammer allowing himself to go to 3 teams was false.
Johnny for someone who throws out multiple trade scenarios, many highly unlikely, I find your Friedman skepticism suspect.
Maybe Stamkos is only interested if the opportunity is in Tampa.
In general hockey rumors are either real rumors reported by a few reputable writers or just completely made up by everyone else in order to get the first scoop or just get their name in print. Anyone can make up trade rumors such as Stamkos alledgedly waiving his NMC.
And LeBrun is among the reputable writers, Barryp. He learned from the best, which was his former colleague, Bob McKenzie.
Question: If Seguin hasn’t played most of the season and makes close to 10 million. Why does Jim Nill only have 6 million to work with?…sorry, math is not strong suit.
As noted in the report, the Stars are already using over $3 million of it for LTIR purposes.
$6M more to work with because an LTIR designation allows $3+ Million right away (for all LTIR players), and the SLTIR designation allows the entire cap hit.
There are thee teams that are playoff bound that have terrible power plays and they are liable to take a flyer on Laine.
Colorado, LAK and Utah.
habfan30
Nobody is taking on Laine at 50% retained without a serious incentive. MTL will have to attach a high pick or very good prospect, to take on a one dimensional, injury prone player with a cap hit as high as Laine’s.
He’s played 5 games this year. He’s only played 80+ games over the last three seasons.
I absolutely agree Daryl that Laine has no value but given that he is a UFA at the end of the season why would Montreal retain half his salary AND attach a high draft pick/prospect to get rid of him? There a still a lot of games to be played in a condensed schedule so I say keep him and insert him in the lineup if for no other reason than to give someone the night off. You got to figure he is going to play his absolute best because he wants a contract for next year. Worst case scenario he sits and watches if he plays awful. For the life of me I don’t see why an asset needs to be thrown away.
He has shown he could put the puck in the net. That’s valuable. Injuryd and contract definitely hurt value. I doubt the Habs would need to add a sweetener. But if they retain half I bet their return is a mid round pick. It’s one of those low risk high reward moves for the obtaining team.
Exactly.
Sorry Habsfan, when a team tells a players agent that he can go out there & try to negotiate a trade with any other team, that seems like a pretty big red flag that no one wants him. Hard to believe a guy like Laine has negative value but it is what it is.
He needs to be part of a bigger package with a team with lots of cap space looking for futures. Cough….Flames…cough lol
Sorry Lyle, why is 3 million already used, aren’t they cap compliant without using his salary?
So does this mean that since Nov. we’ve been over the cap limit, and using his 10 million has counted against that? because I’m not thinking of anyone that the Stars really added after the Seguin injury except some call ups?
Just not sure how all this works
Starsfan, here’s what I could find – for what it’s worth – on the topic “how the Stars have utilized Seguin’s cap this season” –
“The Dallas Stars have utilized Tyler Seguin’s $9.85 million average annual value (AAV) contract, which runs through the 2026-27 season, primarily as a core offensive cornerstone, but have recently converted his injury into significant, flexible salary-cap relief for roster improvements.
Season-Ending IR (2025-26): Following a torn ACL in December 2025, the Stars placed Seguin on season-ending Long-Term Injured Reserve (LTIR) in February 2026. This move allowed the team to free up his full $9.85 million cap hit, providing maximum flexibility for General Manager Jim Nill to acquire talent ahead of the March 6 trade deadline.
Previous Cap Usage (2025-26): Prior to the season-ending designation, the team had been utilizing roughly $3.82 million of his cap hit as relief, which was the maximum allowable under new collective bargaining agreement (CBA) rules for temporary injuries.”
Thanks George… so it’s basically the % of what seguin used while playing this season……right?
Basically, yep. And if any GM can put it to its best use, trust Nil to do so. Sometime between now and March 6 expect some notable player to be heading to Texas.
Look up the new LTIR rules that were implemented this year by the NHL.
https://puckpedia.com/salary-cap/LTIR
Have fun!
I have no doubt that the Habs want to add grit to their line up. However, for all the speculation here is their top 4 pairing:
Matheson/Guhle;
Hutson/Dobson.
Ristolainen would be an upgrade to the D as a whole, but he’s not taking anon of their time away. So what is the sense of acquiring a 5 million D to play bottom 6 minutes? And one who is 31 with one more year afther this, outside the profile of the Habs stated targets?
This isn’t the first time D’Amico has thrown out some speculation, but if he is going to do that it should have some element of plausibility.
LJ, it was Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet who reported the Canadiens’ rumored interest in Ristolainen. D’Amico is saying they inquired but made no serious push. He’s also saying they’d like to add some “sandpaper” to their defense corps.
Yeah, sloppy on my part Lyle. Thanks.
Also think Philly is going to want alot for Risto, too much for what he brings to the table at this point in his career. Even at the best point in his entire career.
Is there not a world where the leafs mgmt goes to Matthews and nylander and ask who they would wave there no move clause for. probably wrong but I think San Jose, Anaheim, LA and NYR would be attractive markets for them. Even oustside chance Utah and Seattle.
Both have term and would be attractive to acquiring teams.
I’m assuming you could get 2 first picks a young center in Wil Smith, McTavish or Beniers. Maybe a byfield or Clarke from LA. Lafrenière or Schneider from NYR.
If you can lock up two young players and 2 firsts plus all the cap space you have a decent start to a rebuild/retool.
McTavish, Will Smith, Knies and Cowan would be a good start. I think this would reenergize the fan base and media.
Don’t be surprised if Flames don’t do much. All their guys are coming back. No UFAs.
I do think moving Kadri with money held could get them something . More importantly insure a bottom 5 pick
Can’t hold money on Coleman . Not that expensive with a contracted player coming back. Bourque in Dallas as example
Well, not quite no UFAs – they do have Lomberg and Bean approaching that status + 5 more in their AHL support.