NHL Rumor Mill – September 15, 2026
Check out the latest on Connor Hellebuyck, Cutter Gauthier, Adam Fantilli, and Alexander Nikishin in today’s NHL Rumor Mill.
THE ATHLETIC’S Murat Ates cited a clip of TSN’s Darren Dreger explaining why Winnipeg Jets goaltender Connor Hellebuyck hasn’t been traded yet.
Winnipeg Jets goaltender Connor Hellebuyck (NHL Images).
According to Dreger, the offers for Hellebuyck were “terrible”. The 33-year-old netminder has a full no-movement clause, but there are “more than a few teams” that he’d be willing to go to.
However, Dreger claimed most of those teams have decent goaltending. While some see the three-time Vezina Trophy winner as an upgrade, they want him at a discount price, which the Jets can’t do.
Dreger also dismissed suggestions of trading Hellebuyck to the Edmonton Oilers or Montreal Canadiens. “He’s not waiving to stay in Canada,” he said.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Ates felt this could be humbling for Hellebuyck. It also makes it difficult for general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff to find a suitable return.
The more immediate question is whether Hellebuyck reports to training camp if Cheveldayoff hasn’t moved him by then. We won’t have to wait long to find out.
NEW JERSEY HOCKEY NOW: James Nichols took note of Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman last week claiming he was getting mixed messages regarding Hellebuyck and the Devils. “For a time, I heard they weren’t interested. I know some people think they are.”
Nichols is skeptical that the Devils want Hellebuyck. He pointed out that first-year GM Sunny Mehta has already addressed his goaltending by shipping Jacob Markstrom to Florida, re-signing Nico Daws, and adding David Rittich.
The Devils lack the salary-cap space to take on Hellebuyck’s $8.5 million AAV this season. They also don’t have a suitable goalie to offer up to the Jets as part of the return.
Nichols also noted that acquiring Hellebuyck would use tradable assets that might be required to land Quinn Hughes if the Minnesota Wild defenseman becomes available before the March 1 trade deadline.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The Devils reportedly looked into acquiring Hughes before he was traded to the Wild by the Vancouver Canucks last December. It’s no secret that he wants to play alongside his brothers Jack and Luke one day. Acquiring Hellebuyck could put that dream on the back burner.
THE ATHLETIC: Pierre LeBrun reports the Anaheim Ducks have made progress in contract talks with restricted free agent winger Cutter Gauthier. Both sides remain determined to get a deal done before training camp opens later this week.
LeBrun speculated that the 21-year-old Gauthier could get a six-year deal with an AAV between $13 million and $14 million.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Gauthier reportedly rejected a four-year deal worth $13 million annually. If this gets done, it could be closer to $14 million.
As for Columbus Blue Jackets center Adam Fantilli, LeBrun reports the negotiations continue, but things are moving slowly. Both sides still have a substantial gap to overcome
Carolina Hurricanes defenseman Alexander Nikishin “requested a change of scenery” after last season. According to LeBrun’s sources, the 24-year-old blueliner has not backed off from that request.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: That explains why Nikishin surfaced in the rumor mill in June after the Hurricanes won the Stanley Cup. He’s a restricted free agent after completing his entry-level contract last season and is ineligible to receive an offer sheet.
Nikishin has been linked to the St. Louis Blues and Nashville Predators. It’s also been suggested that he’d have to be part of the return to the Jets if the Hurricanes attempt to acquire Connor Hellebuyck.
That’s why Ates and Dreger get the big bucks. For telling us that Hellebuyck hasn’t been traded because the Jets haven’t yet been offered a suitable return. Something we couldn’t figure out for ourselves.
The Habs wouldn’t trade for Hellebuyck even if he was willing. They’re happy for now with Dobes and Fowler and don’t want to trade assets needed to fill other needs for a goalie well into his 30s.
The offers for Helley were “terrible”.
Who woulda thunk it?
Howard, I understand you could figure that out, not sure everyone on this site did, judging from some of the suggested returns might be.
It’s hard to trade expensive players in a cap world. Even harder when they are 33 and signed for 5 more years. Even harder when the player wants to go to a good team, as those generally spend $ to sign their current good players. Even harder when the Jets want a quality roster player(s) in return as those team are trying to win now.
Even harder when it’s a goalie.
Decision time for Chevvy, and if he doesn’t give in, it’s decision time for Helley. I can’t see him sitting out, he doesn’t seem like that guy. He’s been playing with some of these guys for a very long time, there has to be some loyalty to his mates there.
Lol
The Devils offered Jake Allen and David Rittich for Hellyebuck.
Not sure why the Jets turned that down…
Can you share your source on this?????
That never happened.
I agree Slick. Solid signing and I think the NMT clause was a hurdle. Hes got one for his first 4 years and then it gets r moved. I think that’s fair. All the top boys are locked up now for a bit. Next biggest contract will be Zub. That could be an interesting scenario. Great player, elite shutdown guy, but he has had his injuries.
Yeah, Owen, Zub will definitely take some deep, serious contemplation leading up to his next contract negotiations.
He turns 31 on October 3 so, for starters, a long-term deal is out of the question, even before taking into account that, since joining the Senators, he has missed a full 17% of his games, although the fact he did manage to play in 81 this past season.
But over the 246 games over the previous 3 seasons the missing % vaulted to close to 28%. So I doubt that there will be any extension in his case until closer to the end of the season … and maybe not even until the season is concluded (and, depending upon how their season is progressing, he could become a trade-rental at Trade Deadline Day).
Another factor will be the progress this season of younger D like Yakemchuk, Matinpalo and the crop in Belleville.
Oh are they? Habs better pray Dobes is actually the real deal and not going to suffer some kind of sophomore skid they way these kids do. Goaltending is about as thin as actual defensemen on this team. Smallish, soft high scoring forwards. Smallish soft high scoring defense. And fingers crossed goaltending. But every pundit is handing montreal the cup?
They’re starting to look like Toronto from a few years ago.
My predictions – the Habs are .500 at the allstar break and Kakhenen is their starting goalie by then.
Dark G are you trolling or are you really that much of a Mtl hater?
Kahkonen is their 4th string goalie, so where are the other 3 going that you are dismissing by the all-star break?
No team in the league are a season ending injury to their best player away from falling to the bottom 10 (like Flo last year with Barkov). Plus I’ll admit they aren’t the largest team in the league but they aren’t going to disappear even if you hope they will.
Smart move by getting Batherson locked up for next 9 years. After Brady bolting, having a guy that’s committed is a nice change. Benefitted from crazy jump in salaries around league and is only top paid on team cause all the other stars are already locked up long term. Ottawa in good place imo
From what I can tell there’s only 6 USA teams with the cap space for Hellebuyck. Others would need to trade rostered players they might not want to part with. Especially if it wouldn’t be a huge upgrade in net for those teams.
I’m sticking with Detroit as landing spot.
Wings took the training wheels off Horcoff, sort of. They named him Interim GM, and are allowing him to do the duties of a GM. (With Chris Illich looking over his every move!)
What a bad joke the Red Wings have become. So does this mean that Horcoff MIGHT have the authority to negotiate Edvinsson’s contract so he can suit up for the new season?
As a long time Wing’s fan, what this team has become is a farce and a joke. Mike Illitch needs to sell the team to someone who cares, like his dad did.
Johnny Z, while I understand the importance of “due dilligence” when seeking to hire an NHL coach OR GM, what’s transpiring (or, more precisely, NOT transpiring) in Detroit is now bordering on the ridiculous, with training camp opening this week and not one, but possibly TWO major transactions hanging fire.
Hey, a bit of a reach but….
In an ever dwindling trade market for Helle, does Horcoff offer to bring him back home to Michigan and somewhat sooth his USA Olympian buddy Larkin buy flipping a package of Gibson with maybe someone like Sandin-Pellikka and home town boy Bear ? It would probably be the best deal that Chevy would see and smooth over some hurt feelings in Detroit.
Gibson has a NMC and Detroit isn’t giving up two former first round picks with scoring potential for a 33 year old goalie.
Keep saying 3 months, it has been 2 months not 3
Hellebuyck is not getting a return of perceived Winnipeg value. I don’t think it will get better with time and the rumoured Buffalo deal at the draft might have been a missed opportunity..
If you can get Nikishin Kochetkov and a pick take it.
Nikishin, Nadeau, and a 1st might get it done… But CAR could get cutesy, and insist on KK being included (maybe for a slightly cheaper Iafallo or DeMelo?)
Buffalo deal a missed opportunity? The one that involved the Jets pointless swapping their 8th pick for the 4th and may have also seen boat anchor contract Josh Norris headed to Winnipeg? Nah all around.
The way the Wings have handled their GM search (and continue it) just bolsters why Larkin asked for a trade.
I don’t think hiring a GM should have Amazon prime expectations (next day delivery).
Not sure why people continue to say this is “botched” or being mishandled. What am I missing?
Yzerman stepped down 2 months ago to the day. This organization isn’t exactly racing toward a championship. They got through the draft and the beginning of free agency with Yzerman. What’s the rush?
IMO, regardless of who sits in the chair, the Larkin situation isn’t going to magically go away or change. He’s not going to waive to go to Vancouver, NY or Chicago.
I would almost get the impatience if they were in a playoff hunt and racing toward the deadline. But even then, an interim guy isn’t capable of dialing a phone?
Help me understand the rush to find this miracle worker GM?
Great comment Mr. Obvious
I agree a dedicated GM is the norm but teams have qualified hockey opps people ad nauseam and of course owners who pitch in once in a while just because they own the team.
You have want to be GMs the likes of Bergevin or jocks who think they are GMs as old boys club
Its not botched Detroit will name a GM in time and Larkin slike other players should just respect the contract he signed
CaptainObvious, GM changes over the past 5 years have taken roughly 1.5 months (46 days) for each hiring, while in Detroit’s case it has now reached 2 full months (62 days). Not that great a difference – yet. But, unlike 5 of the 6 previous cases where the changes were made well before the start of a new season to give the new GM time to become completely familiar with the roster and farm system (and to choose a coach HE wanted – if that was his approach), here we have the Red Wings days away from training camp with TWO major decisions still to be dealt with and an “interim” GM with limited powers to make ANY roster decisions. The only one of the previous 6 where the process took place in-season was in 2021-22 when Vancouver took 52 days between December 5, 2021 and January 26, 2022 to pick Patrick Allvin (who has since been dumped himself).
George, that is to name a full time GM. I am sure the average time it takes to name a interim GM is a matter of a couple days.
And no, Horcoff was not named an interim till now. He just answered the phone and passed the info to Chris Illich.
There is no actual rush Captain, nice to see someone other than me speak to it as well.
As of today they have a GM, his name is Horcoff. Yes he has the interim tag for now, and we’ll see if they hire someone else down the road or not. I wouldn’t assume he doesn’t get the long term gig. He has been in MGT since 2016 and the AGM running their AHL team since 2022. It’s not like he’s an idiot and they didn’t just hand the job to the guy in the mail room.
Plus he played in the NHL for 17 years including many as a captain. Pretty sure he understands the NHL.
What’s wrong with that resume’?
The last GM is still around if Mr. Horcoff needs a sounding board.
He has one thing to do in the next few weeks, sign Edvinsson.
There is nothing to do on the Larkin front, the deal isn’t there with the 4 teams he has agreed to go to. He expands the list or he plays or he sits. All of those are decisions for Larkin not the Wings.
Until the Larkin thing is resolved there is nothing of significance to do either because they don’t know what direction this team is going. Going younger as they likely get prospects/picks in return for Larkin once he expands his list. If he stays long term they get back to focusing on the shorter term.
His #1 job is to evaluate the Wings entire structure this season, then make your decisions and build/hire your own MGT team if he determines they need it and if he gets the gig long term.
The reason this took longer is due to the timing as it happened mid July vs end of the regular season. Many of the potential candidates are locked in for this season.
6 months ago the Wings weren’t going to win the cup this season. Today they still aren’t. The Wings have written off this season unfortunately for the fans. I would direct my ire to Mr Larkin on that front.
No rush, CO, take your time, although it doesn’t usually take that long to organize a one-car funeral.
Its the optics not the length of time to secure a new GM for me.
Yzerman’s timing is suspicious and appeared to come after not being able to resolve or dissolve the Larkin situation. Now it seems it may have more to do with the lack of power he had…we dont know.
Its also the summer and the wings are likely no better than they were last season…perhaps a bit worse? Is everything on hold or is someone manning the station and working with the owner on potential deals etc? We dont know.
The weeks that go buy see. The market reset for Rfa’s which impact Edvidsson next contract directly – could that have been done sooner saving money, etc – we dont know.
Then we have reports recently that they asked for permission to speak with certain individuals but seemingly didnt Interview. Is this because they thought they had a target on who they wanted? We dont know.
They hired a firm to look for analytics driven GM (and to be honest I still dont understand that statement in this day and age.)
Nothing happens for weeks and now at the cusp of training camp Horcoff is tagged as interim GM.
So for me, i call this a mess because it looks like a mess. It is it a mess…we dont really know. Maybe Horcoff was diligently working in the GM capacity all summer. Maybe the 3 months that passed nothing got done because there was nothing that made sense to do. We dont know.
But the optics to me make it look like the ownership and management of the wings is a mess right now.
I find it a bit ridiculous for these offers for Hellebuyck to be so low. If I were Cheveldayoff I would also not accept them. You are talking about a guy who won the MVP just over a year ago.
The other top goalies in the league are arguably Vasilevsky, Shesterkin and probably Sorokin and maybe toss in Oettinger and Swayman. Do you guys see Tampa, NYR, NYI, Dal or Bos accepting a package like UPL, Mrtka and a pick, or Nikishin and Bussi (a platoon goalie, not a clear starter). Not a d@mn chance, so why should Wpg?
Just because Hellebuyck has asked for a trade doesn’t mean Wpg has to accept peanuts. Quinn Hughes got the equivalent of 4 first round picks and Wpg won’t get that but it should be close (probably the equivalent of 3 firsts which must include a legit NHL starter in return).
If there were other issues at play here to impact the return then the price would change but there are no issues with Wpg for cap space (like CBJ or Ana needing space to sign a young star), there is no young goalie in Wpg pushing for the job (see Minnesota), etc.
Basically, there is no reason for Wpg not to hold out to get the return they want. Even if Hellebuyck holds out he impacts himself more than the team, just like Dubois did and Laine before him.
Age is a factor he’s 33 with 5 more years on his contract.
His playoff performance is consistently lower than regular season for a few years.
Last season had his biggest drop-off.
Helly is not going to get the equivalent of 3 1sts. 2 1sts and a middy is going to be it, at the most. His age is working against a stellar return.
Nikishin, Kochekov and a 3rd is what he is worth.
A starter coming back with a potential 1st pairing D, is TOO MUCH. But then Kocheckov may end up a starter yet. He and Skinner will be a good tandem.
Drive for 25, re “there is no reason for Wpg not to hold out to get the return they want ,,,,”
Which may never come. Then what?
George, a deal always comes. I don’t know of any star player who wanted to be traded that it has ever gotten to the point where it didn’t happen and the player had to terminate their contract or go overseas or anything like that. The deal always gets worked out because markets change. Some team may have a goalie go down to injury or a goalie just not perform well enough so they look for a goalie.
Yeah, I agree that that is always a possibility … but if something like that does happen, the team concerned had better have the cap space to absorb his $8.5 mil or, if not, be prepared … not to mention able …to simultaneously move other assets.
AND assuming that that team just happens to be where Hellebuyck would be willing to report.
Zadorov: I see there are more details regarding Nikita Zadorov and unsubstantiated reports ( David Pagnotta), claiming the Bruin nixed the deal for Darnell Nurse. I posted previously that this story from the Edmonton writer (David Pagnotta), a described “insider”, appeared to be nothing more than BS, as Sweeney was searching for an RD at the time and Nurse is a LD. Plus, the Bruins have a wealth of LD’s trying to make the roster and not the cap room to take on Nurse’s salary, which would be a key reason for Edmonton trying to trade him. This deal made no sense for the Bruins, and even at the time seemed to be the fabrication of a desperate writer (David Pagnotta) trying to gather an audience while also sowing the seeds of discord with another club he viewed as a place to dump cap money. Now there is even more out there that the “insider” (David Pagnotta), posted this story with no facts. More should be made of these BS artists (David Pagnotta), with an awareness of their lack of credibility.