NHL Rumor Mill – July 8, 2026
A look at some potential offer-sheet targets, plus the latest on Connor Hellebuyck and Dylan Larkin in today’s NHL Rumor Mill.
WHICH RFA PLAYERS COULD BE OFFER-SHEET TARGETS?
SPORTSNET: Ryan Dixon looked at possible offer sheet targets in the wake of the Leo Carlsson offer sheet signing.
Adam Fantilli of the Columbus Blue Jackets and Connor Bedard of the Chicago Blackhawks are the two biggest potential targets among this summer’s restricted free agents.
Chicago Blackhawks center Connor Bedard (NHL Images)
Dixon wondered if any team that had contemplated an offer sheet for Carlsson would pivot to Fantilli. Meanwhile, the Blackhawks paid a heavy price to acquire and sign defenseman Bowen Byram. Dixon believes now is the time for them to lock down their franchise center.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Blue Jackets general manager Don Waddell said on Monday that his club is in a position to match any offer for Fantilli. I said he wasn’t expecting the 21-year-old center to receive an offer sheet, but didn’t rule it out.
The word out of Chicago is that Bedard’s shoulder injury might put any offer sheet talk on hold. It’s believed that he remains committed to the Blackhawks and isn’t interested in signing with another team.
Dixon also looked at how the Carlsson offer sheet could affect 2027 RFA-eligible players such as Macklin Celebrini of the San Jose Sharks, Matvei Michkov of the Philadelphia Flyers, and Kirill Marchenko of the Blue Jackets, and 2028 RFAs such as Matthew Schaefer of the New York Islanders and Beckett Sennecke of the Anaheim Ducks.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The cost of re-signing Celebrini and Schaefer could exceed $20 million annually. They’re superstar franchise players and will seek top dollar on their next contracts.
Michkov isn’t expected to get an extension this summer while Marchenko reportedly isn’t interested in signing one. Depending on their performances this season, their asking prices could exceed $10 million.
Sennecke’s case will be intriguing. He finished second in points (62) among last season’s rookie class and was third among voters for the Calder Memorial Trophy. He could command up to $15 million annually if he has a strong sophomore season. However, that will take a huge chunk out of the Ducks’ cap space if they match Carlsson’s offer sheet and re-sign Cutter Gauthier for at least $10 million annually this summer.
DID THE AVALANCHE LOOK INTO ACQUIRING CONNOR HELLEBUYCK?
COLORADO HOCKEY NOW: Aarif Deen cited a report by Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, who claimed “a couple of teams” told him that they wondered if the Avalanche attempted to acquire goaltender Connor Hellebuyck from the Winnipeg Jets.
Friedman didn’t indicate that there were any negotiations between the Avalanche and Jets. He wasn’t sure how that deal would work between the two clubs, or what the Avs could offer, or if the Jets would be interested.
Any deal to take on Hellebuyck’s $8.5 million average annual value would mean the Avalanche would have to move out some salary in the deal or in a separate cost-cutting trade. They also lack the tradeable assets to tempt the Jets.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Avalanche management may have contacted the Jets to inquire about Hellebuyck’s availability. However, as Deen pointed out, they lack the cap space and trade capital to make it work.
THE LATEST ON DYLAN LARKIN
DAILY FACEOFF: cited Helene St. James of the Detroit Red Press, who reported that Red Wings center Dylan Larkin has not expanded his three-team trade list.
The Minnesota Wild, Vegas Golden Knights, and Florida Panthers are Larkin’s destinations of choice. St. James stated those clubs have not made offers that have intrigued the Red Wings, who seek value-now players for a first-line center with a very favorable contract.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The Panthers made their big moves this summer by acquiring Brady Tkachuk and Jacob Markstrom. Their unwillingness to part with young two-way center Anton Lundell takes them out of the running.
Danny Webster of the Las Vegas Review-Journal recently pointed out why the Golden Knights can’t afford Larkin. Put simply, they lack the cap space and the assets to meet the Red Wings’ asking price. They traded away their best trade chip (Pavel Dorofeyev) to the Rangers last month.
The Wild also lack cap space, but could move some money in the deal for Larkin or in a separate trade with another team. They also have some promising young players in their system. However, it’s rumored that the Wings want one of the Wild’s best players (Matt Boldy) in return, which obviously isn’t happening.
Unless one of those three teams can get a third team involved to acquire the necessary assets to acquire Larkin, he will remain with the Red Wings when next season begins, for better or for worse.
I can’t see SY moving Larkin to any of those teams, the only remotely possible are the the wild if they send Wallstedt to a team with a goalie need and a deep prospect pool. So Maybe Utah, but are they sending a c to Detroit for wallstedt? I doubt it
Why no mention of Ivan Demidov in potential 2027 RFAs? Oh yeah, Hughes got the job done. That deals looking better by the day.
As for Larkin he’s going nowhere without a huge piece coming back. And that doesn’t appear to be happening.
Go Habs Go! But…in the past we have seen GMs sign a bunch of very good players to great team friendly contracts close if not for max term, locking up what eventually are the teams core/star players. Very smart. One such team that has done the exact same thing was Ottawa. Hmmm, maybe even with all the right intentions, success is still out of reach and not guaranteed. What a crappy job where even if you do the right thing, you still can’t win.
Ron Moore
It’s signing the core of young stars at the right time so you can build the team and still have manageable cap space – the maple leafs didn’t work – with their core players because they were one dimensional- you need to have a balanced team
Sadly the sens had a team with plenty of grit, but no goalie and not enough secondary scoring-
The Habs have a great young team, but not enough grit – unfortunately for them
MSL doesn’t care for those. Guys – you can’t win without grit – and for the leafs, Matthew’s has no heart .
Matthews has no heart? A bit rough, don’t you think, JerseyJohn.
Turns out sundin is just an ol humbug. Sorry Matthew’s. No heart for you.
So what do you do going into the season with a disgruntled first line center?
Let him rot.
Maybe they should look to put in a clause that once you ask to move with a ntc or NMC. It is gone after trade is completed
No just once you ask for a trade it’s removed or turns into a 15 team.
It should be used so the team can’t just decide to trade the player but if the player asks for it, it should not hamstring the team.
If a team doesn’t want to be hamstrung, it should be more careful with how they negotiate NTC/NMCs. Remember, they have the final say, not the player.
I think it would have to be Gustavsson due to cap hit for Larkin. The Wild would have to add their top forward prospect Stramel and likely a first. If that doesn’t do it ,Larkin stays until
He expands the list. I don’t think Flo needs him and Vegas can’t afford him
Unless Larkin expands his list, he isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. If Detroit wanted picks/prospects the deal would have already happened. Meanwhile, Detroit fans are complaining that the trade hasn’t happened yet. These same fans complain the loudest that Detroit has missed the playoffs. They complain that Kane is a 1 dimensional player then complain that he hasn’t been resigned. I think I need a new team to follow. PWHL Detroit can’t start soon enough.
Hmmm wasn’t his list expanded? That’s a shocker…someone was pretty adamant he has as reported by insiders. 😳
However long Larkins contract is, is how much time Stevie Y has to trade him. It’s in Larkin’s best interest to perform until he gets traded and if being on the team during this time be a distraction, so be it.
Ron, I believe you are referring to me, I provided you with a link from, as I recall, Yahoo sports, saying his list was expanded. I only use mainstream sites due to issues of credibility. Yahoo may not fall into that category.
Better now?
Ron, I believe you are referring to me. I provided you with a link to, I recall, Yahoo sports, which reported Larkin’s list had been expanded to 5 teams.
I only use mainstream sites, for increased credibility. Perhaps Yahoo isn’t one of them.
Better now?
It was suggested that Larkin’s agent was receptive to expanding the list but there was no report if that actually happened. I wish people would stop reading into what insiders are saying might be going on.
Thank you Ed for saying it better than me.
All this adds up to a very combative season in Hockeytown. He demands a trade, the ties his GM’s hands on where he would be willing to go. Not that Stevie has shown he has the tools to carefully back out of any corner.
Wings’ fans starting to sound like Sabre fans from a few years ago. Not happy with anything and justified to feel that way.
The Wings fans are not complaining that a deal isn’t done yet, that’s a lie. We hope he sits for as long as it takes to get a good return.Pretty much everything you said is not true except that yes, you should follow a new team because YOU sound like the complainer.
No, to benefit the Wings best, Larkin needs to be trades for a good return. Hateful and vengeful “fans” say he should be punished by being kept with the Wings.
Ed, count me as a Wings fan who is prepared to be patient throughout the whole upcoming season. Push will come to shove with Larkin and management the closer we get to the start of the regular season with Larkin not expanding his list. See you at camp. I’m in no rush, especially after the offer sheet handed out to Carlsson. Regarding Kane, I’m hoping he doesn’t return. He refuses to go into corners and tough area’s. I don’t see him having the same success as this previous season, specifically 5v5 with Detroit again this season. I think he would be better suited at his age playing on a more skilled team where he’s not asked to do as much.
It’ll be interesting to see what Larkin does come september when training camp starts. Will he play or sit out, he’s in a no-win situation in my opinion. I don’t think much thought was put in the timing as well as the three teams he wants when he asked for a trade which surprises me, his agent being Pat Brisson.
Pretty much like everyone, I dont see Yzerman budging an inch on his ask for Larkin, which to me is legitimate. It took over a year for Sakic to trade Duchene when he wanted out and he didn’t have a three team list, might take longer with Larkin unless he adds more teams.
Rumor – Larkin could be traded to Stars.
For what, exactly? Borque would have been part of that return and they shipped him off to Nashville.
I dont see Leo’s aav truly impacting Schaeffer Bedard or Celebrini. These guys are all studs and could dictate their terms on their teams regardless if they wanted to play that card whether it is Leo with top aav or Kirill.
What i can see having a bigger impact on their own negotiations is the structure of Leo’s contract.
The dollar value of course is above my understanding for tax ramifications and agent fees and all that…but getting the bulk payout in one day likely being a better financial benefit to both agent and player than the regular term payout no? Particularly if you have a good financial group investing and managing for you.
I think it helped them all by at least $2M person. Agents and players always want more money. The trouble has always been trying to find a GM to meet their lofty demands.
Players who demand to be traded needs to stop.
They are destroying the sport.
Teams work hard to draft, develop and get their superstars under contract for as long a term as possible. They even structure no trade clauses within these contracts specifically for these superstars. Teams do all of this to be competitive and win, only for these players to want out of the organization before their current contract expires. Worst of all, they go public with it.
It’s time for the NHL to institute a policy to have these players forfeit their salary and sit out for whatever amount of years are remaining on their contract. No play and no pay for the final amount of years on their contracts.
Example: Larkun sits and gets no salary for the 2 years remaining on his contract. Detroit gets all of Larkin’s salary back against the cap enabling them to acquire another player to replace him. Goodbye Larkin. Now you can’t even stay in the press box.
Maybe threatening their salaries and playing time will stop players from breaking their contracts. Enough is enough.
The NHL created a salary cap system to save the small market teams. These players demanding to be traded to only specific teams needs to stop. Besides after 10 years of service, if they structure their contracts accordingly, they become unrestricted free agents. That’s the time they can go play for any organization they want.
Vinny: a few things to consider.
First, the collective agreement is jointly agreed to. Owners and players get things they value, and let go of things they can’t get.
Some teams, often smaller market, don’t always spend to the cap. Some teams do, and find themselves in a cap crunch and reduced ability to acquire or trade players.
As we see (so far with Larkin) players demanding trades don’t get what they want.
Players without NT or NM clauses rarely get a say in being traded, nor to where they are traded.
I had several rants about tax free states not long ago. Suddenly, Tampa’s competitive edge has dulled. Florida has questions about their goaltending. Neither can on board Larkin without significant change to their teams.
We are talking about a few players in recent weeks who are demanding trades. In Ottawa’s case it seems like Brady’s teammates felt it was best for him to go.
So the issue of players demanding trades IMO is not systemic.
Spot on, LJ. 👍
Vinny, players who demand/request a trade are not destroying hockey. Trade requests occasionally happen and have done so for decades, and the NHL has survived quite nicely.
Regarding players who’ve “gone public” with trade request, if you’re referring to Larkin and Tkachuk, they did not do so publicly. Tkachuk’s request wasn’t known until he was actually traded. Nurse acknowledged he requested a trade, but only after months of speculation about his future.
Having the NHL institute a policy for players to forfeit their salary and sit out the remaining years of their contracts will never happen. For starters, the league cannot arbitrarily make changes to the CBA. They must do so in conjunction with the NHLPA, and there’s no way the PA would allow that to be implemented, especially since it would violate labor laws in Canada and the United States.
Players have the right to request a trade. It’s up to the team to decide if they’ll honor it. Making them forfeit salary and suspending them for the remainder of their contract violates that right. It’s a heavy-handed punishment for something that doesn’t merit any punishment at all.
I understand the reaction of fans on teams where a star player or a team captain requests a trade. However, these calls for punishing them for doing so by suspending them, or voiding their no-trade/no-movement clauses, flies in the face of reality.
Yes, teams work hard to draft and develop superstars, and structure no-trade clauses into their contracts to try to keep those players as long as they can. However, it must be remembered that the NHL’s salary cap system is very restrictive. It’s a three-tier system limiting how much a player can earn in his entry-level years, the maximum amount a team can play a player each season, and the maximum amount each team can spend to stock a roster each season.
The players have little control over where they can go during the first years of their NHL careers. For the first seven years of their NHL careers up to age 25 for players who join the league at 18, age 26 for those who join at 19, or age 27 for players aged 20-plus, they lack any form of no-movement protection. They have no say over when they are sent to the minors, or which teams they can be traded to.
The only control they get is when they finally become eligible for no-trade/no-movement protection. As of last season, only around 260 players (30 percent of the league) have some form of no-trade/no-movement protection.
Whether a player gets some form of NTC/NMC is up to the team during negotiations with the player’s agent. Ultimately, the team decides whether they’ll include the clause, and how restrictive it’ll be. If a team is too generous with those clauses, or includes them to get a more favorable cap hit, that’s on them, not the player. Sometimes, a smart general manager stipulates that a player must provide a list each year of acceptable trade destinations, and stipulate how many teams they must include in that request.
BTW, the NHL did NOT create the salary cap system to save small market teams. It was to ensure the team owners got a more favorable split of hockey-related revenue, and to save general managers from themselves. It was the improvement in the value of the Canadian dollar, combined with a revenue-sharing program in the CBA, that saved the small market clubs.
The earliest players become eligible for UFA status within seven years for players who begin their NHL careers at 18 to 20. Those who come into the league after age 20 are eligible by age 27.
Eichel was right to move from the Sabres – a situation where the player, not the team was correct.
You have a cancer in the room you trade him, the best deal you make is better than keeping him, basic group dynamics.
Whether it’s talk in the room, trade demands, Larkin has no “right” to be traded and no “right” to choose where he goes but Detroit has to move him.
Sens are better off after trading Brady, his goals are replaced, first round picks were well used. team chemistry is better, good that Giroux is back.
They are a better team.
Earlier on a few comments about the Habs locking up the core at team friendly contracts there were questions about grit.
The core is solid and they give no quarter but more importantly they have a pack mentality and that’s what’s needed. The so-called “tough guys” are complementary players and don’t need to be locked down long term, they are always available as bottom six.
You don’t want tough guys on your top six who spend a lot of time in the penalty box, he has to be on the ice.
habfan30: Actually, in a way, Larkin’s no-movement clause gives him the right to ask to be traded. It certainly enables him to decide where he wants to go. Of course, it’s up to the Red Wings to decided if they’ll honor his trade request. Larkin refusing to broaden his list beyond three teams make it harder for the Wings to do that, and provides justification for not moving him.
Very interesting way to look at NT/NM clauses Lyle.
Also, although others have implied this, the pressure is equally on Larkin to avoid walking back into the dressing room he wants to leave.
LJ, Agreed, this could turn into an awkward situation both sides if the Wings haven’t moved him by training camp.
Lyle,
He has the right to ask anything he wants, he just needs Detroit to agree to try and trade him.
They have the right to ask him to remove some conditions which he has slowly begun doing.
So has no “right” other than asking.
But he still has that right, habfan30.
Utah matched the offer sheet for Hayton.
Not sure why. They now have Cooley, Schmaltz, & Trocheck down the middle all on contracts with term and Iginla is ready crack the roster.
So what is Hayton now, a 4C on a 1 year $4.7M deal who can’t be traded and becomes a UFA after the season?
Makes zero sense to me. I’d rather let him go and get a 2nd round pick.
It’ll be interesting to find out what their justification was.
Foleyd7,
Last few games Hayton played mostly on RW. Dailyfaceoff.com projection puts him on LW with Trocheck and Carcone.
Loved the comment Tylor Johnson made on The Sheet Podcast about Larkin’s trade request. If Larkin wants out he should waive his no move clause.
Would love to know how majority of hockey players feel about these demands.
i was wondering what ur thoughts on a marchenko from cbj trade to pitt for either rust or rakell plus korczak from pitt sounds thanks
Well, Blue Jackets GM Don Waddell insisted that Marchenko isn’t going anywhere. If he were to move Marchenko, he’d probably want a good young player as part of the return rather than an older player like Rakell or Rust. It also seems that the Penguins brought in Korzcak to add more grit to their blueline.
Thank you LJ and Lyle.
I was passionate about stopping what I thought was bad for our sport.
After reading your replies, I realize I overreacted.
Thank you both for being voices of reason. I really learned alot.
Very nice of you, Vinnie. Appreciated.
One of the many pluses of this site is that those who post are pretty darn respectful and there are constructive exchanges even when there are disagreements.
Wow! Nice turnabout face Vinny!