Speculation: 2025 Trade/Free Agency Thread

[Anaheim4ever]

Friedman pretty much confirmed this on his podcast today. He said it was a “young defenseman” and the #21 pick for Zegras (he didn’t mention the 2nd round pick). He also said part of the reason it didn’t happen was because Montreal wound up with Demidov and they didn’t think they needed both Demidov and Zegras, as there is some redundancy there.

He also mentioned that he thinks Montreal would have picked Sennecke if Demidov wasn’t available.

I wonder if it was actually Guhle or Redenbacher in the trade and not Mailbox. I also think Mailbox is too controversial for a Californian team.

 

[JonathnTaylorTavares]

So Montreal backed out. Was Verbeek even into it in the first place is the key missing detail.

 

[MCB]

Weren't we stacked on defense even then? Why trade a position of weakness for a position of strength?

 

[JAHV]

Weren't we stacked on defense even then? Why trade a position of weakness for a position of strength?

If the defenseman was Mailloux, I could see it. As we've seen, the Ducks are not stacked at RD. At this point, the Ducks have a bunch of 3RDs and a bunch of question marks. Personally, I'm glad not to have Mailloux and that baggage, although I admit I haven't followed his development as either a hockey prospect or human being. But if he's considered a bit more ready to contribute on the defensive end of the ice (unlike Luneau who seemingly still has a lot of work to do there), that would have made sense. The Ducks didn't have Trouba at that time.

As for the position of weakness, this was at the draft and we know Verbeek went hard after those forwards in free agency - Stamkos and Marchessault in particular. So I wouldn't be surprised if the plan was to trade Zegras and fill his spot with a free agent. Plus Verbeek had just drafted Sennecke as a future top 6 winger.

 

[MCB]

As for the position of weakness, this was at the draft and we know Verbeek went hard after those forwards in free agency - Stamkos and Marchessault in particular. So I wouldn't be surprised if the plan was to trade Zegras and fill his spot with a free agent. Plus Verbeek had just drafted Sennecke as a future top 6 winger.

Glad it fell through then since he wasn't able to land either of those FA. And thanks for the heads up on mailloux, I'll admit I don't know much about him other than his position.

 

[All Mighty]

If the defenseman was Mailloux, I could see it. As we've seen, the Ducks are not stacked at RD. At this point, the Ducks have a bunch of 3RDs and a bunch of question marks. Personally, I'm glad not to have Mailloux and that baggage, although I admit I haven't followed his development as either a hockey prospect or human being. But if he's considered a bit more ready to contribute on the defensive end of the ice (unlike Luneau who seemingly still has a lot of work to do there), that would have made sense. The Ducks didn't have Trouba at that time.

As for the position of weakness, this was at the draft and we know Verbeek went hard after those forwards in free agency - Stamkos and Marchessault in particular. So I wouldn't be surprised if the plan was to trade Zegras and fill his spot with a free agent. Plus Verbeek had just drafted Sennecke as a future top 6 winger.

Mailloux is probably a similar prospect to Luneau at this point, but his defense has not been good in limited NHL minutes (he was also in the NHL when Montreal was really bad this season).

 

[anezthes]

I refuse to believe it was Mailloux.

 

[JAHV]

I refuse to believe it was Mailloux.

I guess it could have been Reinbacher, and he makes a bit more sense from a fit perspective, but the Ducks would certainly have had to add to Zegras for that to make sense, and probably more than just a 2nd rounder.

 

[All Mighty]

I have to think that Verbeek isn’t satisfied with the RHD situation at the moment. Who are some good ones that could be available in a trade? Nemec? Dobson? For UFAs, there’s Ekblad, but I want no part of whatever contract he gets. Pionk has had a good year, but he’s a smaller guy. Fabbro could be a UFA target.

 

[Hey234]

Here's the full quote from the podcast:

"I finally think l've got a confident answer on what happened here. So Montreal was working on a deal for Trevor Zegras. They were trading for him, and they were offering one player, I believe a young defenseman, and they were offering a first round pick. And it wasn't the number five pick. It was the pick which eventually drafted Michael Hage And where think that changed was when Anaheim took Sennecke, Montreal realized that Demidov was getting to them. And talked about this with Eric Engels on Tuesday. And one of the things that Engels talks about covering the Canadians all the time is that Kent Hughes and Jeff Gordon, they're very careful about redundancy. They don't like redundancy. And think they felt if they were gonna draft Demidoy, then that was gonna lead to redundancy if they traded for Zegras. And it also makes me wonder if Demidov had been taken, I wonder if Sennecke was Montreal's pick."

 

[Hey234]

Here's the full quote from the podcast:

And to add my perspective, I get the sense that Friedman is only getting information from the Montreal side. It is framed as Montreal wanting Zegras and not as Anaheim looking to trade him. The way he starts makes me think he's only heard it from one source that he trusts as opposed to multiple sources.

I think Montreal offered a package that Anaheim was considering, and it fell through when Demidov became available to pick at 5. Since the #5 pick was not in play in this trade, the actual deadline for the decision of the trade would have been at the lower 1st round pick.

The most interesting thing about this is it gives everyone a rough idea of what two different general managers believe his value is. Considering he had a better season than the previous one, it's reasonable to assume his value is more now.

 

[FiveTacos]

Mailloux is probably a similar prospect to Luneau at this point, but his defense has not been good in limited NHL minutes (he was also in the NHL when Montreal was really bad this season).

Mailloux is nowhere near Luneau offensively, though. I think he's overrated on these boards by virtue of being a Habs prospect. And the whole RHD thing is totally overrated by people around here ... it's a bonus, but the way some people around these boards make proposals you'd think a RHD who's a 3/4 is worth more than a top pairing LHD.

Can you imagine the amount of hype Luneau would be getting if he were a Habs prospect?

 

[Anaheim4ever]

Can you imagine the amount of hype Luneau would be getting if he were a Habs prospect?

Norris caliber rookie Dman and worth a whole teams prospect pool + 1st round picks.

 

[Rasp]

There was also the reported Flyers trade for Zegras earlier this year that ended up being rejected by the Flyers.

Farabee for Zegras.

Verbeek wanted retention/adding a 1st because of Farabee's contract and Zegras' higher offensive upside but they flyers didnt want to add.

I would keep an eye on any rumours around him this offseason as Verbeek could try and trade him again.

 

[Rasp]

Weren't we stacked on defense even then? Why trade a position of weakness for a position of strength?

We didnt have Trouba at the time and there were question marks around Moore signing with us. We also hadn't drafted Solberg at that stage since the trade would have enabled us moving up to get him.

 

[Anaheim4ever]

There was also the reported Flyers trade for Zegras earlier this year that ended up being rejected by the Flyers.

Farabee for Zegras.

Verbeek wanted retention/adding a 1st because of Farabee's contract and Zegras' higher offensive upside but they flyers didnt want to add.

I would keep an eye on any rumours around him this offseason as Verbeek could try and trade him again.

The Habs trade deal that fell apart makes me think some of the past Zegras trade rumors might have been real. Combining the way the bridge deal with Zegras went, the injuries, being moved to the wing etc maybe he would prefer to be traded.

 

[FiveTacos]

In reading the actual quote, it doesn't specify Mailloux does it, just a "young defenseman" which could be any number of guys. I just find it hard to believe Mailloux carries the kind of value that Habs fans seem to think. I mean, I wouldn't trade Luneau straight up for him, and do I think Luneau + a late 1st brings us a Zegras caliber forward? No.

 

[Rasp]

In reading the actual quote, it doesn't specify Mailloux does it, just a "young defenseman" which could be any number of guys. I just find it hard to believe Mailloux carries the kind of value that Habs fans seem to think. I mean, I wouldn't trade Luneau straight up for him, and do I think Luneau + a late 1st brings us a Zegras caliber forward? No.

Friedman is giving credibility to the other talk around this so you cant ignore the other reports which said it was Mailloux

 

[Dr Johnny Fever]

Mailloux is nowhere near Luneau offensively, though. I think he's overrated on these boards by virtue of being a Habs prospect. And the whole RHD thing is totally overrated by people around here ... it's a bonus, but the way some people around these boards make proposals you'd think a RHD who's a 3/4 is worth more than a top pairing LHD.

Can you imagine the amount of hype Luneau would be getting if he were a Habs prospect?

And that's only half the hype he would get if her were a Leafs prospect.

 

[FiveTacos]

Friedman is giving credibility to the other talk around this so you cant ignore the other reports which said it was Mailloux

Well if that's really the kind of value Mailloux has, if Montreal had Luneau they'd probably think they could package him with a 1st for Fantilli or something.

 

[tomd]

I'm more interested in what jersey Zegras could be wearing this coming October than the jersey he could have been wearing last October.

 

[Hamilton Bulldogs]

I'm more interested in what jersey Zegras could be wearing this coming October than the jersey he could have been wearing last October.

Hopefully the same one he wore last October

 

[Sendhelp2Anaheim]

There was also the reported Flyers trade for Zegras earlier this year that ended up being rejected by the Flyers.

Farabee for Zegras.

Verbeek wanted retention/adding a 1st because of Farabee's contract and Zegras' higher offensive upside but they flyers didnt want to add.

I would keep an eye on any rumours around him this offseason as Verbeek could try and trade him again.

Looking at it ( while trying to be unbiased)

I do think the next couple games will be the last time we see Z in a ducks jersey.

I assume negotiations on last deal, were not good. I dont think negotiations on his next deal will be easy.

Im guessing the team sees Leo MacT as our 1-2 punch down the middle.... zegras hasnt exactly excelled as a winger, nor has he helped our power play out much.

I have a feeling PV is going to try to find a deal where he adds to Z ( maybe a young dmen + a pick), and aim for a legit top 6 guy... that better fits what he wants to do.... it seems pretty clear zegras doesnt exactly fit... and prob hasnt shown that he can make himself fit. Or get more assets to add to our pool to make offers at any potential trade targets

 

[tomd]

So if my thoughts are correct, the Ducks would have ended up basically trading Zegras for Mallioux and a 2nd (either 35OA or 58OA depending on which 2nd Montreal got). They would not have needed to trade up with Toronto.

As such, they would have taken Solberg at 21 with the Montreal pick, then Pettersson at 31 with Edmonton's 1st. One of their two 2nd's would have gone to Montreal so they would have picked one player in the 2nd at either 35 or 58.

Mallioux has a rocket for a shot which I'm sure Verbeek liked and is right-handed but there are some really big holes in his game. I hope Verbeek can do better than that this summer if he is hellbent on trading Zegras.

 

[Hockey Duckie]

So if my thoughts are correct, the Ducks would have ended up basically trading Zegras for Mallioux and a 2nd (either 35OA or 58OA depending on which 2nd Montreal got). They would not have needed to trade up with Toronto.

As such, they would have taken Solberg at 21 with the Montreal pick, then Pettersson at 31 with Edmonton's 1st. One of their two 2nd's would have gone to Montreal so they would have picked one player in the 2nd at either 35 or 58.

Mallioux has a rocket for a shot which I'm sure Verbeek liked and is right-handed but there are some really big holes in his game. I hope Verbeek can do better than that this summer if he is hellbent on trading Zegras.

I dunno if the Ducks do take Solberg at 21. I thought they drafted up potentially for a forward, but Solberg was a great consolation prize. That forward could have been right shot, C Michael Hage. Plus, they traded for RD Mallioux in this scenario.

At 31st, they had a choice between two RDs (Danford or Badinka) and a right shooting, defensive center in 6'1 Sam O'Reilly before C Lucas Pettersson. But if they acquired RD Mallioux, then there would be no need to draft an RD right away. Verbeek loves him some tall, defensive forwards, see Gaucher and Myatovic.