Speculation: 2026-27 Trade/FA thread - Waiting for the SCF to be over….

[Webster]

Do the Ducks need a veteran leader?

It has come to my attention that the Ducks are among teams interested in Mats Zuccarello, he's a UFA on July 1. I believe he wants to play another year or two in the NHL, and perhaps looking for a scenery change after 7 years in Minnesota.

Some info about him: Age 38, been playing on Wild's top line, producing almost a point per game. Known for his good personality and leadership capabilities.

 

[Galaxydoggystyle]

Given he’s returning to college for a third year I think his availability may change .

If that was an issue for the Habs they would have just circled back on Robert Thomas and pulled the trigger.

 

[DavidBL]

Given he’s returning to college for a third year I think his availability may change .

This is actually an interesting point given their desperate need for a center. You'd think Mtl would be trying to get him in the roster if he's already better than McTavish if their fans are to be believed.

 

[Leo2Cutter]

If that was an issue for the Habs they would have just circled back on Robert Thomas and pulled the trigger.

Maybe blues arnt interested in the move anymore. Didn’t they say they were not taking call on him.

I also think the Habs could feel the pressure to get a legit 2c option(not saying mctavish is that guy)…. And not a lot of options on the market. They may have to dangle a guy like hage to find a 2c.

 

[robbieboy3686]

Do the Ducks need a veteran leader?

It has come to my attention that the Ducks are among teams interested in Mats Zuccarello, he's a UFA on July 1. I believe he wants to play another year or two in the NHL, and perhaps looking for a scenery change after 7 years in Minnesota.

Some info about him: Age 38, been playing on Wild's top line, producing almost a point per game. Known for his good personality and leadership capabilities.

I mean. If somehow we can trade off Kreider. Then sure. Why not for a year deal. Another year deal after that if he does well.

 

[KaseMeOutside]

Pardon me but WHY do we want a prospect for McT? We made the playoffs, have a young core and probably need to improve to make the playoffs next year.

Money and you hopefully get a young player on an ELC for a few years who can perform like a top 9 forward

 

[Ducks DVM]

Do the Ducks need a veteran leader?

It has come to my attention that the Ducks are among teams interested in Mats Zuccarello, he's a UFA on July 1. I believe he wants to play another year or two in the NHL, and perhaps looking for a scenery change after 7 years in Minnesota.

Some info about him: Age 38, been playing on Wild's top line, producing almost a point per game. Known for his good personality and leadership capabilities.

I think it would be very hard to pull him off of Kaprizov to come here.

 

[Elessar]

You don’t consider that young? Really?

The one posted, no. Maybe I'm not used to NHL rosters, but that doesn't seem young. And I'm pretty sure statistically it would be at least middle of the road

 

[Hockey Duckie]

The one posted, no. Maybe I'm not used to NHL rosters, but that doesn't seem young. And I'm pretty sure statistically it would be at least middle of the road

The table above reflects if the Ducks traded McTavish, Kreider, and Zell for Larkin.

Now, imagine instead of 30-year old Larkin, it's 23-year old McTavish as well as throw 34-year old Kreider back into the mix. That would reflect we're extremly young and extremely old with not enough in between. And if there's a top-9F injury, then there's a possibility that 19-year old McQueen (who will be 20 years old in Oct) would probably be the first call-up.

Also, this season was Washe's rookie pro season, the first half of which was spent in the AHL. RD/RW4 Moore is 24 years old and it was his rookie pro season as well. Gaucher looked too green on the 4th line as a 22-year old, who will turn 23 in early November.

---

Roster production for the 2025-26 season

Forward color Key
Green = youth
Blue = prime
Yellow = aging out

Anaheim's scoring is highly reliant upon it's youth forwards. Even a bad Mac is still a productive Mac. Terry and Poehling are the only two forwards in the top-11 in scoring that are in their prime years (blue highlights).

The 2026-27 season will be Kreider and Killorn's last year under contract. Guess who's waiting in the wings to come up? McQueen is 19-years old right now. It would be ideal if Anaheim could add another top-6F in their prime years in addition to Terry and Poehling to grow with since our playoff window has now opened.

And if we only bring back Trouba, then our blueline will be vastly younger in age as well as experience. D-men usually take longer to develop. LD LaCombe didn't breakout until his age 23-24 season, which still was put into a rotation with Minty and Zell. LaCombe was a full-time d-man in his age 24-25 season, which was this season. Moore is age 24, but this was his pro rookie season in the NHL/AHL. Two seasons ago was Helleson's rookie season in the NHL. Hinds' first NHL game played was at the end of this season. Hinds played in more playoff games than regular season games.

 

[Elessar]

The table above reflects if the Ducks traded McTavish, Kreider, and Zell for Larkin.

Now, imagine instead of 30-year old Larkin, it's 23-year old McTavish as well as throw 34-year old Kreider back into the mix. That would reflect we're extremly young and extremely old with not enough in between. And if there's a top-9F injury, then there's a possibility that 19-year old McQueen (who will be 20 years old in Oct) would probably be the first call-up.

Also, this season was Washe's rookie pro season, the first half of which was spent in the AHL. RD/RW4 Moore is 24 years old and it was his rookie pro season as well. Gaucher looked too green on the 4th line as a 22-year old, who will turn 23 in early November.

---

Roster production for the 2025-26 season

View attachment 1253560

Forward color Key
Green = youth
Blue = prime
Yellow = aging out

Anaheim's scoring is highly reliant upon it's youth forwards. Even a bad Mac is still a productive Mac. Terry and Poehling are the only two forwards in the top-11 in scoring that are in their prime years (blue highlights).

The 2026-27 season will be Kreider and Killorn's last year under contract. Guess who's waiting in the wings to come up? McQueen is 19-years old right now. It would be ideal if Anaheim could add another top-6F in their prime years in addition to Terry and Poehling to grow with since our playoff window has now opened.

And if we only bring back Trouba, then our blueline will be vastly younger in age as well as experience. D-men usually take longer to develop. LD LaCombe didn't breakout until his age 23-24 season, which still was put into a rotation with Minty and Zell. LaCombe was a full-time d-man in his age 24-25 season, which was this season. Moore is age 24, but this was his pro rookie season in the NHL/AHL. Two seasons ago was Helleson's rookie season in the NHL. Hinds' first NHL game played was at the end of this season. Hinds played in more playoff games than regular season games.

View attachment 1253561

I know our top scorers were all young. That's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about the overall age, and Mac + Kreider for Larkin makes us older. 30 is pretty old, I wouldn't call it an in-between. We already weren't that young last year in terms of the whole roster (22nd for age or something iirc).

 

[Perratrooper]

I can see above there’s debate about the age of players added, so this may be the wrong time to ask, but would Ducks fan’s have any interest in any of the following players:
- Nichuskin (31) 4x$6.14
- Lehkonen (30, about to be 31) 1x$4.5
- Colton (29) 1x$4
- Roy (29) 1x$3
- Drury (26) RFA

 

[Leo2Cutter]

I can see above there’s debate about the age of players added, so this may be the wrong time to ask, but would Ducks fan’s have any interest in any of the following players:
- Nichuskin (31) 4x$6.14
- Lehkonen (30, about to be 31) 1x$4.5
- Colton (29) 1x$4
- Roy (29) 1x$3
- Drury (26) RFA

Do any of the excel on the penalty kill

The debate about age prob more or less refers to top 6 guys, not so much depth pieces. Trading mctavish for a 30 year old could be a little near sighted.

Depending on what we do with mctavish, I think our line up can use a top 6 player and a bottom 6 penalty kill type.

Our money situation may be kinda tight tho, depending if we get rid of Kreider, what a mctavish trade looks like and the cost of guys like Mintyukov carlsson gauthier etc. and we’d still need to add at least 1(more likely 2) rhd to the line up

 

[anezthes]

I can see above there’s debate about the age of players added, so this may be the wrong time to ask, but would Ducks fan’s have any interest in any of the following players:
- Nichuskin (31) 4x$6.14
- Lehkonen (30, about to be 31) 1x$4.5
- Colton (29) 1x$4
- Roy (29) 1x$3
- Drury (26) RFA

Give me one Lehkonen, please.

 

[Vino]

Give me one Lehkonen, please.

A true clutch player. Big heart, really smart, but because his playing style + body structure + age => injuryprone.

 

[Perratrooper]

Do any of the excel on the penalty kill

The debate about age prob more or less refers to top 6 guys, not so much depth pieces. Trading mctavish for a 30 year old could be a little near sighted.

Depending on what we do with mctavish, I think our line up can use a top 6 player and a bottom 6 penalty kill type.

Our money situation may be kinda tight tho, depending if we get rid of Kreider, what a mctavish trade looks like and the cost of guys like Mintyukov carlsson gauthier etc. and we’d still need to add at least 1(more likely 2) rhd to the line up

All of them outside of Colton are extremely good PKers. Nuke and Lehkonen are considered to be elite two-way players that can play effectively anywhere in your lineup. Drury is an elite 4C that can play third line minutes, but doesn’t necessarily have the offense that you would hope for in a third liner, but easily can handle those minutes and push play in the correct direction.

 

[Leo2Cutter]

All of them outside of Colton are extremely good PKers. Nuke and Lehkonen are considered to be elite two-way players that can play effectively anywhere in your lineup. Drury is an elite 4C that can play third line minutes, but doesn’t necessarily have the offense that you would hope for in a third liner, but easily can handle those minutes and push play in the correct direction.

I think we’re pretty good on center… Poehling and Washe are good at 3 and 4c.

But a 3rd line winger that can kill penalties would be a big add, after we figure out what our cap looks like

 

[dracom]

random thought that came up, if we trade mctavish we'll need to find a new shootout specialist. or just stop getting into so many shootouts

 

[Perratrooper]

I think we’re pretty good on center… Poehling and Washe are good at 3 and 4c.

But a 3rd line winger that can kill penalties would be a big add, after we figure out what our cap looks like

In a Nichuskin deal Colorado could probably take on Vatrano to help even out some of the cap if it helps improve the return.

Lehkonen I would say has a lot higher of value and I would not want to be taking a cap dump back for him at all.

They would be closer to second liners than third liners, so if the goal is to get a third liner the cost might be a touch higher than you would hope

 

[anezthes]

Nuke seems like a terrible role model for the kids. No, thanks.

 

[Leo2Cutter]

In a Nichuskin deal Colorado could probably take on Vatrano to help even out some of the cap if it helps improve the return.

Lehkonen I would say has a lot higher of value and I would not want to be taking a cap dump back for him at all.

They would be closer to second liners than third liners, so if the goal is to get a third liner the cost might be a touch higher than you would hope

Ultimately it would depend on prior moves(RFA signings)

I’d be interested in lehkonen…. If we have the space. But hard to judge right now and what happens with mctavish.

Right now I’d say
Lehkonen carlsson terry
Gauthier mctavish sennecke
Granlund Poehling killorn
Veil Washe Gaucher/colangelo etc

Would be a pretty nice line up, but we’d have limited money to address rhd, which is a bigger priority.

 

[Boo Boo]

I mean. If somehow we can trade off Kreider. Then sure. Why not for a year deal. Another year deal after that if he does well.

I’m surprised you would want such a midget

 

[flywithme]

random thought that came up, if we trade mctavish we'll need to find a new shootout specialist. or just stop getting into so many shootouts

If our defense improves, hopefully we win more games in regulation

 

[FiveTacos]

Money and you hopefully get a young player on an ELC for a few years who can perform like a top 9 forward

You also might end up with a young player on an ELC who doesn't pan out. Or who doesn't pan out until he's due for a 2nd contract anyway ... So you really haven't saved anything, just delayed while downgrading in the meantime. Also at that point the team may be cap crunched as we push for he Cup, making said player an OS risk if he's any good.

There's far more downsides to the scenario than there are good outcomes.

 

[KaseMeOutside]

You also might end up with a young player on an ELC who doesn't pan out. Or who doesn't pan out until he's due for a 2nd contract anyway ... So you really haven't saved anything, just delayed while downgrading in the meantime. Also at that point the team may be cap crunched as we push for he Cup, making said player an OS risk if he's any good.

There's far more downsides to the scenario than there are good outcomes.

If you dont believe mctavish is worth the contract you've saved yourself 7 mil for 5 years

 

[robbieboy3686]

If you dont believe mctavish is worth the contract you've saved yourself 7 mil for 5 years

+1000