We put out the call for your trade ideas, and boy did you ever deliver.
Nearly 500 (!?) responses — and not one person had Seth Jones going to Florida. I’m disappointed.
For everyone who did have a Jones trade, however, my apologies as they won’t be included here. We’ll stick primarily to trades that are still possible, even if some of these might be highly implausible.
Obviously, I couldn’t respond to all of your great ideas. Instead, we went with some of the most realistic and/or entertaining options for a little game of “Who says no?”
“The trade proposals are atrocious here. I’m not even sure there are any good enough to even run the article LOL.” — Joseph L.
Maybe the first ‘no’ should have been me to my editor last week? And, yet, press on we will …
“Johnathan Kovacevic to MTL for a 2026 fourth-round pick (NJD).” — Shane L.
A good ol’ troll trade proposal I see here.
A trollposal? Protrollsal?
But you, sir, want the “Who should have said no?” article a few sections over. I’m sure DGB will be writing one of those any day now. And the answer is the Canadiens, who dealt Kovacevic for a fourth-round pick in the summer only to have him blossom into an elite shutdown D with the Devils this season.
He’s in line for a very nice payday as a UFA after making less than $800,000 the last three years.
If it’s any consolation for the Habs, they did claim Kovacevic off waivers in the fall of 2022. And they have a nice young blue line coming, which was the thinking in moving him to begin with.
“DET gets Jake Evans. MTL gets a third-round pick, converted to a second if DET reaches third round and Evans plays enough games, or if DET re-signs him.” — Delorey G.
I like Evans. He’s someone I’ve been thinking would be an under-the-radar fit for a contender that needs a center, like the Maple Leafs or Devils. As a 3C, he can chip in some offense, kill penalties and help out on the draw.
I believe Montreal should be able to get a second-rounder for him, so I’m going to say they say no here, especially considering these conditions, which are pretty unlikely to be met.
But from the Red Wings’ perspective, it should probably be a no, too. They had less than a 30 percent chance of making the playoffs even before the loss to Columbus on Saturday. And while the Andrew Copp injury creates an obvious hole, and the fan base is understandably desperate for some postseason success after years in the rebuild wilderness, moving picks for rentals this year doesn’t make a lot of sense.
The good news is that, in light of their recent surge under new coach Todd McLellan, the progress is certainly evident. Your time to make regrettable deadline overpays will come (again), Detroiters.
“To Winnipeg: Ivan Provorov (50 percent retained). To CBJ: Chaz Lucius, second-round pick.” — Matt H.
This is an interesting one.
Lucius has been an intriguing prospect for years, going back to before the Jets took him 18th four years ago, but he simply hasn’t been able to stay healthy. Still only 21 years old, he’s played just 96 games over the last five seasons going back to his draft year.
I’m going to take a bit of a copout here and say the Blue Jackets say no because they have a better than 50-50 shot of making the playoffs and Provorov is playing huge quality minutes for them right now.
They also still have a chance to re-sign him and keep a good thing going, which isn’t something many expected coming into the year. But it’s been that kind of season in C-Bus.
The Jets would certainly get even more formidable with Provorov on the back end though, so this makes a ton of sense from their perspective.
Ryan O’Reilly back to the Leafs? It might be the player who says no. (Claus Andersen / Getty Images)
“Leafs trade: 2026 first-rounder, 2025 second-rounder, Max Domi, and Fraser Minten. Nashville trades: Ryan O’Reilly, Luke Schenn, Gustav Nyquist (half retained).” — Michael N.
Nyquist went to the Wild on the weekend already, but we’ll make an exception and allow this given he appears to be a bit of a throw-in here.
There’s been a ton of talk about O’Reilly all year and what a great fit he would be back in Toronto. The Leafs acquired him before the deadline a couple years back and finally won a playoff round, so there’s obviously those good vibrations, but there are complicating factors.
Namely that O’Reilly turned down the Leafs to go to Nashville in the first place, something at least partially related to his concerns over playing in Toronto.
And the Predators have said they wouldn’t move him to somewhere he doesn’t want to go, so perhaps the deal dies there? (Meaning: O’Reilly says no.)
It’s unclear if this trade proposal is half retained on all three players, but I’m assuming not, given the Predators used their final retention slot to send Nyquist to Minnesota (for a second time). Which means this is a lot of salary for the Leafs to try and fit in, unless they bring in a third team as a cap broker, which would mean including more picks.
The first, second and a prospect (Minten) is probably about what it would take to make Nashville think about this swap, though, especially given you’re dumping three more years of Domi at $3.75 million on them.
And the Leafs being so stuck for another center likely means they contemplate this one long and hard, assuming ROR is open to the idea. Both players they’re getting have term, too, so this isn’t a rental scenario.
But I think it only works for Toronto if, without Nyquist involved, you find a way to bring the cap hit of either ROR or Schenn down considerably.
“Trevor Zegras to PHLY for ANA 2025 second.” — Brian K.
It’s sad how much Zegras’ stock has fallen, to the point that this isn’t even an outlandish return. He was once one of the more exciting young kids in the league, to the point he was the Chel cover athlete in 2023.
But the Ducks say no here simply because why would they do this? Zegras is still only 23 years old. He’s had a bunch of injuries. And the Ducks aren’t exactly in win-now mode at the moment, so they can afford to be patient and hope he regains his 65-point form at some point.
That feels unlikely at the moment, to be sure. But it’s a better bet to make than to swap him for a pick that doesn’t really hold a whole lot of value either.
Although I’m sure we’d all benefit from the chaos that would be Zegras trying to find his game under John Tortorella. Now there’s an Amazon series episode that will sell.
“DET: Mathew Barzal. NYI: 2025 first, Nate Danielson, Vladimir Tarasenko.” — Tim N.
Wow. Well, that’s one way for the Red Wings to address their hole at center. And for the Islanders to start their rebuild.
The Islanders say no, given what Barzal means to the franchise. He has a ton of term left, and he’s become a great two-way player, even if this season has been frustrating on the injury front. It’s not a completely ridiculous offer, but I just can’t see the Isles going scorched earth like this. And Barzal would be the last player they’d move.
I know many are very high on Danielson, though, so your feeling on the trade should really rest with how high you believe his ceiling is. Wheeler had him 40th in his recent ranking of draft prospects, and that strikes me as about right.
He’s not going to be Barzal, who was already torching the league by the same age. If — and it’s a huge if — the Islanders were to move their superstar, it’s going to be for more of a sure thing than this.
I feel like Barzal has become underrated given his team’s struggles of late, to be honest. Since entering the league, he has more points per game than Dylan Larkin and isn’t far off Tim Stützle and William Nylander — and that’s playing on what’s been a pretty defensive New York team.
“PHI sends: Rasmus Ristolainen and Scott Laughton. TOR sends: Easton Cowan, FLA 2025 second, TOR 2026 first, TOR 2028 seventh.” — Jagger D.
This is too much for Toronto to give up here, although I think both players make sense given the Leafs’ needs. I wonder if you take Cowan or the first out of the deal if it would work?
The big question is what is Ristolainen’s value? He’s played much better this season — and in bigger minutes — but with two more years on his contract at a big cap hit ($5.1 million) is anyone really going to give up a first-round pick for the big Finn given how his career has gone of late?
If the Flyers are willing to add in some heavy retention and the ask gets dialed down, I could see this one getting interesting. Although I don’t see them budging from wanting a first for Laughton given how valued he is in Philadelphia.
“To EDM: Jordan Binnington. To STL: Stuart Skinner, Oilers 2026 first-round pick.” — Logan S.
I was set to dismiss this one right away, but it’s actually pretty interesting.
I think the Oilers say no, given Skinner is younger, cheaper and has had better performances in the past. But if you’re Edmonton, where you need to go all-in and continue to try to maximize this McDavid/Draisaitl window, can you really bank on Skinner in the postseason after the year he’s had?
Binnington’s stock is also on the rise after the 4 Nations. He’s signed for two more years at a big cap hit, but he’s only 31 and had a terrific year last season. A contender really should take a flier on him with a first-round pick given the other options available.
This would certainly be a fun one.
“Min: Brock Boeser. Van: 2026 first-round pick, Riley Heidt.” — Zach B.
The Wild say no and just sign him in free agency on July 1.
They make it a double shot of Brocks, too, by adding fellow home stater Brock Nelson.
How many Brocks are in Minnesota anyway? (Not as many as North Dakota, apparently).
“The Moon receives: Max Domi. Leafs receive: Well, ya, no Max Domi.” — Sean S.
What’s with Leafs fans trying to send their unwanted players out of Earth’s atmosphere? The other week, it was Pontus Holmberg; now they’re onto Domi.
Toronto already has a place called Robidas Island. They don’t need a lunar crater involved, too. Just retain salary and move your unwanted contracts off like everybody else.
But this does show how frustrated the market is with the bottom six of the Leafs lineup.
“To COL: Brayden Schenn, Radek Faksa. To STL: Casey Mittelstadt, Calum Ritchie, 2025 second-round pick from CAR.” — Logan S.
Avs say no, in a heartbeat.
For one, I’m not even certain how huge an upgrade 33-year-old Schenn gives you over Mittelstadt at this point in his career. But more importantly, Ritchie is going to be a stud, and the Avs desperately need some cost-controlled youth to come in and start helping the cause.
He could be in the NHL as soon as next season, too, so it’s not even like they have a huge wait for what could be a nice second-line addition.
(Top photo of Brayden Schenn: Elsa / Getty Images)
