5 Bold Trade Predictions Ahead of the 2026-27 NHL Season

It's been a busy offseason of blockbuster trades across the NHL with notable players like Brady Tkachuk, Jordan Kyrou, Pavel Dorofeyev and Vincent Trocheck all changing teams in blockbuster deals.

There still might be more to come before the season, and perhaps even during it.

Dylan Larkin and Connor Hellebuyck still have unsettled trade requests.

Quinn Hughes is entering the final year of his contract with no long-term contract in sight.

You know at some point the Carolina Hurricanes are going to do something with their remaining salary cap space and draft pick capital.

So let's take a minute and make some bold trade predictions ahead of the 2026-27 season.

Keep in mind, these are just predictions. They are not necessarily rumors or reports. It's just a prediction based on needs, what teams have to potentially offer and what could make sense.

Let's get into it.

The Minnesota Wild Will Trade Quinn Hughes...Somewhere

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This seems like it could be one of the biggest storylines of the season.

Hughes is one of the best players in the league, is entering the final year of his contract, has no new contract in place, and there is an assumption that he is just waiting for an opportunity to get to the New Jersey Devils so he can play alongside his brothers, Jack Hughes and Luke Hughes.

He will get that opportunity when his contract expires after this season (assuming he does not sign a new deal before then).

How the Wild handle things before then is going to be fascinating to watch. They traded for him a year ago in the hopes he could help make them a Stanley Cup contender, and that maybe they could convince him to re-sign. They didn't win a Stanley Cup a year ago, and to this point he hasn't re-signed.

General manager Bill Guerin appeared on a Minnesota radio show this week and refused to commit to not trading him, and when told he "couldn't" trade Quinn Hughes, Guerin jokingly responded by saying he can do whatever he wants.

Are the Wild convinced this team is good enough as constructed to take an all-or-nothing approach for one season with Hughes? They might be close, but given their lack of center depth they are probably a step below the top-tier Stanley Cup contenders. The Colorado Avalanche showed a couple of years ago that a contending team can trade a pending UFA star player and come out looking good with it (Mikko Rantanen). Maybe Minnesota follows in that direction.

Now, does that mean they are going to trade him to New Jersey? Not at all. The Wild would be under no obligation to do that given Hughes' lack of a no-trade clause in his contract, and could seek out the best possible deal for their team. There would almost certainly be a market, and it might be something they feel they need to explore rather than risk losing him in free agency after the season.

Connor Hellebuyck Gets Traded to the Carolina Hurricanes

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Just because Carolina has won recently without elite goaltending does not mean they have to keep doing that.

They could be an ideal fit to potentially go after Winnipeg Jets goalie Connor Hellebuyck given their available salary cap space (still over $9 million as of early September) and the fact they have a lot of potential trade capital. Not only does Carolina have four first-round picks over the next three years, it also has defenseman Alexander Nikishin who remains unsigned as a restricted free agent and may not have a big enough role with the Hurricanes. There are a lot of things here that could intrigue Winnipeg if it honors Hellebuyck's trade request. And it seems likely that he is going to do everything in his power to force their hands and make sure they do honor it.

Hellebuyck is getting deeper into his 30s and is going to want a chance to win a Stanley Cup, and Carolina, as the defending Stanley Cup champions, would give him a great opportunity to do that.

There might be some concern regarding his ability to maintain the level of play he has been at over his prime years, but he should still be an elite goalie for another couple of years. That would make an already great Carolina team even better, and likely make them the top favorites to win it all once again.

Dylan Larkin Doesn't Get Traded

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Not all trade predictions have to involve an actual trade.

Sometimes it can just be the simple reality that a trade doesn't happen.

What if Dylan Larkin's problem with the Detroit Red Wings wasn't necessarily a problem with the Red Wings organization itself? What if it was just a major disagreement with Steve Yzerman and the way he was running and building the team? Is it impossible to suggest? Is it too hard to believe that? Isn't it possible that a new general manager could come in, smooth things over with the team's captain, and get him to stay?

Stranger things have happened.

Even if Larkin does get traded, it's not going to happen until that new general manager takes over, and even then it would almost certainly take some time for them to talk to teams, gather offers, and have a vision for what direction they want to take the team in. Larkin doesn't seem like he is going to hold out, and all it might take is for a strong start to the season with a new vision in the front office.

The players in the locker room would almost certainly welcome him back because they are all pros and understand the business.

The fans might take some time, but winning cures everything.

Columbus Eventually Trades Kirill Marchenko to Montreal

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Even though it has not manifested itself into a lot of major roster moves, the Columbus Blue Jackets have still had a chaotic offseason thanks to rumors of Zach Werenski and Kirill Marchenko, two of their best players, not being interested in staying with the team beyond their current contracts.

Things seem to have been smoothed over with Werenski for now, but Marchenko still seems to have a cloudy future in Columbus. With him being eligible for restricted free agency after this season, it could push a trade to the front-burner sooner rather than later.

The Montreal Canadiens have been the most-rumored destination, and it makes a ton of sense for them.

The Canadiens have a need for another top-six winger, and because they have all of their core players already locked into place on long-term deals that are also wildly cap-friendly, they have the financial flexibility to swing for a major deal like this.

Montreal has all of its first-round draft picks over the next three years and plenty of prospect depth that they can deal from. There might not be a team in the NHL better positioned to make a move like this in terms of need and having the type of assets Columbus might be interested in.

Chris Kreider Is the Player Anaheim Trades to Open Salary-Cap Space

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The Anaheim Ducks salary cap situation got thrown into chaos this offseason when the Philadelphia Flyers signed center Leo Carlsson to an offer sheet, which was then followed by the threat of an offer sheet for defenseman Pavel Mintyukov. Between the two of them, the Ducks have over $25 million in cap space invested, and still have to get Cutter Gauthier re-signed.

They have just $9 million in salary cap space to do it. That is almost certainly not going to be enough given where contracts around the league are going this offseason and the type of season Gauthier is coming off of with the Ducks.

That almost certainly means that somebody is going to have to go.

The most likely trade candidates are Chris Kreider, Alex Killorn and Frank Vatrano.

Vatrano, in theory, would be the easiest to trade simply because he doesn't have any no-trade protections in his contract. But he is coming off a brutal season, and NHL teams are not usually interested in trading for veteran wingers in their 30s that have term remaining on their contracts. The two years on his deal might be a deterrent for another team, even if the salary cap number ($4.5 million per seasom) is not that significant.

Killorn could be an option, and is coming off a 15-goal season, but I don't know how much of a market there would be for him given his age (37) and the fact he makes $6.2 million. That is a situation where Anaheim might have to throw in a sweetener to find a taker.

Kreider is similar to Killorn in terms of salary cap number ($6.5 million), term remaining (final season of current contract), trade protections (15-team trade list) and age (35), but there might be a slightly bigger market for him without having to throw in a sweetener. Kreider is coming off a bounce-back year offensively, scoring 22 goals with 50 total points, and has been a better player more recently. Kreider can still potentially help them, but they are going to have to shed some money somewhere, and he might be the most logical candidate at the moment.