Dylan Larkin’s trade list is getting longer, but Montreal still isn’t on it.
The Red Wings forward has gone from three teams to six to now ten, and the latest group still leaves out the Canadiens. His list now includes the Panthers, Wild, Golden Knights, Stars, Caps, Hurricanes, Mammoth, Lightning, Devils and Avalanche. Canadiens fans apparently made their pitch when Detroit came to town, but it didn’t move the needle.
Marco D’Amico noted that if Larkin eventually winds up in Montreal only because he was backed into a corner, that wouldn’t sit well with fans. The feeling in Montreal is simple enough: they want a player who genuinely wants to be there.
Elsewhere, Mike Babcock kept his cool after the Oilers were hammered 7-2 by the Maple Leafs. He said Toronto played “harder, longer, faster” and was better in every area.
Babcock also said that effort like that on a Saturday night in your own building should be automatic, and he didn’t point fingers at anyone individually. His message was that the entire team wasn’t good enough.
Even after that loss, he didn’t light into the group. Babcock said he’d rather sleep on it than react in the moment.
That matters because Edmonton had been rolling at 8-1-1, making this one a rare rough night. Now the focus shifts to how they come out of their day off Sunday and respond Monday.
And then there’s the Connor Hellebuyck saga, where Carolina went big and still came up short.
The Hurricanes explored some unusual ways to land him, including trying to acquire forwards from other teams and flip them to Winnipeg. The Jets, though, were after immediate help up front, and they wanted a young core piece such as Stankoven or Jarvis. Carolina wasn’t willing to pay that kind of price, even after what was described as months of what they believed was a fair offer.
In the end, the Devils got the deal done. Jeff Marek called their earlier Remi Poirier waiver claim “one of the great bluffs we’ve seen in the NHL.” Sunny Mehta said the talks picked up in the final couple of days, and he even had to tell Hellebuyck not to just hop in his car and drive over.
In Other News...
Jets Trade Looks Even More Telling After Hellebuycks Latest Hint
Alexander Nikishins situation with Carolina has already been one of the more unusual stories around the team this year, and it only looks more layered in hindsight. The defenseman had been at the center of a contract standoff before ultimately staying put, giving the Hurricanes a talented blue-line piece to keep building around while also closing off one of the more intriguing offseason paths on the board.
What makes the whole episode linger is how close the team may have come to a very different outcome. For all the talk about keeping Nikishin in Raleigh, there was a window when a move elsewhere was very much in play, and that possibility now hangs over what the Hurricanes chose to do. Even with the deal done, the broader question of how aggressively Carolina explored the market around him still gives the story a little more bite. [Read more 🡒]
Hurricanes Came Closer Than Fans Realized On Connor Hellebuyck
Long before Connor Hellebuycks name became the kind of rumor that can light up the market, Carolina was among the teams kicking tires on a goalie pursuit that apparently got a lot closer than many around the league realized. Elliotte Friedman reported that the Hurricanes were one of several legitimate suitors in trade discussions, alongside Florida, Buffalo and Utah, as the conversation around Winnipegs star netminder moved through different stages and started running into the usual obstacles that can sink a blockbuster.
The details, though, never lined up cleanly enough to push things over the top, and Friedman said the talks stalled for a mix of reasons that varied from team to team. For Carolina, it was part of a broader chase that suggested the Hurricanes were at least seriously exploring ways to shake up the position, even if the final hurdle remained out of reach. For a team that keeps looking for the edge in net, that makes the latest Hellebuyck chatter worth a second look. [Read more 🡒]
Blue Jackets Suddenly Face A Dmitri Voronkov Decision Fans Wont Ignore
The Hurricanes are still sorting through the kind of roster questions that usually linger until the market starts to move, and Jalen Chatfield is one of the quieter ones with real weight behind it. Carolina has not had recent contract talks with the defenseman, and there are no current plans to resume them, which leaves his future hanging as the club continues to think through its next round of decisions on the back end.
Chatfields situation fits into a broader stretch of uncertainty around the league, where teams are weighing not just trades but spending priorities and their own pending free agents. For Carolina, the lack of traction on an extension is the notable part, especially with the season now far enough along that every pause starts to look meaningful. If the sides do not revisit things soon, the path forward gets clearer, and not necessarily in the way the Hurricanes would prefer. [Read more 🡒]