November 6, 2026 brought a little bit of everything in NHL trade chatter: a massive fan-built swing for Toronto, a rulebook headache in Edmonton, and a Vancouver forward suddenly landing on the trade radar.
The loudest buzz centered on Thomas Harley, even if the actual market for him doesn’t appear to be there. A fan-submitted PuckGM proposal had the Maple Leafs sending Jake McCabe, Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Dakota Joshua, prospect T.
Koblar, Brendan Brisson, first-round picks in 2027 and 2029, plus a 2028 second-rounder to Dallas for Harley and his $10.6 million cap hit. The idea was simple enough: Toronto would be turning a pile of depth into one premium defenceman, the kind of back-end difference-maker the team has been chasing.
The reaction was brutal. The community rejected it by 87 percent, and the site’s “Who Says No?”
tool sided with Dallas GM Jim Nill turning it down. That makes sense on paper, because the Stars would be giving up a cornerstone defenceman for a package built around quantity.
It also matters that this was only a fan exercise, not a real negotiation, and several of the Toronto players involved carry no-trade or modified no-trade clauses. Even with multiple first-round picks in the mix, that kind of deal would be a tough sell.
In Edmonton, the conversation was less about trades and more about a penalty that left everyone scratching their heads. After Connor McDavid was driven into the net, Ducks defenceman Drew Helleson exchanged words with him.
Vasily Podkolzin then stepped in and fought Helleson, but officials labeled it a “one-man fight.” Podkolzin was handed an instigator, a fighting major and a game misconduct, even though Helleson had dropped his gloves and thrown punches.
The result was a five-minute Ducks power play and Podkolzin out for the rest of the night.
The bigger issue, as framed in the roundup, is consistency. The complaint isn’t just about one call - it’s about nobody seeming to know what the standard is from game to game.
When the postgame conversation around McDavid, Draisaitl, Gauthier, and Carlsson is centered on a penalty nobody could clearly explain, that’s a problem for the league. The piece points to the Aggressor Rule under Rule 46 as the cleaner answer and argues fans should be getting the same interpretation in October that they get in the playoffs.
Vancouver’s storyline was quieter, but it could still matter down the line. The Fourth Period included Drew O’Connor on its November trade watch list, describing him as a versatile mid-six forward who should attract interest from contenders.
He’s 28, his contract is expiring, and his production has been light so far - just five points in 18 games. O’Connor himself has said he hasn’t done enough of the things that make him effective.
Still, there’s no rush to move him. The thinking is that Vancouver could wait until closer to the deadline, when injuries start piling up and contenders become more desperate, which could raise the price.
A return like the two picks Kiefer Sherwood brought back from San Jose last season was floated as the kind of benchmark that might make sense. At the same time, there’s a case for keeping O’Connor if he’s willing to sign an extension at a reasonable number, especially with the Canucks still likely to listen on several veterans.
Whether he ends up on that list is still to be determined.
In Other News...
Oilers Fans Have Every Reason To Be Furious Over This Call
A routine scrum in the Oilers-Ducks game turned into one of those officiating moments that leaves everyone in the building shaking their head. Vasily Podkolzin and Drew Helleson dropped the gloves, but the way the sequence was handled quickly became the bigger story, with the call drawing immediate confusion because it did not fit the usual expectations for how a fight is judged.
For Edmonton, the frustration goes beyond one strange ruling. The NHL has spent years trying to sell consistency, yet calls like this only fuel the sense that standards shift from night to night, and that is exactly why the leagues Aggressor Rule keeps coming up as a cleaner way to sort out these situations. When a simple fight becomes a rules debate, the Oilers are left dealing with the fallout while fans are left wondering how the officials arrived at all of it. [Read more 🡒]
Oilers Fast Start Just Sparked A Lineup Debate Fans Will Feel
Edmontons strong start has created an early-season problem every contender would love to have: the roster is producing even while key players remain out, which only sharpens the conversation about what the next move should be. With the Oilers looking sturdy despite the absences, attention has shifted to whether help should come from within, through Bakersfield, or from outside the organization if management decides the lineup needs another layer of depth.
The internal options are already easy to map out, with names like Connor Clattenburg and Aku Raty in the mix as possible recalls from the Condors. At the same time, the trade chatter is beginning to widen around wingers and centers who could fit a supporting role, including Reid Schaefer, Matt Rempe, Cole Smith and a couple of other targets, leaving the Oilers at the familiar crossroads of patience versus reinforcement. [Read more 🡒]
McDavid Is Chasing Oilers History And Raising One Bigger Question
Connor McDavid keeps piling up numbers at a rate that is starting to feel routine, even by his standards. He has 44 points in 17 games this NHL season, and even in a recent loss to the Anaheim Ducks he still managed a four-point night, another reminder of how often he is driving the Oilers no matter the result around him.
Wayne Gretzky has taken notice, praising McDavids performance and leadership while pointing to the kind of season that can put history within reach. Edmonton has backed that surge with a strong record and a share of the Western Conference lead, which leaves the bigger question hanging over everything McDavid is doing right now: how far can this run carry the Oilers when the stakes get heavier later in the year? [Read more 🡒]