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...
Canucks Keep Spiraling But One Young Forward Is Giving Fans Hope
The Canucks season has already hit an ugly early checkpoint, with a 3-14-1 start that has left the club chasing answers after setting a franchise record for losses through its first 18 games. A recent 6-2 defeat to the Winnipeg Jets only reinforced the familiar problems, from penalty-kill issues to defensive breakdowns, and there has been little about the teams overall form to suggest an immediate fix is around the corner.
Liam Ohgren has been one of the few bright spots tucked inside that mess. After spending time as a healthy scratch earlier in the season, the young forward has started to find his footing and has given the Canucks something to point to beyond the standings, with his recent run offering a small but meaningful sign that not every part of the roster is stuck in the same spiral. [Read more 🡒]
Canucks Paying For Drew OConnor Problem As Malhotra Loses Patience
Drew OConnors start to the season has become a problem the Canucks cant keep ignoring. Through 18 games, the winger has piled up more minor penalties than anyone else on the roster, and the timing has only made the damage worse for a team already trying to steady its penalty kill. His season has also fallen well short of what Vancouver has come to expect from him, turning a useful depth piece into a nightly source of frustration.
Manny Malhotras patience appeared to wear thin after OConnor took an early hooking penalty in a recent game, a mistake that fed directly into goals against. For a club that needs cleaner shifts and fewer self-inflicted wounds, those kinds of lapses have a way of standing out fast. The Canucks are still waiting for OConnor to settle in, but the longer this pattern continues, the harder it gets to separate his individual struggles from the teams bigger special-teams issues. [Read more 🡒]
Canucks Face A Roster Decision That Could Shape Their Deadline
The Canucks are weighing a familiar deadline dilemma with Drew OConnor, a veteran winger on an expiring contract who could help them reshape the roster if they decide to move him. Vancouvers interest in getting younger, NHL-ready talent is part of the equation, but OConnors value also comes from being the kind of depth piece playoff teams tend to chase when they want another scoring option for the stretch run.
His slow start has only added to the uncertainty, even as the organization considers whether keeping him around might still make sense for the experience and possible longer-term value he brings. For now, the sense is that Vancouver does not need to rush, and a decision could wait until closer to the trade deadline, when the market and the Canucks own priorities may look a lot different. [Read more 🡒]