6 NHL Players Likely to Be Traded After the Kirill Marchenko-Matthew Knies Deal

After an entire offseason of speculation, Kirill Marchenko has found the new home he was looking for.

Marchenko's move from Columbus to Toronto was among the NHL's most consequential late-September transactions, with the Maple Leafs acquiring the forward in a six-player trade with the Blue Jackets.

That does not necessarily mean other prominent players will move as quickly. Still, several notable names could emerge as trade candidates in the coming weeks and months.

We'll look at players seeking new teams as the new NHL season begins and consider where they could go and how soon, if at all, they might be traded.

Time isn't standing still for the Winnipeg Jets or anyone else in the NHL, but it is for Connor Hellebuyck while he waits to be traded.

The Jets added Clay Stevenson off waivers from the Washington Capitals to join Stuart Skinner in the crease. Potential suitors for Hellebuyck are still going about business as usual, even though some have had injury concerns arise.

Whether it's the Buffalo Sabres (Alex Lyon and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen each left preseason games early with injuries), the Utah Mammoth (Karel Vejmelka and Sebastian Cossa look set to own the net to start the year), the San Jose Sharks (Yaroslav Askarov and Alex Nedeljkovic), or the Carolina Hurricanes (Brandon Bussi and Pyotr Kochetkov), they've all made plans without Hellebuyck. Even the Edmonton Oilers, with Frederik Andersen (injured), Tristan Jarry, and Devon Levi, are ready to go.

The market for the three-time Vezina winner and 2025 MVP is there, but it's not burning up, which is bad news for Hellebuyck.

That said, with how fickle goaltending can be and how injuries can wreak havoc on a team's season should the No. 1 guy go down, all it takes is one team to push hard to bring him in and nothing scares a team into action like a bad injury or a worse start to the season.

All it takes for a player to agree to a trade is a market that's not there and a desperation to get out of an increasingly ugly situation. This is where Dylan Larkin is at.

While Larkin is dealing with an upper-body injury, he's reportedly expanded the list of teams he'd accept a trade from. His original list of Florida, Minnesota, Tampa Bay, and Vegas has been joined by Colorado, Dallas, and Washington.

All of these teams are tight to the cap ceiling, and after a report that Detroit turned down offers from Boston and Minnesota for Larkin, and with Wings management having a few fires to put out, moving Larkin remains difficult.

After all, Larkin has years left on his contract, and while he and the Red Wings have a semi-peaceable way of winding down his career in Detroit (removing the captaincy and such), should he suit up for them again, the reception at home should be icy enough to hurry along the process of moving him.

Will it be enough for him to expand his list even more, or enough for Detroit to lower their demands? Maybe we'll get to find out.

What's been fascinating about Alexander Nikishin's negotiations with Carolina is how he's managed to get his name tossed into trade scenarios alongside some of the other big targets in the league, especially Connor Hellebuyck. With Marchenko off to Toronto, that potential outlet was eliminated.

Nikishin's situation is particularly tricky, not just because he's a restricted free agent; there's also the possibility he could return to Russia and the KHL if an offer (or a team) comes along that he's unhappy with.

Being part of a Stanley Cup-winning team and performing well makes him desirable, but the contract battle hasn't settled, and that can make things tense with the season now here.

A team like the New York Rangers stepping in to acquire Nikishin would make sense if not for being one of Carolina's rivals in the Metropolitan Division.

There are plenty of other clubs that could use help on the blue line, but Nikishin's situation means teams are a bit wary in case he heads back home.

While most of the Canadiens' younger players seem to be signing long-term, team-friendly contracts, Kirby Dach has yet to sign one, which is enough to make you wonder if something is up.

Sportsnet's Frank Seravalli shared recently that Edmonton and Calgary have snooped around Dach, who is in the final year of his contract this season. Edmonton could use some depth at forward, and Calgary could use some experienced players, period. But does that mean Dach is immediately available? Not exactly, although the Canadiens have a ton of depth to work with.

After the Habs added Chris Kreider, Dach slides down the depth chart and is poised to play third-line minutes, though his hold on that spot might be tenuous, which could make ice time harder to find. With a $3.5 million cap hit, he's affordable, and if it's not the Oilers or Flames, any other team in need of an experienced forward could come calling, too.

We're trying really hard not to pick on the Detroit Red Wings, but the team has made it really hard to ignore what in the world is going on there. Case in point, as yet unsigned RFA defenseman Simon Edvinsson who skated and practiced with the team through training camp and still doesn't have a new contract.

With the season underway, Edvinsson won't be working out with the team anymore and the fact that he still hasn't signed after Shawn Horcoff was appointed interim general manager is a problem.

Detroit has plenty of cap space to work with (more than $16 million) and a desperate need to get Edvinsson back on the blue line with his partner Moritz Seider. This situation should be simple enough to settle, but if it stays stressed, there's no doubt teams will come calling for the 6'6" 222-pound defenseman.

There's been speculation for a while now about whether Seattle's Shane Wright's future is with the Kraken.

He saw his numbers drop significantly last season after a solid rookie season two years ago, and as he enters the final year of his entry-level contract, we're all wondering what is next for him.

A big season this year would quiet everyone down about Wright's future, but with teams on the lookout for help, his name occasionally comes up. Elliotte Friedman mentioned on the 32 Thoughts Podcast that the Edmonton Oilers are looking for center help and peeked at Wright, although he added that the possibility seemed unlikely.

At 22 years old and with fewer than 200 games in the NHL, there's room for him to grow and develop, but the Kraken aren't in a position to punt on any of their young top prospects, especially a player they selected fourth overall in 2022.

There's plenty of room to grow with the Kraken, and if Wright can have a true breakout season, trade talk will end for good. Until then, though, teams around the league will believe they can add him and turn things around.