{"id":291131,"date":"2025-11-18T14:12:08","date_gmt":"2025-11-18T14:12:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/291131\/"},"modified":"2025-11-18T14:12:08","modified_gmt":"2025-11-18T14:12:08","slug":"nhl-rumor-mill-november-18-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/291131\/","title":{"rendered":"NHL Rumor Mill \u2013 November 18, 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Are changes coming for the struggling Predators? Could the Canadiens go shopping for a center? Find out in today\u2019s NHL Rumor Mill. <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tennessean.com\/story\/sports\/nhl\/predators\/2025\/11\/17\/nashville-predators-pittsburgh-penguins-loss-changes-coming\/87145793007\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">THE TENNESSEAN:<\/a> Alex Daugherty wondered if changes are coming for the fading Nashville Predators. They have a record of 6-10-4, sitting eighth in the Central Division. He pointed out that they were 6-11-3 after 20 games last year, going on to finish that season with the third-worst record in the league. <\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-104447\" class=\"wp-image-104447 lazyload\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Stamkos-224x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"158\" height=\"212\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 158px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 158\/212;\"\/><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-104447\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Nashville Predators forward Steven Stamkos (NHL Images)<\/p>\n<p>Daugherty believes there are only so many changes that general manager Barry Trotz can make. Most of his big contracts, including Steven Stamkos and Jonathan Marchessault, have no-movement clauses. He frequently supported head coach Andrew Brunette. <\/p>\n<p>Minor changes, such as trading players on expiring contracts (Erik Haula, Michael Bunting), would exacerbate the situation, even if they\u2019re necessary in the long term. <\/p>\n<p>SPECTOR\u2019S NOTE: Daugherty doesn\u2019t expect to see any improvement from the Predators with their current roster this season. <\/p>\n<p>Stamkos and Marchessault have surfaced in the rumor mill. Still, even if they agree to waive their movement clauses, the decline in their production combined with the remaining term of their contracts could make them difficult to move and won\u2019t fetch significant returns.<\/p>\n<p>Ryan O\u2019Reilly has also been mentioned recently as a trade target. The 34-year-old center is second among Predators scorers with 13 points and is still well-regarded for his two-way play. He also carries an affordable $4.5 million annual cap hit through 2026-27 and lacks no-trade protection. <\/p>\n<p>O\u2019Reilly might draw more interest. However, like Stamkos and Marchessault, he won\u2019t have the same value in the trade market that he might have had a couple of years ago. <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sportsnet.ca\/podcasts\/32-thoughts\/from-kempe-to-chaos\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">SPORTSNET:<\/a> During Monday\u2019s episode of \u201c32 Thoughts: The Podcast\u201d, Elliotte Friedman said Montreal Canadiens GM Kent Hughes is scouring the trade market for a center. Canadiens center Kirby Dach and versatile forward Alex Newhook are both sidelined by injuries. <\/p>\n<p>Friedman indicated that Hughes was among the suitors for former Toronto Maple Leafs center David Kampf before the latter signed with the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday. <\/p>\n<p>SPECTOR\u2019S NOTE: Friedman didn\u2019t mention any other potential targets for Hughes. One option could be John Beecher of the Boston Bruins, who was placed on waivers on Monday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Are changes coming for the struggling Predators? Could the Canadiens go shopping for a center? Find out in&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":291132,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[433],"tags":[49,48,448,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-291131","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-nhl","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291131","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=291131"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291131\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/291132"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=291131"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=291131"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=291131"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}