{"id":889790,"date":"2026-09-09T23:24:11","date_gmt":"2026-09-09T23:24:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/889790\/"},"modified":"2026-09-09T23:24:11","modified_gmt":"2026-09-09T23:24:11","slug":"i-definitely-think-itll-kick-up-again-zach-werenski-ready-for-more-trade-rumours","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/889790\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018I definitely think it\u2019ll kick up again\u2019: Zach Werenski ready for more trade rumours"},"content":{"rendered":"

Star player nears contract expiration, fans and analysts drum up trade possibilities.<\/p>\n

And so, despite the reigning Norris Trophy winner\u2019s best efforts to quiet the noise that he could be dealt by the Columbus Blue Jackets<\/a> before his current deal expires in 2028, he won\u2019t be shocked to hear his name resurface in the rumour mill this season.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s going to kick up until we have an extension. That\u2019s just the nature of it. I think social media does that a lot as well. Fans are going to speculate. I think Quinn (Hughes)\u2019s situation right now is in the forefront of his mind \u2014 what he\u2019s going to do. So, yeah, I definitely think it\u2019ll kick up again,\u201d Werenski told Elliotte Friedman and Kyle Bukauskas Wednesday during a recording of their\u00a032 Thoughts<\/a>\u00a0podcast.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope it doesn\u2019t. I believe that we’re going to be a playoff team this year, and there\u2019s nothing to talk about, and we’re just focused on that. But I guess I wouldn’t be surprised if I saw it kick up. Not because I want it to. It’s just the nature of contracts and everything that transpired over the summer.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"3232 Thoughts: The Podcast<\/p>\n

Hockey fans already know the name, but this is not the blog. From Sportsnet, 32 Thoughts: The Podcast with NHL Insider Elliotte Friedman and Kyle Bukauskas is a weekly deep dive into the biggest news and interviews from the hockey world.<\/p>\n

Latest episode<\/a><\/p>\n

What transpired, according to\u00a0Friedman\u2019s reporting on July 1<\/a>, was a verbal trade agreement between the Dallas Stars and Blue Jackets that would have sent Werenski to Texas and stud Stars D-man Thomas Harley as the centrepiece in a return to Columbus.<\/p>\n

Werenski \u2014 who holds a full no-move clause \u2014 apparently vetoed the deal. It was suggested that, were he to be moved, the player would prefer an Eastern Conference landing spot.<\/p>\n

The Tampa Bay Lightning and Toronto Maple Leafs were reported as\u00a0two opponents<\/a>\u00a0to which Werenski would be willing to accept a trade.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou always think of possibilities, right? Like, I\u2019m not going to say I didn\u2019t think there was ever a possibility of it. But I knew deep down that wasn\u2019t what I was going to do,\u201d Werenski said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI knew I was going back to Columbus. I knew in my head that I wanted to be a Blue Jacket. Yeah, I guess I started to hear noise, and the possibilities start to cross your mind, I guess, but that was never something that I wanted to happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

Werenski, who tasted gold in Milan, wants to win. He says the trade buzz stirred after the Jackets faltered down the stretch, missed the playoffs for a sixth consecutive spring, and his cleanout conversations with the front office got misconstrued.<\/p>\n

With Dylan Larkin, Connor Hellebuyck, and Brady Tkachuk all requesting trades after disappointing ends to their respective teams\u2019 seasons, NHL fans believed Werenski was the next star happy to move.<\/p>\n

The defenceman prides himself on a level-headed approach to life, but the swirling speculation and blizzard of reports affected him.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust felt different around the house and, like, even sleeping. I was not sleeping great, and it just felt like a lot because I really wasn’t sure what was going on and how it was all happening, and I just wanted clarity on it,\u201d Werenski explained.\u00a0<\/p>\n

That\u2019s when he called GM Don Waddell, cleared the air, and got things back on track. The two parties released all-good, nothing-to-see-here statements through the club\u2019s PR department. Werenski stands by his statement today and chalks up this summer’s uncertainty as a learning experience.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were both on the same page immediately. That was a pretty quick call. It was just like, \u2018Hey, this is where I’m going to be,\u2019\u201d Werenski explained.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt wasn’t some like hour-long call to try to figure things out. It was a four-minute phone call about how to get it back on track, and I think we both found out we\u2019re on the same page.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s important to note that, unlike Hughes today, Werenski is unable to sign an extension with his current team until July 1, 2027. Even if that were his desire.<\/p>\n

But Waddell finds himself in a similar position to the Canucks at the outset of the 2025-26 campaign. His Norris winner wants team success, not just a fat payday. And the executive can ill afford to let a talent this elite walk for nothing.<\/p>\n

So, if Jackets aren\u2019t in contention by the 2027 trade deadline, Werenski\u2019s prediction will come true. The trade winds will blow again.<\/p>\n

And two playoff runs with Werenski running point would be worth much more than one.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Star player nears contract expiration, fans and analysts drum up trade possibilities. And so, despite the reigning Norris…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":889791,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[433],"tags":[49,48,448,82],"class_list":["post-889790","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/889790","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=889790"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/889790\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/889791"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=889790"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=889790"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=889790"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}