With the NHL\u2019s salary cap ceiling rising again for the 2026-27 season, the expectation is that league\u2019s trade market is where the most exciting action will occur this summer, rather than free agency. There simply aren\u2019t as many high-end players becoming unrestricted free agents these days.<\/p>\n
Now that the calendar has shifted into June, only one month remains until the chaos begins, and the chatter has started to ramp up surrounding which players could be on the trade block this offseason. One name that\u2019s been consistently mentioned by NHL insiders\/writers is Anaheim Ducks former first-round pick Mason McTavish, who\u2019s less than one year removed from signing a six-year, $42 million extension with the club.<\/p>\n
McTavish, 23, was the third overall selection in the 2021 NHL Draft and produced a career-best 22 goals and 52 points with Anaheim in 2024-25, and he was rewarded for it with a long-term committment shortly before training camp begun last September. However, under new head coach Joel Quenneville this past season, McTavish\u2019s offensive production declined (career-low 41 points), his ice time dipped (career-low 15:19 per game), and he ended up getting scratched twice in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. It certainly wasn\u2019t an ideal start to his new contract, and it could lead to a change-of-scenery transaction in the coming weeks.<\/p>\n
Plus, for the second consecutive summer, the Ducks are about to dish out some serious coin, as standout forwards Leo Carlsson and Cutter Gauthier need new contracts as restricted free agents. Anaheim GM Pat Verbeek might be looking to offload McTavish\u2019s contract to free up more cap space and address other areas of need on the roster.<\/p>\n
While he\u2019s coming off a down season, McTavish\u2019s age, size and skill combo, and controlled cost for the next six years will make him one of the more intriguing targets on the trade market this summer, should Anaheim truly be looking to move on. Last week, The Athletic\u2019s Chris Johnston released his first trade offseason trade board<\/a>, and McTavish was listed at No. 4. Johnston mentioned that there isn\u2019t a sense of urgency for the Ducks to move on, but that hasn\u2019t stopped other teams from trying.<\/p>\n In a separate column for The Athletic, insider Pierre LeBrun reported something similar last week. LeBrun stated that Verbeek might not be the one picking up the phone and shopping McTavish, but \u201cmultiple teams\u201d<\/a> have already inquired about his availability. Clubs believe he\u2019s a legitimate reset candidate and can benefit from a fresh start elsewhere.<\/p>\n Now, could the Chicago Blackhawks and GM Kyle Davidson be one of those front offices reportedly checking in on McTavish? Davidson absolutely should be finding out the asking price, which still likely won\u2019t be cheap, even if McTavish struggled this past season. Overall, the Blackhawks remain in need of more players with size and skill in their top-nine forward group, and McTavish provides that at 6-foot-1, 220 pounds. He\u2019s also a trusted face-off man for being so young, having won at least 48.3 percent of his draws in each of the last three years.<\/p>\n However, while McTavish\u2019s controlled $7 million cap hit could be looked at as an asset for some teams moving forward, it would be somewhat of a gamble for Davidson to commit that money to him for the next six seasons. Sure, the Blackhawks have the money to afford McTavish, but they would likely want to commit that cap space towards a more trusted\/proven commodity. Davidson has never been one to take on other teams \u201cfailed prospects\u201d during his tenure, although that probably isn\u2019t the proper terminology for McTavish\u2019s sitation.<\/p>\n The Blackhawks want\/NEED to make major strides in their rebuild next year, and while McTavish could be a solid fit on paper, it\u2019s a lot of money and term for a player who\u2019s coming off their worst season in the NHL. Plus, questions still loom about McTavish\u2019s skating speed, and he was among the worst defensive players at even strength in 2025-26. There just seems to be too much risk.<\/p>\n In his latest mailbag column, Scott Powers of The Athletic was asked from a fan about whether Davidson targets McTavish this summer<\/a>, while also pointing out an unfounded rumor about the Blackhawks making a run at him last summer as an RFA. Powers claims he hasn\u2019t heard anything specific about McTavish, but adds that he fits the type of player the Hawks could use.<\/p>\n Davidson will be in the market for additional forward help this summer, but giving up assets \u2014 and likely prime ones, too \u2014 to bring in McTavish doesn\u2019t make much sense in this situation. With six years left at that price tag, there\u2019s too much that could go wrong to make this type of trade.<\/p>\n For more Blackhawks news, visit Chicago Hockey Now<\/a> and like our Facebook Page<\/a>.<\/p>\n Follow us on X:<\/p>\n @chihockeynow<\/a>, @JackBushman2<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With the NHL\u2019s salary cap ceiling rising again for the 2026-27 season, the expectation is that league\u2019s trade…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":341562,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[163,165,164,140701,65310,2068,1721,140702,140703],"class_list":["post-341561","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-anaheim","tag-anaheim","tag-anaheim-headlines","tag-anaheim-news","tag-blackhawks-mctavish","tag-blackhawks-trade","tag-chicago-blackhawks","tag-mason-mctavish","tag-mctavish-ducks","tag-mctavish-trade"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/341561","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=341561"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/341561\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/341562"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=341561"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=341561"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=341561"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}