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Mason McTavish #23 of the Anaheim Ducks (Photo by Sean M. Haffey\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
The dog days of the 2025 NHL offseason are officially in session, but as the calendar turned to August, speculation surrounding Anaheim Ducks<\/a> center Mason McTavish remained.<\/p>\n \u201cI think there\u2019s a better chance now that the Ducks keep him, but teams are still trying to get him from the Ducks and wondering where this is going, and it\u2019s still in a circling pattern,\u201d an NHL Executive source told RG on Tuesday night.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve heard the Canadiens and Hurricanes have been keeping tabs, but one team I keep hearing that has continued to show strong interest is the Detroit Red Wings. Obviously there\u2019s a history there with Pat [Verbeek] and Steve [Yzerman], and I really think Steve sees McTavish as a player that would clearly change the whole dynamic of his team up the middle there.\u201d<\/p>\n After playing together with the Red Wings from 1999-2001, Red Wings general manager Steve Yzerman<\/a> and Ducks GM Pat Verbeek worked together in hockey operations for Detroit from 2006-2010, with Yzerman serving as Vice President of Hockey Operations and Verbeek as a pro scout. When Yzerman left Detroit to become the general manager of the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2010, he brought Verbeek with him and made him the Director of Pro scouting for two seasons, and then the Assistant GM and Director of Player Personnel.\u00a0<\/p>\n Yzerman and Verbeek went on to help build the Lightning into a perennial Stanley Cup contender, but they both returned to Detroit in 2019, with Yzerman becoming the new GM<\/a> and Vice President of Hockey Operations for the Red Wings, and Verbeek assuming the role of Assistant GM and GM of the Grand Rapids Griffins (AHL), until he was hired as the general manager of the Ducks in 2022.<\/p>\n Mason McTavish has arguably been the most bantered-about player in NHL trade chatter this offseason. The third overall pick from the 2021 NHL Entry Draft is coming out of a three-year, $2.68 million<\/a> ($894K AAV), entry-level contract. Not only has there been plenty of NHL trade speculation around the 22-year-old, 6-foot-1, 218-pound pivot, but seemingly the whole hockey world was anticipating some team to throw an offer sheet at McTavish.\u00a0<\/p>\n