With the 2026-27 build-up underway, the NHL rumour mill is buzzing: Bowen Byram is weighing a possible exit from the Sabres, the Bruins are listening on Pavel Zacha, the Maple Leafs are asking an ‘exorbitant’ price for Matthew Knies, and Patrick Kane is undeci
The Stanley Cup Final already feels like a memory, the NHL Draft is approaching, and every day that passes seems to sharpen the focus on July 1.
Across 32 clubs, plans are being drawn up to reshape rosters for the 2026-27 campaign—and in the middle of it, a few names are showing up again and again in trade and contract conversations.
This month alone, the trade market has already produced movement for two teams in the Leafs orbit. Toronto Maple Leafs general manager John Chayka acquired defender Darren Raddysh, and separately traded away former starting netminder Joseph Woll.
Now, as the market heats up, the chatter is turning toward what each team does next—especially when the player in the spotlight believes they should be bigger than their current role.
Bowen Byram isn’t talking himself out of Buffalo—he’s talking himself into opportunity.
The Buffalo Sabres are coming off a major step forward. They ended their lengthy post-season drought and won their first playoff round in two decades. But even with that momentum, change is still being weighed for the Sabres’ promising young roster.
NHL insider Frank Seravalli says defender Bowen Byram may be seeking a move in pursuit of a bigger role.
“This has nothing to do with money,” Seravalli said on a recent episode of Frankly Hockey. “This has nothing to do with place — Bowen Byram likes Buffalo. he likes his teammates. he likes the trajectory of the Sabres. This has everything to do with opportunity and a continual challenge, as I understand it, that exists within Bowen Byram. He sees himself as a No. 1 defenceman in the NHL. and watching him in these playoffs. it’s hard to argue that that’s not the case.”.
At 25 years old, Byram is heading into the second season of a two-year, $12.5-million pact he signed in Buffalo in 2025. He’s coming off a career-best 42 points for the Sabres in 2025-26. Before that. he spent four years in Colorado. winning a Stanley Cup with the club in 2022. before being traded to Buffalo in 2024.
Seravalli’s point is clear: Buffalo’s current defensive structure doesn’t leave a straightforward path to the top spot Byram wants.
“Bowen Byram is never going to be PP1 for the Buffalo Sabres,” Seravalli said. “He doesn’t have a path to be the Buffalo Sabres’ No. 1 defenceman. (Rasmus) Dahlin’s there. Owen Power already makes more than him. so you theoretically think that Owen Power is ahead of him in the pecking order potentially as well. … He thinks he can be the guy. And I think that Bowen Byram can be the guy. The only way to do that is to not re-sign in Buffalo when next season ends and he becomes an unrestricted free agent and can go test the market.
“And the Sabres are sitting here thinking, ‘Well, if he’s not going to re-sign, then maybe we want to jump ahead and get pieces back that we can work with now, and improve our team in the here and now with such a good player available, that it might make sense to move on.’”
The next domino, then, is whether Byram’s version of his future overlaps with what the Sabres are willing to gamble on before his unrestricted free agency.
Boston, meanwhile, is exploring options at centre — even if the cupboard isn’t overflowing.
With the summer free agent class described as light on top-end centres who could swing things for a club trying to find progress next season, the Bruins are reportedly listening on Pavel Zacha.
LeBrun wrote that in a market starved for centres, only one name highlighted for the top UFAs is doing the work down the middle: Boone Jenner. But Boston may be ready to consider another path.
“In a market starved for centres. the Bruins are listening on Pavel Zacha. which is an intriguing name to say the least. There’s a big difference between listening and wanting to move him, though,” LeBrun wrote. “My understanding is that the Bruins’ top priority this summer is to extend Zacha if possible. That can happen as of July 1. He’s got one year left on his deal at a $4.75 million AAV and obviously will be looking for a raise after posting career bests with 30 goals and 65 points this past season.
“But how those talks go will be balanced with whether teams step up in a real way in trade talks.”
The veteran pivot has history with two teams in different chapters of his career. He spent seven years in New Jersey before being traded to Boston. He also has a no-trade list allowing him to nix a deal to eight teams, according to LeBrun.
That centre market pressure is also being felt by teams like St. Louis, where one star is reportedly staying put while another is on the board.
Rumours have swirled around St. Louis Blues centre Robert Thomas for months, with the veteran seemingly very likely to move at different points over the past year. But LeBrun and Seravalli say Thomas is now off the market.
LeBrun wrote that “The Blues explored the trade market aggressively before the March 6 trade deadline, but it never got to the point that they asked him for a list of teams or to waive his no-move clause.”
The reported reason has changed with leadership. LeBrun also points to “the changeover from Doug Armstrong to Alexander Steen at GM, which will be official July 1,” adding that teams believe Steen has told Thomas he doesn’t intend to move him.
Added Seravalli: “Teams have called to ask in the last few days, what is the situation with Robert Thomas, is he available, and they have been told, ‘No.’ But Jordan Kyrou is very much available.”
Kyrou enters his Year 4 of an eight-year, $65-million extension he signed in 2022. At 28, he’s coming off an 18-goal, 46-point season for St. Louis. A year prior, he delivered a 36-goal, 70-point season for the Blues.
In Toronto, the question is less whether the Maple Leafs will listen—and more what it will cost.
In his latest NHL Buzz piece, Nick Kypreos reported that the Maple Leafs are still considering moving winger Matthew Knies. Seravalli’s version of the conversations is blunt: the return Toronto is seeking is too high for most teams.
“The appetite around the league is incredibly strong,” Seravalli said. “It’s hard to find a player with this profile. this size. this productivity. this age. that also is signed to a secure deal for five years at $7.75 million. … Here’s my understanding of the situation: teams are calling the Toronto Maple Leafs. They know that Matt Knies’ name was out there previously under the old regime leading up into the trade deadline. That didn’t materialize, it didn’t happen, but now teams are calling. The Leafs are not hanging up the phone under John Chayka. They’re entertaining offers.
“They’re willing to talk about Matt Knies. But I’m told from some of the teams that have been in contact with the Toronto Maple Leafs that the price is exorbitant. They feel like the price is incredibly high.”
Knies is 23 years old. He put up 23 goals and a career-best 66 points for the Maple Leafs last season, and posted a career-high 29 goals a year prior.
The tension around “what next” isn’t limited to teams that want to trade; it’s also shaping what players are willing to do with their own futures.
Patrick Kane is one of those cases.
After parting ways with his longtime club. the Chicago Blackhawks. and playing out a brief stint in New York. the veteran has logged three productive campaigns in Detroit. He recorded 57 points in 67 games for the Red Wings last season. Before that, he posted a pair of 20-goal campaigns in Detroit colours.
But according to LeBrun, the fact Detroit missed the post-season in all three years Kane has been on the squad is part of why a change could be coming for the 37-year-old.
“Pending UFA Patrick Kane definitely wants to play another season, his agent Pat Brisson said on Wednesday. That’s all Brisson would share,” LeBrun wrote. “My understanding is that the Red Wings do want Kane back and have made that clear. What remains undetermined is whether Kane wants to return.
“He certainly might, but he’s mulling things over at the moment about whether to stay put or head to market.”
Across these conversations, a pattern is forming—not because every player is headed for the exit, but because nearly every case circles back to one urgent question: who gets the role they believe they deserve, and who pays the price for it before July 1 moves from possibility to obligation.
The next weeks should answer that, quickly.
NHL rumours Bowen Byram Buffalo Sabres Pavel Zacha Boston Bruins Matthew Knies Toronto Maple Leafs Patrick Kane Detroit Red Wings Robert Thomas Jordan Kyrou trade market July 1