{"id":690607,"date":"2026-10-19T13:24:14","date_gmt":"2026-10-19T13:24:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/690607\/"},"modified":"2026-10-19T13:24:14","modified_gmt":"2026-10-19T13:24:14","slug":"nhl-rumor-mill-october-19-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/690607\/","title":{"rendered":"NHL Rumor Mill \u2013 October 19, 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

Should the Mammoth attempt to acquire Connor Hellebuyck<\/a>? Will the Flyers consider trading Travis Konecny<\/a>? Can the Maple Leafs find an impact defenseman? Find out in today\u2019s NHL Rumor Mill.<\/p>\n

SPORTSNET:<\/a> Michael Amato believes the Utah Mammoth<\/a> are a goaltender away from being a Stanley Cup contender.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Winnipeg Jets goaltender Connor Hellebuyck (NHL Images).<\/p>\n

Amato considers Mammoth starting goalie Karel Vejmelka<\/a> an inconsistent, \u201cleague-average\u201d goalie who can\u2019t lift his team when they\u2019re not at their best, unlike Winnipeg Jets<\/a> goalie Connor Hellebuyck<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Elliotte Friedman reported Saturday that Hellebuyck could rejoin the Jets when his team-enforced suspension for skipping training camp ends on Friday, but that doesn\u2019t necessarily mean that he will. They could pay the 33-year-old goalie to stay home, or perhaps trade him before Friday.<\/p>\n

Amato believes the Mammoth need an elite goalie if they keep playing at a high level. He felt they could upgrade at that position if they really wanted to. The Jets want a goalie in return, and Vejmelka only has a 10-team no-trade clause while backup Sebastian Cossa<\/a> lacks no-trade protection.<\/p>\n

SPECTOR\u2019S NOTE: Several factors could derail a Hellebuyck-to-Utah trade.<\/p>\n

First, Hellebuyck must be willing to go here. He reportedly has a broad list of potential destinations. It becomes a pointless exercise to make that suggestion if Utah isn\u2019t on his list.<\/p>\n

The Mammoth must be willing to pursue Hellebuyck, who needs time to get back into game shape after missing training camp and the first month of the regular season. Even then, there\u2019s no certainty he\u2019ll be the difference-maker they need, at least for this season.<\/p>\n

They could be unwilling to pay Winnipeg\u2019s asking price. The Jets reportedly seek a second-line forward (preferably a center) or a top-four right-shot defenseman as part of the return. They\u2019ll also want one of the Mammoth\u2019s top prospects and a first-round draft pick.<\/p>\n

If the Jets want a goalie in return, they could prefer Cossa over Vejmelka, assuming they\u2019re not on the latter\u2019s no-trade list.<\/p>\n

The Mammoth might not be interested in an expensive acquisition like Hellebuyck. That doesn\u2019t mean they don\u2019t want to upgrade their goaltending, but they could prefer a younger, more affordable option.<\/p>\n

PHILLY HOCKEY NOW<\/a>: William James recently addressed a report by Daily Faceoff\u2019s Anthony Di Marco citing Flyers sources claiming there\u2019s \u201ca growing sense of frustration\u201d with Travis Konecny<\/a> within the organization, which could lead to them approaching the 28-year-old winger about waiving his no-movement clause.<\/p>\n

James doesn\u2019t buy into it, pointing out that Konecny signed an eight-year, $70-million contract with the Flyers two years ago. He\u2019s also been their leading scorer for six of the last seven years and is among the team\u2019s leadership group.<\/p>\n

SPECTOR\u2019S NOTE: There\u2019s plenty of frustration to go around among the Flyers, so it wouldn\u2019t be surprising if that extends to Konecny, who is currently on injured reserve. However, asking him to waive his NMC would be an extreme approach right now. Besides, as TSN\u2019s Pierre LeBrun recently observed, there\u2019s no trade out there that can reverse the Flyers\u2019 poor start. Whatever changes they make will likely come from within.<\/p>\n

SPORTSNET<\/a>: Luke Fox recently looked at what trade options could be available for the Toronto Maple Leafs<\/a> to improve their defense.<\/p>\n

Zach Whitecloud<\/a> of the Calgary Flames<\/a>, Rasmus Ristolainen<\/a> of the Philadelphia Flyers<\/a>, Carson Soucy<\/a> of the Columbus Blue Jackets<\/a>, Brenden Dillon<\/a> of the New Jersey Devils<\/a>, and Nick Perbix of the Nashville Predators<\/a> are among the serviceable defensemen who might be available. However, Fox believes making a trade for one of them requires real assets.<\/p>\n

Real difference-makers, like RFA Alexander Nikishin of the Carolina Hurricanes or RFA Simon Edvinsson of the Detroit Red Wings<\/a>, will cost millions of dollars to sign and will be more expensive to acquire.<\/p>\n

SPECTOR\u2019S NOTE: Fox noted that the Maple Leafs face some easier opponents on their upcoming schedule. He believes the best strategy could be to \u201coutscore their issues and hang in the standings race until true sellers drop out.\u201d<\/p>\n

That might help if they can pull it off. However, Terry Koshan of the Toronto Sun thinks it\u2019ll take more than adding one defenseman to improve their blueline corps. The Leafs lack sufficient tradeable assets to bring in more than one rearguard who\u2019ll have a positive impact this season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Should the Mammoth attempt to acquire Connor Hellebuyck? Will the Flyers consider trading Travis Konecny? Can the Maple…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":622250,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5121],"tags":[5,78,4,77,18,5288],"class_list":["post-690607","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-winnipeg-jets","tag-hockey","tag-jets","tag-nhl","tag-winnipeg","tag-winnipeg-jets","tag-winnipegjets"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/117467799186462447","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/690607","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=690607"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/690607\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/622250"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=690607"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=690607"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=690607"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}