McTavish on the Block, Byram Hunting Eight Figures: Mid-Summer Trade Market Heats Up

The NHL trade market has accelerated sharply over the past nine days as teams with fresh cap space hunt for upgrades. The Brady Tkachuk blockbuster—Ottawa's captain moving to Florida for three first-rounders and a second—set the tone: the draft is still weeks away, but the bidding has already begun. Into that chaos steps Mason McTavish, the 23-year-old Anaheim center whose value has fractured since last season.

McTavish posted 17 goals and 41 points across 75 games in 2025-26, a respectable total that masks a larger problem: he spent stretches on the wing and in the bottom six under Joel Quenneville, and earned healthy scratches. The deeper issue is architectural. Anaheim's forward core—Leo Carlsson, Mikael Granlund, Ryan Poehling anchoring the middle—left little oxygen at center, pushing McTavish into a role that didn't suit his skill set. He's locked in at $7 million AAV through 2030-31, a six-year deal signed last September. The contract felt premium when he was coming off a 22-goal, 52-point season. Now, Eastern Conference scouts question whether he's a reliable top-six producer or a lottery ticket masquerading as one. The Calgary Flames have inquired but concluded they lack the assets Anaheim GM Pat Verbeek demands. Philadelphia, hunting center help all offseason, believes McTavish is a true pivot despite last season's positional shuffle; Cam York, the 25-year-old Flyers defenseman and Anaheim native on a five-year, $25.75 million deal, could be the kind of hockey trade that moves Verbeek. York scored 22 points in 74 games and buried the overtime series-clincher against Pittsburgh in April—a functional, reliable asset with hometown appeal for the Ducks. Minnesota has not called.

The Sabres face a different calculus with Bowen Byram. The 25-year-old defenseman is one year from unrestricted free agency, and his agent Darren Ferris has a documented track record of walking clients to market unless the contract conversation reaches elite money. Byram's camp is believed to be demanding a significant raise—comfortably above $8 million AAV, per league sources—a sum that would place him among the league's top two-way defensive earners. Buffalo's window is now; they've invested heavily to compete. But Byram's market posture suggests they may be forced to move him rather than meet his price. The market for both players tilts toward sellers, yet the pricing remains unsettled.

For bettors, these mid-card trades rarely move moneylines or series odds once completed—the talent involved doesn't swing playoff probability by more than 2-3 percentage points unless it's a generational rental like Tkachuk. What does matter: York's removal from Philadelphia would weaken their back-line depth and penalty-kill efficiency; McTavish's landing spot will determine whether his goal-scoring reprices up (if he lands with a contender and gets top-six, power-play time) or stays depressed (if he joins another team in rebuild mode). Byram's destination carries the same risk. If any of these three lands with a Stanley Cup contender before mid-July, monitor that team's penalty-kill rate and plus-minus projections during the remaining preseason. Early production lines on newly acquired players tend to lag their true value for two to three games as systems adjust.