Nemec, Eklund, and other breakout candidates joining new teams in 2026-27

Jul 23, 2026, 14:47 EDT

Nemec, Eklund, and other breakout candidates joining new teams in 2026-27

Credit: Sergei Belski-Imagn Images

It’s been a summer of change across the National Hockey League.

With the salary cap rising at a level never seen before, as well as the free agent pool as shallow as it’s ever been, the NHL’s 32 franchises have turned to the trade market as the primary means of roster reconstruction this offseason. We’ve seen players previously considered untouchable end up changing teams, as well as a remarkable volume of draft picks and prospects switching sides.

If you’re a fan of the business side of the game, it’s been a fascinating offseason in many different ways. With relatively few teams set on bottoming out, there’s a huge middle class of teams pushing to make noise by any means possible — and a fair number of them have made big bets on acquiring players whom they think will break out in new environments.

Here are five of the top breakout candidates slated to debut with their new teams in the 2026-27 NHL season.

Mavrik Bourque

New team: Nashville Predators
Previous team: Dallas Stars
2025-26 stats: 82 GP, 20 G, 41 P, +6

The Predators made a sizable financial commitment to Bourque after acquiring him from the Stars on Canada Day, handing him a new six-year contract worth $5.5 million per season. Even in the NHL’s ever-changing financial landscape, it’s still a lot of money for a player with 66 points in 156 career games to date. Nevertheless, it’s a calculated bet on a player who looked to be a victim of the numbers game in Dallas.

New Preds general manager Chris MacFarland seems to have his sights set on returning his team to contention, and his moves this summer reflect that. Ross Colton, Jack Drury, Nils Höglander, and Alex Kerfoot should all provide value in secondary roles, but Bourque has the talent to do a lot more. That opportunity likely never would’ve arrived for him in Dallas, where he was stuck behind many more established players on their depth chart, getting some first-line work with little power-play time, but it wouldn’t be surprising to see Bourque lock down a plum role in Nashville.

As it stands, the Predators have one of the oldest top-six forward groups in the league, including 36-year-old Steven Stamkos and 35-year-olds Ryan O’Reilly and Jonathan Marchessault. Even Filip Forsberg will be 32 on opening night. At 24, Bourque is much closer in age to the likes of Luke Evangelista, Matthew Wood, and Brady Martin, all of whom have shown promise as young pros. Bourque can be a model for Nashville’s younger players to follow as someone who has worked his way up from lower levels and waited patiently for the right opportunity to come along. It took just two years for him to go from leading the AHL in scoring to becoming a 20-goal man in the NHL; now, Bourque’s next step is to lock down a spot on Nashville’s top line.

William Eklund

New team: Ottawa Senators
Previous team: San Jose Sharks
2025-26 stats: 78 GP, 15 G, 53 P, -31

After the Senators traded Brady Tkachuk to the Florida Panthers in June, they had a glaring hole to fill on the wing — and everyone knew it. Fortunately, they also had a larger stockpile of trade assets to play with, and GM Steve Staios put them to good use, flipping the No. 9 pick in the 2026 draft to San Jose in exchange for a package headlined by Eklund.

The Sharks likely only made the deal because they knew they’d be able to replace Eklund with Ivar Stenberg, the consensus No. 2 pick. They also desperately needed to add another top defensive prospect to their system, which they succeeded in doing when Keaton Verhoeff fell to them at No. 9. But this is a trade that looks like it’ll work out for both teams, with Eklund virtually guaranteed to start his Senators tenure in Tkachuk’s old spot next to Tim Stützle, one of the league’s top young centers.

Over the past two seasons, Eklund has consistently been one of the better play-drivers on a pitifully weak Sharks squad, producing at a solid clip while helping the team out-chance its opponents during his shifts. According to Natural Stat Trick, Eklund was one of the only Sharks players to post high-danger chance and shot attempt differentials north of 50 percent at 5-on-5 across the 2024-25 and 2025-26 campaigns. It remains to be seen how Eklund’s game will translate in Ottawa, especially as he looks to fill a void left by one of the better power forwards in the NHL (something Eklund definitely isn’t), but on paper, he seems to have what it takes to form a terrific partnership with Stützle.

Kaedan Korczak

New team: Pittsburgh Penguins
Previous team: Vegas Golden Knights
2025-26 stats: 78 GP, 3 G, 16 P, +6

Penguins GM Kyle Dubas opted to substantially remodel his defensive group in late June and early July, allowing Ryan Shea, Parker Wotherspoon, and Connor Clifton to leave town while bringing in Trevor van Riemsdyk, Declan Carlile, and Korczak, the latter of whom came from Vegas in a one-for-one deal for Wotherspoon. Amidst all the other trades that took place in the days leading up to and following July 1, the Korczak deal certainly flew under the radar. But it was a savvy move for a Penguins team still trying to remain competitive during Sidney Crosby’s twilight years while also preparing for the difficult aftermath of his inevitable retirement.

The Penguins made the playoffs in 2026 on the backs of multiple players having career years. Wotherspoon is certainly included in that category, and he’ll be a great fit in Vegas, where every dollar counts; the Golden Knights are set to pay him just $500,000 in 2026-27. But Korczak is the much better long-term piece, and he’s signed at a very reasonable $3.25 million cap for four more seasons. While the 25-year-old rearguard never had much of a shot at getting off of Vegas’s bottom pairing, he should be able to play significant minutes in Pittsburgh, especially once Erik Karlsson and Kris Letang move on.

Korczak may never become a truly productive NHL defender, but he’s got a good frame (6’3″, 206 pounds), shoots right, and is incredibly adept at denying opponents entry into his zone. During the 2025-26 regular season, no Golden Knights defender had better high-danger chance prevention rates than Korczak, and his underlying numbers remained generally strong into the playoffs. Korczak may start his Penguins tenure in a similar spot to the one he occupied in Vegas, but it might not take long for him to move up the lineup — particularly if Letang continues to decline.

Connor McMichael

New team: St. Louis Blues
Previous team: Washington Capitals
2025-26 stats: 78 GP, 14 G, 46 P, +8

The Blues and Capitals hooked up for another potential win-win deal in late June, with St. Louis swapping Jordan Kyrou for McMichael, prospect Milton Gastrin, and the No. 16 overall pick in the 2026 draft. It’s easy to see why both teams got in on the action, but the Blues did particularly well in parlaying the 28-year-old Kyrou for a trio of future-suited pieces.

McMichael and Kyrou actually both scored exactly 46 points in the 2025-26 season, although Kyrou has a much stronger track record of higher production (he’s a three-time 30-goal and 70-point scorer). Still, the Blues view McMichael as having the speed and skill required to help recreate a large part of Kyrou’s offensive output, particularly if he plays on a line with Robert Thomas, Dylan Holloway, or fellow summer acquisition Mason McTavish. New Blues GM Alex Steen wasted very little time signing McMichael to a six-year deal carrying a $6.75-million cap hit, which could soon become a bargain if McMichael returns to (or builds upon) his 26-goal, 57-point form in the 2024-25 season.

There are plenty of reasons for optimism. Even as his production dropped to 46 points in 2025-26, McMichael ranked among the Capitals’ leaders with 2.22 points per 60 minutes at 5-on-5 — second only to Tom Wilson. McMichael consistently generated dangerous chances and set up his linemates for good opportunities. In St. Louis, McMichael will likely be much more of a fixture on the power play and should be given a much longer leash alongside the Blues’ top players. Kyrou was a very good Blue, but McMichael has what it takes to make up for his departure.

Simon Nemec

New team: Calgary Flames
Previous team: New Jersey Devils
2025-26 stats: 68 GP, 11 G, 26 P, -11

Does any NHL team have a stronger defensive pipeline than the Flames? Beyond Nemec, whom they paid a pair of future first-round picks to acquire from New Jersey in June, the Flames also have Zayne Parekh, Carson Carels, Kevin Bahl, Hunter Brzustewicz, Yan Kuznetsov, and Henry Mews in their talent pool on D. It’s an incredibly impressive group that gives the Flames a strong backbone to build upon in the years to come.

Despite only having turned 22 in January, Nemec was already one of the league’s best goal-scoring defenders this past season, tallying 10 times at even strength — tying him with the likes of Lane Hutson, Bowen Byram, and former Flame Rasmus Andersson for 17th among all NHL rearguards. Nemec’s defensive play is certainly a work in progress, but there are very few blueliners who are capable of jumping up into the play as effectively as Nemec does. He frequently acts as a fourth forward on the rush to create odd-man opportunities for his team, and while there’s a fair amount of risk in that approach, it routinely pays dividends.

What Nemec really needs is a responsible partner who can allow him to play his game without fear, and the Flames might have exactly that for him in Kevin Bahl, who also came from the Devils in a major offseason trade two years ago. It remains to be seen whether Nemec or Parekh will get the nod to run the Flames’ No. 1 power-play unit, but either way, they should both get plenty of chances to play in high-leverage offensive situations. Nemec was never going to get that much rope in New Jersey, where Luke Hughes had seized full control of the reins as the team’s go-to point-producing defender. As Calgary’s highest-paid rearguard, Nemec will be given every opportunity to build off his previous accomplishments.

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POST SPONSORED BY bet365

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