It's never too early to talk trade candidates in the NHL. That's especially true this season, which has already seen a handful of significant moves:

• The New York Rangers traded captain Jacob Trouba to the Anaheim Ducks.

• Promising defenseman David Jiricek was sent from the Columbus Blue Jackets to the Minnesota Wild.

• The Toronto Maple Leafs sent defenseman Timothy Liljegren to the San Jose Sharks.

• The Colorado Avalanche revamped their entire goaltending unit by sending Justus Annunen to the Nashville Predators for Scott Wedgewood, and then Alexandar Georgiev to the Sharks for Mackenzie Blackwood. They join Miles Wood, as the Avs really embrace the Colorado alpine aesthetic.

The NHL trade deadline is March 7, 2025. Here's a way-too-early look at some of the players who could be moved before that date, from the shocking possibilities to the pending free agents to the bargain beauties who could be the difference in winning the Stanley Cup.

This list was compiled through conversations with league executives and other sources, as well as media reports. ESPN insiders Kevin Weekes and Emily Kaplan added their input in its creation. Salary figures are from Cap Wages and Puck Pedia.

For the NHL owners reading this piece: Any "soft tampering" is purely coincidental.

Let's begin with the biggest names and the true stunners, should any of them move.

Manchester City have condemned online racist abuse of defender Kyle Walker following their 2-0 defeat to Juventus in the Champions League on Wednesday.

The 34-year-old shared abusive messages he received via Instagram and called upon the app to clamp down on the amount of racist trolling circling on the platform.

"No one should ever be subject to the sort of vile, racist and threatening abuse I have received online since last night's match," Walker wrote on his Instagram story.

"Instagram and the authorities need to stop this happening for the sake of all who are suffering this abuse. It is never acceptable.

"To our fans, we will continue to work as a team to do better, to improve, and to turn the corner together."

City posted a message of support to the England international in a statement on their website.

"Manchester City strongly condemns the racist abuse that Kyle Walker was subject to online following last night's fixture," the club wrote.

"We refuse to tolerate discrimination of any kind, regardless of whether that be in stadiums or online.

"We will be offering Kyle our full support following the disgusting treatment he has received."

Real Madrid forward Kylian Mbappé has been ruled out for 10 days with a thigh injury, sources told ESPN on Thursday.

The France forward was substituted in the 35th minute of Tuesday's 3-2 win at Atalanta in the Champions League with a suspected left thigh problem.

The blow means that Mbappé will miss the LaLiga contest at Rayo Vallecano on Saturday and is a doubt for the FIFA Intercontinental Cup -- what used to be known as the Club World Cup before it was revamped into a 32-team competition set to debut in June.

Madrid qualified for the tournament by winning last year's Champions League.

The Intercontinental Cup final will be against either Mexico's Pachuca or Al Ahly from Egypt on Dec. 18 in Doha, Qatar.

Sources told ESPN that Madrid will not rush Mbappé back for the final, deeming it "counterproductive" to do so if it risks worsening the muscle injury.

"Following tests carried out on Kylian Mbappé today by the Real Madrid medical department, the player has been diagnosed with a thigh injury in his left leg," a club statement said. "His progress will be monitored."

Mbappé has scored 12 goals in 22 appearances for Madrid in all competitions so far since joining the club as a free agent in the summer after his contract with Paris Saint-Germain expired.

Despite his scoring form, Mbappé has faced criticism for his performances with Madrid suffering some high-profile defeats in the season, most notably losing 4-0 at home to Barcelona in the Clásico.

Real Madrid captain Dani Carvajal is convinced Mbappé will deliver titles for Los Blancos.

Carvajal, who is recovering from an ACL injury, said of the France star while attending an awards ceremony on Wednesday: "He's adapting very well. He's scored many goals with us despite the criticism he's received of his game. I hope he continues until the end of the season progressing, securing his place in the team. I'm certain he will give us titles."

Madrid are second in LaLiga, two points behind Barcelona.

As for the Champions League, with two games left in the league phase, Madrid are 18th in the 36-team table on nine points, three points off the top eight spots which secure direct qualification to the round of 16.

As Darwin Núñez traipsed toward the touchline at the Estadi Montilivi on Tuesday, the Liverpool striker struggled to keep the frustration from his face and cut a forlorn figure as he was replaced by Cody Gakpo.

His 71-minute contribution to his team's 1-0 UEFA Champions League win in Girona was another night to forget in a season that -- for all of Liverpool's collective brilliance -- has been distinctly underwhelming for the Uruguay international, who was signed from Benfica for an initial 64 million transfer fee.

Against Girona, he managed just 16 touches -- the fewest of any starting player on the pitch -- and squandered two of Liverpool's four big chances. While goalkeeper Paulo Gazzaniga deserves credit for two fine saves, the moment when Núñez inexplicably try to nod Dominik Szoboszlai's deflected cross down into the turf, rather than toward goal, seemed to encapsulate the forward's present rut.

"What I can agree on is that he missed a few chances," Liverpool head coach Arne Slot said when asked in his postmatch news conference whether his No.9 is low on confidence. "Then it's always the question, 'Does this have anything to do with low confidence or is this a situation where he's in at the moment?' I think every striker all around the world has periods where every ball goes in, and sometimes he has a period when you try so hard but you're not able to score.

"I would have loved to see Darwin score, because every striker wants and needs to score goals. That is why I kept him on for quite a long time. He was a threat but, unfortunately, he couldn't score."

Of course, it would be unfair to lay the blame for Liverpool's subpar showing against Girona squarely at Núñez's door. With the exception of goalkeeper Alisson Becker -- making his first appearance in more than two months after recovering from a hamstring problem -- the Premier League leaders looked some way off their best. Even Mohamed Salah, who notched his 16th goal of the season from the penalty spot to continue Liverpool's flawless record in Europe this term, lacked his usual dynamism.

But with Diogo Jota closing in on a return from an eight-week layoff after a rib injury, it is hard not to feel that Núñez has missed his chance to prove he has the credentials to be Liverpool's long-term No.9.

Núñez has quality "coming out of his ears"

From the moment Núñez first pulled on a Liverpool shirt, he has been a polarising figure, as capable of the sublime as he is the ridiculous. He announced himself to Liverpool supporters with his eye-catching showings for Benfica against Jürgen Klopp's side in the 2021-22 Champions League, scoring both home and away for in a season in which he registered an impressive 34 goals in 44 appearances.

"Really good, really good," was Klopp's appraisal of the striker after Liverpool's 3-1 win over Benfica in April 2022. "I knew before, of course, but he played pretty much in front of me with his tough battles with Ibrahima Konaté.

"He was physically strong, quick, was calm around his finish. Good, really good. I always say in these situations if he is healthy, it's a big career ahead of him."

Two months later and Núñez was a Liverpool player, having moved to Anfield in a deal that could yet end up costing the club 85m; 10m more than the club-record fee paid for defender Virgil van Dijk.

It initially appeared it would prove money well spent, with Núñez coming off the bench to score in the 2022 Community Shield against Manchester City while his opposite number and fellow new arrival, Erling Haaland, spurned several good opportunities. That only intensified the belief that Núñez would develop into the prolific centre-forward Liverpool had been lacking under Klopp with his predecessor, Roberto Firmino, more accustomed to being the selfless facilitator for Salah and Sadio Mané.

In hindsight, those early comparisons with Haaland have transpired to be much more of a hindrance than a help for Núñez. In his maiden season at Anfield, the Uruguayan scored a respectable 14 goals and four assists in all competitions, though he drew plenty of criticism for his profligacy as Liverpool failed to qualify for the Champions League for the first time in seven years. Haaland, meanwhile, sent Premier League records tumbling, scoring 52 goals in as many appearances for City to help Pep Guardiola's side win the treble.

Núñez's stunning cameo against Newcastle United at the start of last season -- in which he came off the bench to score twice for 10-man Liverpool -- set the tone for a more encouraging campaign. He finished with 18 goals and 13 assists and, even as his wastefulness persisted, he appeared to establish himself as a vital cog in Klopp's machine.

"He is not bothered by it and just keeps going," the German said when asked about the criticism aimed at Núñez following Liverpool's 5-1 win over Sparta Prague back in March. "[He's a] wonderful guy, wonderful boy. He loves to play for this team together with these boys and has quality coming out of his ears, to be honest."

Still, a disappointing end to the season, with Núñez scoring just once in his last 11 league games as Liverpool fell away in the title race, once again raised questions about his Anfield future. With Klopp making way for new head coach Slot in the summer, it felt as if the stakes could barely be any higher for the striker heading into this season.

"Not a lot of people understand his game"

Unsurprisingly, the topic of Núñez's future was one of the first matters Slot was tasked with addressing during his official unveiling in July.

"I assume he will fit really well into this [playing style] because I like him," the Dutchman said. "I've told him already. He is one of the players I have spoken to. He might have had some struggles with finishing opportunities but he came a lot of times into those positions. I think he could fit in really well, but it's normal at a club like this that there are many more players who could play in his position."

Despite that endorsement, the Liverpool boss opted to start Jota up front for his team's Premier League opener against Ipswich Town, and the decision was vindicated as the Portugal international opened the scoring at Portman Road. Núñez had to wait until Sept. 21 for his first start for Slot, scoring a spectacular goal in Liverpool's 3-0 win over Bournemouth.

"My first instinct when he shot was, 'why does he shoot?'" Slot joked after the game. "I would have said, 'why don't you keep on dribbling?' He made the ball free and I think the defender was on the ground. But then it was a fraction of a second later when I saw the ball go in off the post. Then I was like, 'OK, maybe you are a better football player than I was in the past.'"

While the Dutchman's comments were meant in jest, they were reflective of the broader distrust of Núñez's finishing ability within some quarters of the fanbase. In spite of his struggles, the striker continues to have some high-profile advocates, including former Uruguay teammate and ex-Liverpool striker Luis Suárez.

In an interview with DirecTV in October, Suárez revealed he saw Núñez crying after being on the receiving end of Uruguay boss Marcelo Bielsa's criticism during a win over Argentina last year.

"I saw Darwin crying, and I told him: 'You are here because of your own merit, because of how hard you work, you are a goal scorer and you are the best,'" Suarez recalled. "'You have to continue like this, forget what others say.'" Salah, too, recently jumped to the defence of his teammate, with whom he has directly combined to deliver 16 goals in 97 games for Liverpool. In a live Q&A with fans, held over Zoom on Saturday, the Egypt international was asked to name his favourite teammate to play alongside.

"It was Firmino, now I feel I generally like playing with Núñez," he said. "A lot of people don't like him, but I like playing with him. I like playing with him in general. A player with different skills. Not a lot of people understand his game."

The past two months, however, have once again brought Núñez's erratic form into sharp focus. After Jota was injured in Liverpool's win over Chelsea, Núñez impressed off the bench, following up his fine cameo with a goal against RB Leipzig in the Champions League and a crucial assist for Salah in October's 2-2 draw with Arsenal.

Since then, though, Núñez has managed just one goal in nine games and was notably named on the bench for arguably Liverpool's biggest game of the season against Manchester City, with Slot instead opting to start Luis Díaz through the middle and Gakpo on the left.

Since the start of the 2023-24 season, Núñez has missed 53 big chances for Liverpool. While the numbers appear damning, Haaland has also been guilty of spurning opportunities, missing 77 big chances in the same timeframe, though crucially he has scored 54 goals compared to Núñez's 19.

So far this term, the Uruguayan has underperformed his expected goals (xG), scoring three times from a combined xG of 4.65. The introduction of Slot's tactical nuances has made Núñez less of a chance-magnet for Liverpool. But while the scintillating form of Salah has so far masked some of the No.9's deficiencies, it would be unfair to expect his brilliance alone to power Slot's side to major honours this season, and the clamour for Núñez to start delivering seems to be growing louder.

"It's the story with Darwin Núñez," former Liverpool forward Luis García told "ESPN FC" after Tuesday's game. "We all agree; his work rate is fantastic. He's helping the team because he's always trying to push the opponent but we're missing the last part; the scoring rate.

"It's something we've been waiting for for the past years but it's not arriving. He can score goals but he's not a player who can maybe score 25-30 goals. Something is missing there and we're still waiting. Every single game he gets one, two, or three chances and he's missing the last part. He's missing a little bit of composure in the last moment."

Núñez certainly has a tendency to wear his heart on his sleeve, which has endeared him to Liverpool supporters. The striker appeared to appeal directly to those fans -- and his detractors -- in a post to his Instagram story on Wednesday which read: "They are not all, they are some. Thank you Reds for your support, we are all still together."

Certainly, the Anfield crowd have shown no signs of abandoning faith in their mercurial No.9 so far. Even when he spurns a chance, chants of "Núñez, Núñez" can be heard, and there is a palpable sense that match-going supporters are desperate for the striker to come good.

With five more games before the end of the year, Núñez will no doubt get more opportunities to prove he should be part of Slot's long-term plans. But with the Dutchman asserting on Tuesday that "standards have to go up" if Liverpool want to compete for the biggest prizes, there is a sense that Núñez is running out of time to raise the bar.

THEY MET EVERY week, Bill Belichick and a handful of his former assistants with the New England Patriots. Matt Patricia, Michael Lombardi, Josh McDaniels, to name a few, men with whom he had won Super Bowls, all of them out of work. They'd chat over Zoom, and go through each NFL game, as they once did in Foxboro, as only they could. Teams. Trends. Salaries. Schematic shifts. Stuff only they knew to look for, questions only they knew to ask, a common language and way of thinking, once the envy of the NFL and beyond, from other sports to business schools, now valued less around the league. The subtext was unspoken, but understood: Which NFL teams might make a coaching change this year? And of those teams, which of them might be interested in a 72-year-old, eight-time Super Bowl champion? And of those teams, which would Belichick want most?

According to sources with direct knowledge, the group deemed that the Chicago Bears were probably the most attractive job, but that team brass was unlikely to consider Belichick. The group expects the same thing that most around the league do: that the Bears will go offense, hoping to give quarterback Caleb Williams a chance at a career, probably targeting Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson.

The New York Jets were a nonstarter; Belichick had issues with owner Woody Johnson back in 2000, before Johnson officially bought the team, and he had been critical this past season in his media roles with Johnson's horrific stewardship. Maybe the Giants, where he had spent the '80s, could work, but Belichick knew that it would be a rebuild, with the New York press at his heels. Plus, he believes the team would do best to retain its current coach, Brian Daboll. Dallas was a potential spot -- nobody can take a collection of talent and turn it into a team like Belichick -- but nobody knew if owner Jerry Jones would move on from Mike McCarthy, and if he did, if he'd want to hand over the team to Belichick. Jacksonville was another potential landing spot, but was it the right one? On his podcast, Lombardi took a shot at Tony Khan, son of owner Shad Khan who for years has run an analytics department emblematic of the problems with the current NFL. Additionally, there wasn't a lot of back-channel communication between anyone close to Belichick and owners; the league and three teams are almost two years into battling a discrimination lawsuit by Brian Flores.

Belichick's feelings toward the NFL have shifted he has told confidants. Look at the past year. Robert Kraft, whose life and legacy was forever altered by Belichick, fired him in January. Only one out of seven teams with openings showed interested in hiring him. The Falcons interviewed him twice, but when it came time for the team's brass to rank choices, Belichick failed to land in anyone's top three candidates -- in part, ESPN later reported, because Kraft helped torpedo his chances. Weeks later in February, "The Dynasty," the Kraft-owned Patriots documentary, launched on Apple and minimized Belichick's role in the team's historic run so roundly that former Patriots players spoke out against it. Belichick was entertaining in his myriad media roles, but the league seemed to move on without him. Owners spoke of him respectfully, but not desirably.

A few months ago, Belichick started to bring up college programs on the Zooms. He was spending a lot of time at Washington, where his son Stephen is in his first year as the Huskies' defensive coordinator. His former offensive coordinator in New England, Bill O'Brien, and longtime assistant, Berj Najarian, are at Boston College. Another former assistant, Joe Judge, served as a senior analyst at Ole Miss.

It reinforced and reaffirmed that there was another option out there. At first, the image of Belichick as a college coach made no sense. It was hard to picture Belichick sitting in a teenager's living room, in a hoodie with jagged sleeves, delivering his recruiting pitch. Nick Saban, one of Belichick's longest and closest friends, had retired from college football in large part because of the transfer portal and NIL. Tom Brady did an impression on television of Belichick last weekend: "Listen, you really wanna come here? We don't really want you anyway. I guess you could come. We'll figure out if you can play."

But something about ending his career by not chasing Don Shula's NFL wins record, but instead on campus, appealed to Belichick. When he agreed to terms with North Carolina, it was not only because of a new challenge after coaching only in the NFL since 1975, at a school where his father, Steve, had worked when Bill was a boy, and not only because his future in the pros was unclear.

It was because, in the words of a confidant, Belichick is "disgusted" in what he believes the NFL had become.

"This is a big f--- you to the NFL," another Belichick confidant says.

BELICHICK HAS ALWAYS cared about football's history, and his place in it. And he has always cared about leading a true football program. Unlike Bill Walsh's philosophy, it was not primarily based on a playbook; indeed, Belichick's schematic ideology is his lack of ideology, tailored and adapted to situation and circumstance. He has always wanted to build a team -- a true team -- despite the cultural and financial forces conspiring against that idea and ideal.

What became known as the Patriot Way was rooted in more than mutual sacrifice and mastery of situational football, ruthless decision-making and Brady's greatness. It was about teaching and education. Only Belichick's Patriots had full-team meetings in which players were quizzed not only on the opponent's statistics and playmakers, but the résumés of all of the assistant coaches. It was a football laboratory, augmented by some of the greatest players in NFL history.

Belichick was raised on campuses and has loved helping shape young minds. In April 2006, I watched him deliver the annual Fusco Distinguished Lecture at Southern Connecticut State University, on a stage that had also featured Colin Powell, Madeleine Albright and Christopher Reeve, among others. Like many, I worried that it would be a two-hour version of his news conferences. But he was in his element, relaxed and energized, speaking to students as they prepared to enter the real world. He told them to chase not money, but a job that was a continuation of a passion. One of the proudest moments of his life was when he passed on a career in finance and moved to Baltimore to do whatever the Colts asked of him.

When Belichick was fired by Kraft, despite it initially being presented as a mutual parting -- Kraft later cited trust and an eagerness to reclaim organizational power as factors -- he knew that his next job was not going to resemble the one he'd held for more than two decades. The NFL had moved away from the coach-centric model that Belichick learned under Bill Parcells. There are more layers now. Belichick insisted to the Falcons and made clear to other teams with openings last year that he wasn't seeking the total control of football operations he enjoyed for most of his head coaching career, both in Cleveland and in New England. He was willing to work with existing staff, whether it was Falcons general manager Terry Fontenot or Commanders general manager Adam Peters or Jerry Jones or Howie Roseman, if the Cowboys or Eagles, respectively, had decided to change coaches.

But something about it was always hard to buy -- and owners didn't. It wasn't that Belichick was disingenuous or too set in his ways; it was that if you hire Belichick, you hire him to do it his way. Belichick's system is him, from his player procurement program to contract incentives to the types of players he drafts. Because so much flowed out of his mind and because he almost always was the ultimate decision-maker, the Patriots were able to withstand the losses of key players and coaches -- everyone except Brady. How would Belichick, who ran a thin operation in New England, without many layers, handle running a team with a huge infrastructure? Was Belichick, who has had his share of player-evaluation whiffs but has also drafted the greatest quarterback and tight end ever, along with Hall of Fame defensive tackle Richard Seymour and several others who will join him in Canton, really going to abide by the philosophies of someone like Fontenot or Bears general manager Ryan Poles, if Chicago had hired Belichick after this year?

"Listening to Fontenot discuss drafting systems last January, as if he knew it all, bothered him," a Belichick confidant says.

All of those things were on his mind this fall. He told confidants that Shula's record mattered to him, but it wasn't the essential thing. It wasn't why he has worked hours that have come with a steep personal price. He has always competed as if his self-worth was tied to the result. Losses took on a life of their own. Imagine the throttled rage inside him all spring after a group of men who routinely botch their most important hire not only mostly ignored him but gloated about it, telling ESPN that he was "voted off the island." He never forgets. Belichick knew that he'd have to compromise if he got another NFL job, maybe even more than the year before, and also knew that he faced a league that was skeptical of him.

If he didn't fix his new team right away, he'd be dealing with a media narrative for the third straight year in coaching that he'd lost his fastball. College coaches have many headaches -- they essentially re-recruit their players daily -- but Belichick came to believe that he'd have the space to run his program, winning or losing on his terms, all he has ever asked for. He'll have what he had in New England: He'll be the football czar. He knows there are politics, the way there are politics in the NFL, and challenges to building a team, but they feel manageable and worth the risk.

Says a source with knowledge of his thinking: "I'll go be the highest draw in college football, and will have the greatest coach in the ACC, instead of you guys who don't want [him] anymore because there are people who don't deserve to be empowered. ... Everyone is running away from college football. I think Bill thinks this landscape is better for him. ... More transactional and less relational. In his mind, this is better for me."

Maybe the signs were there a month ago, when Belichick told "The Pat McAfee Show" of the horror stories of answering asinine questions from owners. He told a confidant within the past week that he's "tired of the stupidness" of the NFL. Unlike Brady, Belichick has always embraced his darker side, with actions more often than words, and made no secret of his grievances. He turned the postgame handshake into a spectator sport. He seethed at the piousness around the league after Spygate. After Deflategate, he walked out of a league meeting when commissioner Roger Goodell spoke. And then, after his unquestioned greatness was suddenly questioned and became talk-show fodder for two years -- How good is he without Brady? -- he watched owners display abject indifference to his services. "He's disgusted," a confidant says.

If we've learned anything about Belichick over the years, it's that he'll often do the unconventional thing -- and that when at a crossroads, he will take control of his career.

TWO DECADES AGO, legendary journalist David Halberstam wanted to write a book about Belichick. They knew each other casually. Belichick respected Halberstam but initially was cool to the idea; it would go against every fiber of his being if he turned the spotlight on himself. Halberstam rethought the pitch and gave it another shot: "I suggested that there might be a book in the education of a coach, especially since the most important teacher in his life was his father, Steve -- a coach's coach," Halberstam later wrote. "It was an idea that interested him, and eventually he agreed to cooperate." After Belichick had become the first coach to win three Super Bowls in four years, Halberstam spent more time with him than any reporter to that point, working on what would be an authorized biography. Later in 2005, "The Education of a Coach" was published. Halberstam hit the media circuit, promoting the book, and on a Boston radio show, he was asked, "Will [Belichick] ever get sick of this?"

At the time, Belichick was 53 years old. He had yet to be busted for Spygate. He had yet to coach a team to within a minute of an undefeated season. Had yet to tell a documentarian that he'd never coach into his 70s, then blow past it, knowing deep inside that he needed the game more than it needed him. He had yet to draft Rob Gronkowski, Julian Edelman, Devin McCourty, Matthew Slater, and Dont'a Hightower, had yet to win 11 games with Matt Cassel, had yet to deploy the "Baltimore" and "Raven" formations, had yet to pass Deflategate into Brady's lap, had yet to send Malcolm Butler into the final seconds of Super Bowl XLIX, had yet to look up at a Super Bowl LI scoreboard that read 28-3, had yet to curtail access for Alex Guerrero, had yet to be called the "biggest f---ing a--hole in my life" by Kraft, and had yet to win a sixth Super Bowl. He had yet to watch his daughter, Amanda, coach lacrosse at Holy Cross, had yet to watch Stephen coach at Washington.

"He's really a coach and a teacher," Halberstam told the hosts. "I mean, you could almost see him, when this is done, saying, OK, I've ... you know, if he's done it and won X rings, saying OK, I'm going to go and teach at an Ivy League school or something like that. I'm going to do something smaller, without as much pressure."

And without the NFL, which he left before it could leave him. Again.

Seth Wickersham is a Senior Writer at ESPN. His next book, "American Kings: A Biography of the Quarterback," published by Disney Publishing's Hyperion Avenue, is available for preorder now.