OTTAWA - With John Tavares tucked deep inside Scotiabank Place Monday, preparing with his Canadian teammates to take on Sweden in the gold-medal game at the IIHF world junior hockey championship, speculation over where the young star would play his next game swirled outside the arena.

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John Tavares

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According to a report from Sportsnet.ca, an Ontario Hockey League deal that would send the 18-year-old centre from the Oshawa Generals to the London Knights had already been agreed upon.

However, TSN.ca countered that report, saying that no deal for the Oakville, Ont., teen was done and that the Windsor Spitfires were still in the running to land the player who's projected to be the No. 1 pick in the NHL draft in Montreal in June.

A new OHL rule prevents players from being dealt while at the world junior tournament, so the formal announcement of any deal involving Tavares would have to wait until at least Tuesday. The league's trade deadline is Friday at noon.

Tavares, who leads Oshawa in scoring and is third in the OHL with 25 goals and 27 assists in 31 games, has a no-trade agreement with the Generals and would have to approve any deal.

According to Sportsnet, the Knights would send rookie Christian Thomas, the son of former NHLer Steve Thomas and a winner of a gold medal with Ontario at the World Under-17 Hockey Challenge, fellow forward Phil Varone, defenceman Scott Valentine, a draft pick and cash to the Generals for Tavares.

The Generals issued a news release Monday denying the deal had been made.

"Contrary to the current reports, the Oshawa Generals have NOT traded John Tavares to the London Knights, the Windsor Spitfires or any other Ontario Hockey League team," the release read.

"Upon the completion of the world junior hockey championships the Oshawa Generals plan to sit down with John and his agent to discuss all of the options moving forward, which includes staying with the Oshawa Generals."

Speculation of a potential trade that would Tavares to London has been circulating since August. The Knights (29-8-1) and Spitfires (33-5-1) are among the favourites to win the OHL title, and acquiring Tavares could give London a leg up on Windsor.

The Spitfires could be strong for a few years because of a wealth of talented young players that they'd likely be asked to give up, but are said to be hesitant to disrupt their team.

Canwest News Service wasn't able to reach Generals coach and general manager Chris DePiero for comment Monday night. However, two days before the world junior tournament began, he said he had received calls from teams "kicking the tires" about Tavares.

However, he added that the Generals had yet to decide whether they'd pull the trigger on a deal that would help them for the future at the expense of the present.

Currently 18-15-5, Oshawa is fifth in the OHL's Eastern Conference, but likely doesn't have enough to make a long playoff run.

"We have to internally as an organization make a decision on whether we can compete," DePiero said at the time. "Certainly, there has been a lot of talk and a lot of things written, but we have not declared anything of that nature."

The Knights' next game is Wednesday in Erie against the Otters. Windsor plays at home against the Sarnia Sting on Thursday. The Generals play host to the Knights on Friday night.

Ottawa Citizen