Simon Bridges is predicting Labour probably won't need Winston Peters' help to form the next Government.
NZ First is struggling in the polls at around 2 percent, well below the 5 percent threshold required to make it back into Parliament if they don't win an electorate seat.
The party typically polls low in between election campaigns, but with only 43 days until voting is over, many are wondering if the veteran's days being New Zealand's electoral kingmaker are numbered.
Asked on The AM Show if he thought Peters would rise from the ashes once again, Bridges was sceptical.
"I don't reckon. Voters have seen it all before - they've heard the schtick about immigration and so on. He gets in and doesn't do any of it. I reckon even his traditional voters have turned channels."
Labour MP David Parker, appearing on The AM Show alongside Bridges, said it was too early to make such predictions.
"Write him off at your peril. Everyone predicted the coalition wouldn't last - it lasted to the end and we did an enormous amount, legislatively."
Bridges said the signs for 75-year-old weren't good however.
"You know he's in trouble when [Finance Minister] Grant Robertson and David Parker in the House aren't laughing at his dad jokes, right? Even they've turned off. You guys know just quietly that you're probably not going to need him if you have the privilege of being there."
Labour has been above 50 percent in recent polls, potentially putting them in a position to govern alone - something no party has achieved in the MMP era.
In the past, Labour and the Greens have said they'll be happy to work together. The relationship was tested before the 2017 election, with Prime Minister-to-be Jacinda Ardern saying scandal-plagued Greens co-leader Metiria Turei wouldn't be able to serve in her Cabinet.
In the end, Labour signed up with NZ First, leaving all the Greens out of Cabinet, supporting on confidence and supply.
Parker said losing Peters would be New Zealand's loss.
"He is so experienced in dealing with difficult issues like the relationship that we have between China and US."
Despite its poor polling, National hasn't yet changed its longstanding policy not to work with NZ First.
