The NHL trade deadline (March 8) is only a month-and-a-half away which means teams are going to start positioning themselves as buyers and sellers.
Contenders are looking for the final piece of their championship puzzle, rebuilding teams are looking for future assets, and the bubble teams on the fringe might try to do a combination of both kind of like the Washington Capitals did during the 2022-23 season when they sold some veterans but also added a potential long-term piece in Rasmus Sandin.
No matter where a team is in the standings, it has options.
So let’s take a look around the NHL at the best bargaining chip for every team as the NHL trade deadline approaches.
Gibson has seemingly been on the trade market for a few years now (or at least speculated to be on the trade market) but has remained in Anaheim this entire time. But with the Ducks again near the bottom of the standings he is again going to be a name that gets thrown around in trade speculation.
Especially with the number of contending teams that might consider themselves to be a goalie away from making a serious run at the Stanley Cup (New Jersey and Edmonton come to mind in a big way).
Gibson’s contract ($6.4 million against the salary cap for three more full seasons, along with a modified no-trade clause) could be a big obstacle for teams to clear, but there are always ways around those things (retained salary, getting a third team involved, etc.). Gibson is not the top-tier, elite goalie he was at his peak, but he is still pretty much a league-average goalie in terms of his production (.900 save percentage) despite playing behind a rebuilding team that struggles defensively. An opportunity to play behind a contender with a strong defense might be a good change of scenery while also giving the Ducks some more long-term assets for their rebuild. They are building something with a nice group of prospects, but it is still probably a year or two away.
The Coyotes have taken a nice step forward this season and are hanging around in the Western Conference playoff race far longer than anybody might have expected coming into the season. But it still a team that should consider selling some of its veteran pieces that are potentially headed to free agency.
Defenseman Matt Dumba and forward Jason Zucker should be at the top of that list.
Zucker’s offense has taken a bit of a step back this season from where it was a year ago in Pittsburgh, but he is still a very capable middle-six forward that brings an aggressive forechecking game and go all-around play to any lineup he is a part of. A contender looking for forward depth (New York, Edmonton, Los Angeles, Florida) would be wise to consider him.
He’s on pace for 15 goals and 35 points over an 82-game season. With his energy and forechecking ability that would be a strong add for his salary, and it probably would not require a significant asset in a trade.
The Bruins are still one of the NHL’s best teams despite losing their top-two centers (Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci) to retirement before the season.
Those retirements, however, have still left a big hole down the middle of their lineup and it should probably be addressed if they are going to make a serious run at a Stanley Cup.
The Bruins have decimated their draft pick capital in recent years and have no picks in the first-or second-rounds in 2024 or the second round in 2025. That means they are going to have to dip into their prospect pool to acquire some help at the deadline.
Lysell is one of their best prospects and is putting together a great season in the American Hockey League with 34 points in his first 38 games this season. Given the lack of depth in their prospect pool they might not be eager to deal one of their few good — and productive — prospects at this point, but that should not stop them. Given their place in the standings and the rest of their NHL roster they should still be in Stanley Cup mode right now and putting all of their energy into winning this season. They need more help at the NHL level to get there. Dealing a top prospect might be the only way to get it.
The Sabres entered the 2023-24 season with the expectation that they might be looking to add at the trade deadline. Maybe even a top-tier goalie to help put them over the top in a wide open Eastern Conference. But nothing about this season has gone according to plan and the Sabres once again find themselves in a situation where selling might be their only option at the deadline.
It doesn’t need to be a total fire sale or management slamming the reset button, but it also isn’t a team that has positioned itself to add or subtract from its future.
Selling off some smaller pieces, such as their pending free agents, might be the safest play.
Olofsson hasn’t had a great year, but he does have a track record of performing well on the power play and might have some value to a contender that is looking to take a chance on some cheap scoring depth.
The Flames have the potential to be one of the busiest teams at the NHL trade deadline with several prominent pending free agents, including defensemen Chris Tanev and Noah Hanifin, as well as forward Elias Lindholm.
Any or all of them could be on the move.
And all of them will be among the most popular trade deadline targets for buyers.
Hanifin and Tanev play a premium position (defense) and can upgrade any backend if put into the right role, while Lindholm will be one of the top center options available for one of the many contenders that could use depth down the middle. Colorado and Boston figure to be high on that list.
The Flames were hopeful that this season could go better with a new head coach and some bounce back performances from players like Jacob Markstrom, Jonathan Huberdeau and Nazem Kadri.
It has not happened, while Huberdeau is looking like he might now have the worst contract in the NHL.
The time to sell is here, and they will have no shortage of options.
There is a reason DeAngelo has spent the bulk of his career bouncing around the NHL, struggling to find a consistent home. His defensive game is weak, he has been a headache for teams off the ice, and he always seems to wear out his welcome everywhere he goes.
Despite all of the flaws and concerns, there is a reason teams keep trying to take chances on him in the hopes they can fix him. And that reason is that he does have the potential to be a big producer from the blue line offensively.
His second stop with the Hurricanes is not going as well as his first one during the 2021-22 season, and it could put him on the trade block as the Hurricanes deal with a surplus of defensemen and would probably like to shed some salary to maybe add elsewhere on the roster.
He is one of four pending UFA defensemen on the roster, and one that seems unlikely to be back. He also has the least use to them in the short-term. His contract ($1.675 million against the cap) is cheap enough that a team in need of some scoring help from the defense might be the latest to try and fix him.
The Blackhawks entered the season looking like a team that had the potential to one of the busiest sellers at the deadline. That may not be the case anymore as many of their potential trade chips have either been lost to injury (Taylor Hall) or re-signed to contract extensions to be a part of next year’s roster and keep the rebuilding team above the salary floor (Nick Foligno, Petr Mrazek, Jason Dickinson).
The one veteran that could move is Johnson.
He is currently injured at the moment, but he should be back before the deadline and brings championship experience from his time in Tampa Bay. He can also still provide some secondary scoring ability with nine goals in 35 games this season. If healthy, he would be a strong addition to a contender’s third line.
Other than Johnson, there really is not a lot for Chicago to sell as the rest of the roster are either young players that are part of the rebuild, or a veteran like Seth Jones whose contract would be nearly impossible to move in-season.
The idea of moving Byram might have been unimaginable a couple of years ago, but maybe it is something the Avalanche should explore.
His development has not really gone according to plan (for a number of reasons, including injury) while the Avalanche are still loaded on defense with Cale Makar, Devon Toews, Sam Girard and Josh Manson all in the top-four and all signed to long-term deals.
The Avalanche also have a significant need for a second-line center that can make an impact.
Their farm system is very thin, and while they do have a first-round pick they might need more if they are going to add a potential center to help round out their lineup.
Given Byram’s age, potential and the fact he is signed through next season at a pretty affordable rate (under $4 million against the cap) he might be a really attractive trade chip. The classic situation of dealing from a position of strength to fill a position of weakness move.
It seems to be a matter of time before Merzlikins gets traded. If would probably be the best outcome for everybody involved.
Merzlikins seems unhappy with his recent usage and role and has already requested a trade out of Columbus as a result of it. He has been the Blue Jackets’ primary starting goalie for the better part of the past four years with mixed results. He had a great start to his career in his first two years with save percentages of .923 and .916 during the 2019-20 and 2020-21 seasons before struggling in the three years since.
He has had a little bit of a bounce back this season, going from an .876 mark a year ago up to .901 this season. Putting him in the right situation behind a good defense could help get him back to the level we saw from him early in his career. The Blue Jackets certainly need to start hitting the reset button on the current roster, and with Merzlikins already wanting out he would be a natural place to start.
There also might be a strong market for him before the deadline as contenders look to upgrade in goal.
The question is whether or not the Blue Jackets ownership trusts the current front office to fix the mess it has helped create with this roster.
The Stars are one of the best teams in the NHL and in a win-now mode. They do not have a ton of glaring needs, but when your Stanley Cup window is this wide open and you have this good of a chance you can not allow that opportunity to pass by without putting yourself in the best possible position.
The Stars have both their first-and second-round picks at this disposal as trade pieces this season, and there is honestly no good reason why they shouldn’t be willing to deal either of them.
Both of them — and that especially includes the first-round pick — will have more value to them as a trade asset than a draft pick. If all goes according to plan for the Stars that pick will likely be at the end of the first-round. That might be a 50-50 shot of an NHL player. That might have some value to a rebuilding team that needs to collect as many lottery tickets as it can.
But for the Stars?
Shop it and shop it aggressively.
The Red Wings are in a position to potentially make the playoffs for the first time since the 2015-16 season as the Steve Yzerman era is finally — finally! — starting to show some actual progress.
That might put them in a position to be buyers.
And they definitely have some needs.
The Red Wings’ offense is as good as any team in the NHL and is producing at a Stanley Cup level, especially after the offseason addition of Alex DeBrincat.
Their issue is stopping people from scoring, and that ranges from their defense (which is thin after Moritz Seider) and goaltending. Berggren has shown flashes of being able to play at the NHL level (17 goals in 76 career games) with big AHL production, but his progress has been inconsistent, while he has spent most of this season playing in the American Hockey League. Given the Red Wings’ ability to score he might be an interesting trade chip to sell for help on the blue line or in goal.
The Oilers are the hottest team in the NHL as the calendar approaches February and they are looking like one of the league’s elite teams. Especially since the early season coaching change.
Even with their recent success and rapid climb up the standings, they still have one big glaring weakness on the roster — goalie.
It would be really difficult to go into the playoffs and fully trust what they have in net, and they do not want to let what might be one of their best chances for a Stanley Cup with this core slip away because they didn’t address it.
Broberg is probably their best trade asset, and he would probably welcome a change of scenery at this point given how little of a role he has had in Edmonton. He was a top-10 pick in 2019, and while he has not yet shown much at the NHL level a rebuilding team might be willing to see if a fresh start and a real, consistent role can help him reach his potential.
The Panthers have picked up where they left off in the 2023 playoffs and look like a top-tier team in the Eastern Conference. It has been an impressive performance when you take into account the injuries to defensemen Aaron Ekblad and Brandon Montour, as well as the slow start for Matthew Tkachuk offensively (a slow start that is now becoming a very distant memory).
Their forward depth is outstanding, the defense is very good and they even have strong goaltending depth with Sergei Bobrovsky and Anthony Stolarz playing well in the NHL and Spencer Knight still in the AHL.
The biggest thing their roster might need is just some tweaks to the depth.
Their first-round pick is headed to the Philadelphia Flyers as part of the Claude Giroux trade from two years ago, which takes a big potential trade chip away from them.
Samoskevich could be an intriguing chip if they wanted to dip into their prospect pool to help get immediate NHL help. He has had a taste of NHL action this season, appearing in six games for the Panthers while also putting up big numbers (11 goals, 15 assists and 26 total points) in 32 games at the AHL level.
The Kings looked like one of the NHL’s best teams at the start of the season but have completely tanked over the past month-and-a-half. They should still be a playoff team and they should still have their sights set on contending this season, but they are going to need help to get there.
One of the biggest areas of concern is more scoring depth on the wing.
The Kings have not been shy about making bold moves in recent years to add veteran players to their roster, and their first-round pick would be a good starting point to help make another one this season.
Entering play on Saturday the Kings were 16th in the league in goals per game.
Pierre-Luc Dubois being a massive disappointment in his first year with the team has definitely put a dent in some of their hopeful scoring depth. They might be stuck with his contract, and they need him to score way more than he is, but they also still need to add more depth to the roster.
Their first-round pick could help do that.
Their salary cap situation, which is still decimated due to the buyouts for Zach Parise and Ryan Suter, was always going to catch up to them eventually. It has. Depth is a big problem, they have not had much of an ability to address their weaknesses, they simply haven’t played well enough to be a serious threat as a playoff team.
They have also already re-signed some of the players that could have been trade chips (like Mats Zuccarello and Marcus Folignoo) and lost defenseman Jared Spurgeon for the remainder of the season due to injury.
Marc-Andre Fleury could be a trade option, but he can dictate where he goes and hasn’t been that great this season anyway.
They are also not in a position to add, so they are not really dealing any of their young players.
The most logical trade candidate is Maroon.
He does have some trade protections in his contract, but he only counts $800,000 against the cap, is a pending unrestricted free agent after this season and is the type of physical, big forward that general managers love to trade a second-round pick for at the deadline. If the Wild can find a destination that works with his trade protections he might be their best selling chip.
It would be a pretty significant shock if Allen is still a member of the Canadiens on March 9.
Montreal already has three NHL caliber goalies on its roster, so it is definitely a position it can deal from, while Allen might have the most trade value for a contender.
He is not going to steal many games for anybody, but he is a very capable goalie that has played at a league-average level this season behind a young, rebuilding team that struggles to defend. He is also signed through next season at a pretty affordable rate against the cap of just $3.8 million. He could be a decent starter, a strong backup, and just a really strong addition for one of the many contenders that could use additional goalie help (Edmonton, New Jersey, Los Angeles, Colorado).
It would probably an act of front office negligence if they did not take advantage of that and move him.
Here’s a team in a really tough position.
Nashville has positioned itself to be a potential playoff team in the Western Conference, and everything about their offseason (adding players like Ryan O’Reilly and Gustav Nyquist) indicated they were still trying to compete this season.
But even if they do make the playoffs they are not really a team that stands out as a serious Stanley Cup contender.
More likely, they are probably first-round fodder for one of the serious contenders and will bow out after five or six games. This has been their ceiling for a couple of years now, and even then everything needs to go perfectly just to get them to that level.
It is a team that, long-term, might be best served selling. But no team in a position to make the playoffs is going to do that. At least not to a significant degree. What Nashville could do instead is try to strategically sell by dumping a player that hasn’t fit and also create some salary cap space to maybe add somebody else that does fit in a different deal.
They just so happen to have a player like that on their roster in Barrie. The hockey fit in Nashville hasn’t been great, and he has found himself as something of an odd-man out on their defense. He has enough of a track record and still has some offensive ability that he could be dealt to help remove some salary from the books.
Given their rapid improvement a year ago and the preseason expectations the 2023-24 season has been a big disappointment in New Jersey.
Injuries have no doubt played a huge role in that as they have been crushed for most of the year. Jack Hughes, Nico Hischier, Timo Meier and Dougie Hamilton have all missed time and robbed them of seeing their team as it was meant to look.
But goaltending is also a huge issue, and it looked like a huge issue before the season even began. And they didn’t really seem to try and do something to fix it.
When healthy there is still enough talent here that this team should be able to contend this season, but they need more consistency in goal. Their first-round pick should be on the table to help make that happen, especially given the number of goalies that could be available in the coming weeks (John Gibson, Jacob Markstrom, Jake Allen).
The Islanders might be hesitant to do this because their goaltending duo is one of the few things that actually keeps them in the playoff race every year, but don’t you at least have to consider it if you are them?
They already have one of the league’s best goalies in Ilya Sorokin as their starter, they have major needs all over the lineup at forward and on defense, and they do not really have much in the organization to use as trade bait to help get it.
And it is not like they use Varlamov a ton, anyway. Sorokin gets the overwhelming majority of the playing time and it shouldn’t be difficult to find a backup to play once every two weeks that is a reasonable replacement for Varlamov. Especially if it means also getting something useful back in return to help elsewhere on the lineup. Which the Islanders desperately need.
Simply replacing Lane Lambert with Patrick Roy isn’t going to fix this. They need more talent.
This would be a potentially bold move, and maybe even a risky one given Miller’s upside. But at this point it is still all upside because he has not really consistently reached his ceiling with the Rangers.
The Rangers need more forward depth, they could probably use an upgrade on defense (due in large part to the lack of development from Miller), and their season is starting to hit a pretty big lull in recent weeks. They have made big additions at each of the past two trade deadlines and if they have any hope of coming out of the Eastern Conference this season they are going to need to do so again.
A couple of weeks ago we proposed the Rangers being a potential destination for Ottawa’s Jakob Chychrun and maybe trying to make it an even bigger deal by re-acquiring Vladimir Tarasenko. Could Miller be a centerpiece for that sort of trade?
The Senators entered the season with serious playoff expectations, and having a full season of Chychrun on their blue line was one of the big reasons for that optimism.
Instead of competing for a playoff spot, they now find themselves with one of the NHL’s worst records and searching for answers.
Chychrun’s name has been mentioned in trade speculation because there is concern he might not want to re-sign in Ottawa long-term. If that is any serious concern over that, this would be the time to move him. He is still an excellent player, in the prime of his career, and still signed for another full season at a laughably team-friendly contract that counts just $4.6 million against the salary cap.
Based on what they gave up to acquire him at last year’s deadline from the Arizona Coyotes they could easily get a first-round pick and more in return.
The Flyers are the NHL’s biggest positive surprise this season and have come out of nowhere to play their way into playoff contention.
It was never supposed to happen this early in the rebuild.
The best course for the Flyers might be to simply stay the course, see what this year’s surprise team can do, and go into the offseason continuing to assess your needs and add to it. You don’t want to subtract from a team that has earned the right to compete, but you also don’t want to lose sight of the big picture and give up too much, too soon.
The potential wild card here is they have an extra first-round pick from the Florida Panthers as part of the Claude Giroux trade. That pick is likely to be toward the back end of the first round, and if the Flyers really wanted to add something that pick might be a useful trade chip.
Maybe not for a rental, but for somebody that is still under contract and could be a part of the mid-term future and also help make a run at the playoffs this season.
At this point nobody really has any idea what the Penguins are going to do at the trade deadline. They might not even know themselves.
Everything about the construction of this year’s roster has been centered around competing. As long as Sidney Crosby is still playing the way he is, you have to imagine they will do everything in their power to do that.
But the results have been mediocre at best, they are far from a guarantee to make the playoffs, and after missing the postseason entirely a year ago there is some actual talk that this might be the time to sell.
If they decided to go in that direction Guentzel would be the most obvious choice. Even if it would mean breaking up one of the best top-line duos in the league with him and Crosby.
Guentzel is one of the best wingers in the league and has consistently scored at a 40-goal pace per 82 gamest throughout his career. But he is a pending unrestricted free agent after this season and working out a new contract might be complicated. If the Penguins start to fall out of the playoff race, and contract negotiations remain slow, they might have no choice but to move him.
Duclair being used as a trade chip at the deadline seemed like the most obvious outcome from the moment the Sharks acquired him.
They got him for nearly nothing as the Panthers had to make their salary cap situation work, he is a pending unrestricted free agent after this season and the Sharks on a full-scale rebuild mode that has seem them gut their roster down to one of the roster in the NHL. It has played like it.
Duclair brings speed and skill to the ice and should have plenty of teams interested in adding him (New York and Los Angeles should be high on that list). He is one of seven pending unrestricted free agents on the roster right now and should have the most interest league-wide.
Unless the Sharks find a way to do something really dramatic like trade one of their big salaries (Tomas Hertl, Logan Couture, Marc-Edouard Vlasic — all of whom would be difficult to move in-season given their contracts) Duclair is probably the best option they have.
The Kraken have taken a big step backwards this season, and outside of a nine-game winning streak that temporarily brought them back into the playoff race they have not looked like a serious playoff team.
That would make it awfully difficult to give up future assets and buy going into the deadline, especially for a third-year franchise that is still trying to build from scratch.
This isn’t a situation where they need to tear the whole thing down, but some strategic selling might be the best play, and Eberle might be the player that makes the most sense to shop.
His production has dropped a little this season, but he has a track record of big production in the playoffs and could be a nice rental for a contender at a fairly affordable price. His contract counts $5.5 million against the cap this season and could probably be had for a draft pick or decent prospect.
The Blues are on the fringes of playoff contention in the Western Conference but do not really do anything particularly well. They are 25th in goals per game, 20th in goals against, 25th on the power play and 23rd on the penalty kill, all while their goaltending is just slightly above league average.
They are pretty much the definition of an average team.
Is that a team that should be looking to make a major move at the trade deadline to add?
Probably not.
Is that a team that should be looking to sell off major pieces?
Also probably not.
The Blues have needed to overhaul their defense for a couple of years now, but that is going to be awfully difficult to do in-season given the contracts they have on their blue line. The more likely outcome for the Blues is some minor little tweaks to the organization. Vrana is the type of player that could probably use another fresh start to get his career back on track. When he first arrived in St. Louis he looked like he might have a chance to fully realize his potential, but that quickly fizzled out and he has spent a chunk of this season playing in the AHL.
The motivation for listing Cernak is simple.
Tampa Bay has a major salary cap crunch this coming offseason, they have Steven Stamkos as a pending unrestricted free agent, will still need to fill out their roster and also make necessary improvements to a team that has clearly started to decline.
Cernak is just starting a long-term deal that pays him more than $5 million per season. This is also the only year of his deal that has zero trade protections. So if they want to clear some salary cap space and get out from under that deal, now could be the time.
Cernak does not provide anything offensively from and goals and points perspective, but he is a solid defensive presence.
The Lightning may not necessarily want to move him, but they are going to have to move somebody before next season.
The Maple Leafs are a very flawed team and their options at the trade deadline look to be very limited given the combination of limited salary cap room, a thin farm system and not a ton of assets to trade. Their big-four forwards are playing great and producing as expected, but the rest of the roster has a ton of flaws and doesn’t look to be at a serious Stanley Cup contending level.
The forward depth has not panned out, the defense is not particularly strong and Ilya Samsonov has had a terrible year in net.
They need to overhaul some things. They could start by trying to shed some of the one-year stop gaps that have not panned out (Max Domi, Tyler Bertuzzi) and some of their pending free agents. If they can do that, shed some salary and recoup some draft picks they might be able to turn around and use that newfound cap space and added assets to overhaul some of their depth, either this season before the deadline or in the offseason going into next year.
Kuzmenko burst onto the NHL season a year by scoring 39 goals in his first NHL season and earning himself a two-year, $11 million extension with the Canucks.
He has not come close to repeating that initial performance as his offensive production has been cut in half. There was little chance he was ever going to duplicate that 27.3 shooting percentage from a year ago (and he hasn’t, as it has dropped down to 12 percent) and now the Canucks have a potentially regrettable contract on their books.
Vancouver has emerged as a top contender in the Western Conference and would probably love to add something to put itself over the top.
Shedding Kuzmenko’s contract could help do that.
The Canucks also have a person in their front office — Jim Rutherford — that is not shy about making bold moves or working quickly to correct mistakes.
Kuzmenko’s deal might have been a mistake.
It would not be a surprise if the Canucks found a way to move it.
The Golden Knights have struggled to find consistency this season, but they are still the defending Stanley Cup champs and when they are fully healthy they are still one of the best rosters in the NHL.
They are not fully healthy at the moment.
Even when they are they still need some help at forward, especially on the left side where their depth chart is extremely thin from the top-line all the way down to the fourth line.
The Golden Knights’ farm system is not particularly strong after trading so many picks and prospects in recent years in a quest to win a championship, and that trend should continue this season by aggressively dangling their 2024 first-round pick.
Given how far down the draft board it is likely to be, how much they need some more forward depth, and how they have a legitimate chance to make another Stanley Cup run there is no real need for them to hold onto that pick.
They have a real chance to win a second straight Stanley Cup, and a late first-round pick should not get in the way of them adding a player that can help them get there.
It is difficult to know for sure what the Capitals are going to do ahead of the deadline because they are still on the playoff bubble. Close enough to buy, far enough away from contending that nobody would blame them if they sold.
Honestly, it might be a little bit of what we saw from them last year they traded some pending free agents and used some of those assets to acquire a younger player with term in defenseman Rasmus Sandin from the Toronto Maple Leafs.
If they decided to go in that direction again this season Mantha would be a logical player to move on from.
His time in Washington has been a massive disappointment with injuries and a lack of production, but he has re-discovered some of his goal-scoring touch this season with 14 goals in his first 42 games entering play on Saturday. He is also in the final year of his contract with a $5.7 million salary cap hit for the season.
Given his size, goal-scoring and the lack of term on his contract beyond this season he could be an attractive rental option for another team that could allow the Capitals to get back some assets that could be put to use either at the deadline or in the offseason.
The Jets have been one of the best teams in the Western Conference this season and silenced a lot of critics and doubters in the process. Given how wide open everything looks in the NHL this season they would be wise to make a big move while they can and really make a potential run at a championship.
That would be out of character for general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff, but if there were every a season for him to change his approach, this is it.
McGroarty was the Jets’ first-round pick (No. 14 overall) in the 2022 class and is one of the top prospects in the organization. Given how good the Jets have been they owe it to the players in the locker room to give them some help. McGroarty would be one of the best chips they have to make that happen.
He is currently playing his hockey at the University of Michigan and has nine goals with 33 assists in his first 18 games this season.
