Predicting Buyers and Sellers at the 2024 NHL Trade Deadline
The 2024 NHL Trade Deadline is less than two months away (March 8), and that means it is time to start getting serious about which teams might be buying and selling in the coming weeks.
At this point, it is still very much a seller's market as there are only a small handful of teams that are clearly out of the playoff race. Nobody is going to want to give up on their season too soon as long as their a chance for the playoffs.
So let's take a look at 10 prominent teams around the league that fall into one of those two categories, and maybe a couple of teams that are still on the fence and what direction they might ultimately decide to go in.
Chicago Blackhawks
1 of 10
The Blackhawks have met expectations this season by being one of the worst teams in the league as their rebuild rolls on. It has been a brutal combination of an undermanned roster and a run of injuries that have robbed them of most of their top players, including rookie and No. 1 overall pick Connor Bedard.
Their record, combined with their status as a rebuilding team, will make them one of the clear sellers leading up to the deadline.
There is just one major hurdle for Chicago to deal with—it doesn't have much to sell at this point, especially with all the injuries.
Jason Dickinson and Nick Foligno just signed short-term extensions and seem to be valuable veteran pieces in the eyes of the front office, while their best veteran—Seth Jones—has a contract that isn't an easy deal to pull off in-season.
Taylor Hall might have been the most attractive trade asset here, but he's out for the season with a torn ACL.
The most logical trade candidates are probably veteran goalie Petr Mrazek, especially given the number of contenders that need goaltending depth, and defenseman Connor Murphy. Mrazek is a pending unrestricted free agent this offseason while Murphy is still signed for two more years at $4.4 million per year.
While those are the most obvious candidates, the Blackhawks should be willing to part with almost anybody on the roster other than players like Bedard, Kevin Korchinski, or Luksas Reichel if the price is right.
Trade deadline status: Obvious seller
Vegas Golden Knights
2 of 10
The defending Stanley Cup champion Golden Knights have been a tale of two teams this season.
One version started the season 11-0-1 and looked like the best team in the league and a serious contender to repeat as champions.
The other version is the team that has followed that by going 15-14-4 in the 33 games that followed. In other words, they have been mediocre far more often than they have been great this season.
While they still have the core that won it all a year ago, they do have some pretty significant needs on the roster. Especially when it comes to their depth at left wing. That should be the No. 1 priority going into the deadline.
And given everything we know about Vegas and the way its front office runs its team, you can be sure a move (or two) will get made. Few teams are more aggressive in the trade market than Vegas, and if there is a prominent player to be had—especially on the left side—you can be sure they will be in on them.
Stanley Cup windows do not remain open forever, and the Golden Knights have a rare chance to win it all two years in a row. They will not let that opportunity go without a fight.
Trade deadline status: All-in buyer
San Jose Sharks
3 of 10
The question for the Sharks is not whether they sell. But how much they sell.
They already jumpstarted their rebuild over the past year by trading veterans Brent Burns, Timo Meier and Erik Karlsson, and the fallout of that has been one of the worst teams the NHL has seen in the salary cap era. They are still a long, long way from anything close to a competitive team.
They also have seven pending unrestricted free agents including Mike Hoffman, Kevin Labanc, Anthony Duclair and Kaapo Kahkonen, and it would not make any sense for any of them to remain on the roster on March 9 if any sort of reasonable offer can be had.
Duclair is the rental that might have the most interest, but Lebanc, Hoffman and Kahkonen could probably bring back at least some mid-round draft pick assets.
It will be interesting to see if San Jose's sell-off goes beyond the rentals. Tomas Hertl has a no-movement clause and is not far removed from signing a long-term deal to stay in San Jose, but he would be a huge trade asset and if he wants to play for a winning team anytime soon he is probably going to need to do so outside of San Jose.
Trade deadline status: Everything must go seller
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Anaheim Ducks
4 of 10
Even though the 2023-24 season has quickly devolved into another lost year for the Ducks, you can really start to see a solid core forming here.
No. 2 overall pick Leo Carlsson looks like he has a chance to be a superstar, while Mason McTavish, Trevor Zegras and recent trade acquisition Cutter Gauthier form what could be a really formidable core of forwards.
They also have a nice group of young defensemen working their way up through the system that made former top-10 pick Jamie Drysdale expendable to acquire Gauthier from the Philadelphia Flyers.
When it comes to additional moves, Adam Henrique, Jakob Silfverberg and Ilya Lyubushkin are all pending unrestricted free agents that seem likely to be moved. Silfverberg's production has fallen off a cliff so his value is probably minimal, but Henrique could be a great fit for a center-needy contender.
The two big names to watch here beyond the rentals or starting goalie John Gibson and Zegras.
Zegras is a stunning name to see show up as a potential trade candidate, and while the Ducks are not reported to be looking to trade him, they are reportedly at least willing to listen. Is there a team that would blow them away with an offer? Given his talent and potential, not to mention his contract, it would have to be a stunning offer.
Gibson has been rumored to be on the block for years but has remained in Anaheim. The obstacle in moving him—or trying to move him—is that he is still owed $6.4 million per season for three more full seasons and has been mostly average to below-average goalie for the better part of the past five years. The Ducks would probably have to get creative with the money, but enough contenders need a goalie that the Ducks will almost certainly get calls on him.
Trade deadline status: Sellers
Pittsburgh Penguins
5 of 10
This might be the first time in the Sidney Crosby era that there is even a hint of the Penguins potentially being sellers at the trade deadline. They missed the playoffs a year ago, have an aging roster (oldest in the league), are on the playoff bubble and have a pending unrestricted free agent in Jake Guentzel they might not be able to re-sign.
They also have a veteran in Reilly Smith who has not been anything close to a fit and probably needs a change of scenery to get back on track.
As true as all of that is, this still does not seem like a team that is ready to give up.
They spent the offseason adding more veterans—including Erik Karlsson—and still have top-tier talents like Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang playing at high levels. They have shown zero interest in starting a rebuild, and as long as Crosby is playing the way he is and they still have a chance to make the playoffs they are probably going to stay committed to a win-now mode.
There is a chance they might move somebody like Smith, but only to potentially create more salary cap space to bring in somebody else.
They could use more scoring depth, they need more help on defense and their power play needs some help. Figure them adding at least one player (or more) to address at least one of those needs. The hurdle will be a lack of salary cap space, a thin farm system and the fact their 2024 first-round pick is likely headed to San Jose (it is top-10 protected).
Trade deadline status: Still buying
Ottawa Senators
6 of 10
This season started with so much hope for the Senators. They have a great core of young talent that is mostly locked into long-term, team-friendly deals, and there is a real belief that this could be a playoff team.
None of it has gone to plan.
The offense has regressed, the defense has struggled and Joonas Korpisalo has not done anything to solidify the goaltending. Put it all together and you have the worst team in the Eastern Conference standings.
They already fired their head coach, they have a new general manager and it is pretty clear that some changes need to be made.
The biggest name on the trade block here is one of the players they acquired a year ago -- defenseman Jakob Chychrun.
Chychrun's long-term future in Ottawa seems to be very much in doubt and for a team that needs some shake-up, he would be a massive trade asset. He still has another year remaining on his contract on a team-friendly deal ($4.6 million), is still only 25 years and is very productive. The Senators acquired him for three draft picks at the deadline a year ago (one first-round pick and two second-round picks) and could probably get back a similarly valued return this season.
Pending veteran unrestricted free agent forwards Vladimir Tarasenko and Dominik Kubalik also seem likely to be on the move. With 11 goals and 29 total points in 38 games, Tarasenko would be an extremely attractive rental for a team in need of a top-six winger.
Trade deadline status: Surprising seller
New York Rangers
7 of 10
The Rangers are playing the same movie they have been running for a couple of years.
They have a great record, they are near the top of the Eastern Conference standings, but they have some significant flaws that need to be addressed at the trade deadline. In each of the previous two years, they have been aggressive in trying to fix them.
Two years ago it was Frank Vatrano, Andrew Copp and Tyler Motte.
A year ago it was Patrick Kane and Vladimir Tarasenko.
It remains to be seen who it will be this season, but they need some definite help for 5-on-5 depth scoring. Anthony Duclair seems like a potential fit, while they could also seek out another rental reunion with Tarasenko.
The Rangers have the top-end talent to win it all, and a lot of them are having the type of year you want to reward with additional help for a potential playoff run. It is going to take another year of big moves to get the necessary depth to put them over the top in the East.
Trade deadline status: All-in buyer
Colorado Avalanche
8 of 10
The big thing that held the Avalanche back a year ago in their Stanley Cup defense was they simply lost too much of the depth that made them a championship team during the 2021-22 season.
While they attempted to address a lot of that this offseason, they could still probably use some additional help.
Gabriel Landeskog is out for another season, and now Valeri Nichushkin's short-term status is unknown as he is away from the team. Colorado still has one of the highest-scoring rosters in the league thanks in part to an MVP-caliber year from Nathan MacKinnon, but a little extra scoring depth to help support him wouldn't hurt.
They still have all of their future first-round picks at their disposal, and a decent amount of salary cap space at the moment.
They could also be a sleeper team for a goalie.
Alexandar Georgiev has taken a step backward this year as he and backup Ivan Prosvetov both have save percentages under .900 for the season. That is not good enough given the defense they have in front of them.
Trade deadline status: Definite buyers
Boston Bruins
9 of 10
The Bruins were always a candidate to take a step backward this season for two reasons.
First, most obviously, it is really hard to win 65 games and set an NHL win record two years in a row.
Second, they lost a ton of talent off of last year's roster, including each of their top-two centers in Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci. Add in salary cap cuts like Taylor Hall and some rentals that walked in UFA (Tyler Bertuzzi and Dmitry Orlov) and it would have been understandable to assume the Bruins would be significantly worse than the were a year ago.
But while they have taken a small step back, they are still one of the best teams in the NHL.
They have two outstanding goalies in Linus Ullmark and Jeremy Swayman, they have a No. 1 defenseman in Charlie McAvoy and some top-tier forwards in David Pastrnak and Brad Marchand.
What they might still need—more center help.
Charlie Coyle and Pavel Zacha have done a great job filling the void left by the retirements of Bergeron and Krejci, but they might not be good enough to be top-line centers for a Stanley Cup contender.
Elias Lindholm, Adam Henrique and Sean Monahan could all be potential options.
Trade deadline status: All-in buyers
Philadelphia Flyers
10 of 10
When the 2023-24 NHL season began the Flyers figured to be major players at the trade deadline.
We all just assumed it would be as sellers.
But then they went ahead and started winning a bunch of hockey games and have not really stopped. They are now comfortably in a playoff position in the Eastern Conference and seem to be well ahead of schedule in their rebuild.
They also recently added defenseman Jamie Drysdale from the Anaheim Ducks. So why wouldn't they keep adding?
This is a situation, however, where they might need to be a little strategic about it. Just because they are ahead of schedule does not mean they should be reckless about it or be overly aggressive. Their actual time for serious Stanley Cup contention might still be a couple of years away. Even so, when you have a chance to make the playoffs you owe it to the organization, the coaches, the roster and the fans to try and go for it.
Trade deadline status: Strategic buyers
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