Buying or Selling Late Rumors 3 Days From the 2025 NHL Trade Deadline
The 2025 NHL trade deadline is approaching on Friday, and the moves are already starting to get made.
We saw three significant moves over the weekend with the Chicago Blackhawks sending defenseman Seth Jones to the Florida Panthers, the New York Rangers sending defenseman Ryan Lindgren and forward Jimmy Vesey to the Colorado Avalanche, and the Nashville Predators sending forward Gustav Nyquist to the Minnesota Wild.
There will be more trades over the coming days, and the rumors and speculation are building.
With that said, let's take a look at some of the speculation that is floating around on Mikko Rantanen, Erik Karlsson, Brad Marchand, the New Jersey Devils, the Florida Panthers and more, buying or selling whether we can see it happening.
Will Hurricanes Be Forced to Trade Mikko Rantanen?
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The Hurricanes made one of the biggest in-season trades in recent NHL memory when they acquired star forward Mikko Rantanen from the Colorado Avalanche.
On the surface, it seemed like a perfect fit for Carolina.
The Hurricanes keep getting close to the Stanley Cup Final but have been unable to break through the ceiling that is the Eastern Conference Final. For as good as the roster consistently is from top to bottom, it has been lacking a true star-level, go-to offensive force who can put the team on their back and carry it.
Sebastian Aho is a great player, but he is not that top-tier scorer.
Andrei Svechnikov has the shot to be that player, but he has not yet produced at that level.
Rantanen is and has.
The only potential flaw for Carolina is that the 28-year-old is a pending unrestricted free agent after this season and there is no guarantee he will re-sign with the Hurricanes.
After losing last year’s big trade-deadline rental, Jake Guentzel, in free agency, there might be a lot of pressure to ensure it does not happen again.
That has resulted in rumors that maybe Rantanen could be on the move if the Hurricanes do not feel they can get him signed to a contract extension.
Sell
It's understandable why the speculation might exist, but it seems like a stretch to imagine Carolina would reverse course on this. Management and ownership had to know at the time of the original trade that Rantanen's contract might make this a short-term gamble; and if there was that much concern over his contract, it is hard to imagine the deal getting the initial green light. This seems like a move that was made to win the Stanley Cup this season. Rantanen gives them a chance to do that. Whether he stays or goes, banners always stay.
Will Canucks Re-Sign Brock Boeser?
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The Vancouver Canucks are on the fringes of Western Conference playoff contention, but it remains to be seen if they are going to buy or sell.
Trading J.T. Miller to the New York Rangers was the type of move a selling team would make; trading for Marcus Pettersson and Drew O'Connor—and then re-signing them—is a buyer move.
The real intrigue comes with a player like Brock Boeser, who is in the final year of his contract and a pending unrestricted free agent.
Contract talks have been slow, which has seemingly frustrated the 28-year-old. If the Canucks can't get him signed, there's a chance he could be on the move before Friday.
The question is whether or not they can get him signed.
Sell
While the Canucks would probably like to have Boeser, they are really taking it down to the wire with the trade deadline. There is also some potential risk in committing a big-money, long-term deal to him.
He scored 40 goals a year ago and was a huge part of their offense. But he has taken a clear step backward this season offensively and settled back into the 25-goal range he has played at for most of his career.
That's not a bad player. It is useful. But it's also the type of player who can easily get overpaid and cause havoc on a salary-cap structure, even with an increasing cap in future seasons.
Will Penguins Find Taker for Erik Karlsson?
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When the Pittsburgh Penguins acquired Erik Karlsson prior to the 2023-24 season, the hope was that he could help keep their window for contention open for another couple of years during the Sidney Crosby-Evgeni Malkin-Kris Letang era.
That hasn't worked out as planned.
The Penguins have regressed significantly and are now in the early stages of a rebuild.
Karlsson has also not played up to expectations. His offense is still very strong, and he has shown flashes of the ability that has made him a three-time Norris Trophy winner, but it has not been consistent.
The 34-year-old also carries a huge contract ($10 million per season for the next two full seasons) and has full no-trade protections.
Outside of Crosby and Malkin, there are probably no untouchables on the Penguins roster, and they would likely love to move Karlsson's contract out.
That will be easier said than done.
Sell
It is very possible, if not likely, that Karlsson is playing for another team than the Penguins before his contract runs out. But a trade this week seems like it will be complicated without Pittsburgh retaining a significant portion of his contract. It might not have much of an appetite to do that.
There are also not a lot of contenders that will have the salary-cap space to take on his contract this season. This seems like an offseason trade more than an in-season trade deadline move.
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Are the Devils Going to Make a Move After Jack Hughes Injury?
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After a bitterly disappointing 2023-24 season, the New Jersey Devils are back to playing like a Stanley Cup contender in the Eastern Conference.
The two biggest reasons for that are the efforts they made to improve their goaltending, and the fact that their best players have mostly been healthy...until now.
Jack Hughes is set to be sidelined for an unknown period of time with yet another injury, which has been the one problem with his career to this point.
With the 23-year-old out of action, it might open the door for the Devils to make an addition.
Buy
Even before Hughes was injured, the Devils could have been—and probably should have been—in the market to add more forward help, at least in terms of scoring depth. Now Hughes is banged-up, it should only add to management’s incentive.
The Eastern Conference is wide open, and the Devils should not waste an opportunity to try to take a run at it.
Is This Brad Marchand's Final Week as a Bruin?
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The playoffs are starting to look like a real long shot for the Boston Bruins. And even if they do get there, the roster has too many holes to imagine it making some sort of a serious deep run.
Management should be open to that and understand it's time to sell.
Trent Frederic seems like a strong possibility to move, but the wild card is Brad Marchand, another pending unrestricted free agent.
If the Bruins made the decision to move him, they could probably get a huge return given Marchand's career, ability, production and reputation. You have to imagine contending general managers would crawl over broken glass for a chance to get him on their teams for a playoff run.
He can score. He can defend. He drives possession. He is physical. He plays an agitating style that grates on people. Even if he is a short-term rental there are so few clear sellers, and so few potential impact rentals available, that they could use that to their advantage.
Sell
It would make sense for the Bruins to trade Marchand. It would probably be the most practical and best long-term move for the franchise. Boston could also have a handshake side deal to reunite in the offseason in free agency. Even with all of that being the case, there does not seem to be much appetite from either the Bruins or Marchand (who has limited trade protections) for a move. At least not at this point.
Are the Panthers Done Making Moves?
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The Florida Panthers have a chance to make a third consecutive Stanley Cup Final and win it for a second year in a row. That is big motivation to go all-in at the trade deadline, and they already started by adding defenseman Seth Jones from the Chicago Blackhawks this past weekend.
Is that their big move? Their only move?
Under normal circumstances, it might be. Not only because Jones brings a $7 million salary-cap hit to Florida (after Chicago retained $2.5 million per season), but also because they have few trade assets remaining.
They only have one draft pick in the first three rounds over the next two years, and they have an extremely thin farm system that is among the weakest in the NHL.
Sell
Even with the lack of trade assets, you have to imagine the Panthers are going to find a way to do something else. Mostly because they have the salary-cap flexibility to do so. With Matthew Tkachuk likely to miss the remainder of the season and going on LTIR, they still have a ton of cap space to work with even after adding Jones' contract. It's hard to imagine a team in this situation letting that opportunity go to waste.
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