6 Teams That Did the Best Business at the 2025 NHL Trade Deadline
It's a frenzy unlike any others.
Though other major professional sports have their own in-season trade deadlines, none generate quite the buzz that the NHL manages every March.
Hours after hours of TV coverage. Page after page of articles. Post after post on social media. And that was just a Friday crescendo to weeks worth of chatter.
The B/R hockey staff was all-in on the excitement and waded into the flood to determine which teams did the best personnel work before Friday at 3 p.m. ET.
Take a look at what we came up with and drop a thought in the app comments.
Colorado Avalanche
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The Avs actually got things started a few weeks ago when they became the first team to deal Mikko Rantanen away this season, sending the prolific Finn to Carolina in exchange for speedy forward Martin Necas in late January.
Necas has clicked to the tune of 15 points in 14 games with Colorado and GM Chris MacFarland took another big transaction shot on Thursday when he dealt prospect Calum Ritchie, defenseman Oliver Kylington and two draft picks to the New York Islanders for imminent free agent center Brock Nelson.
Then, on Friday, MacFarland got big-bodied center Charlie Coyle from Boston for fellow center Casey Mittelstadt, who'd been acquired by the Avalanche from Buffalo at last year's deadline.
The 33-year-old Nelson had 20 goals and 43 points 61 games this season and had 30 playoff points across New York's deep playoff runs in 2020 and 2021, which is surely a scenario Avalanche coach Jared Bednar envisions this spring with a roster that already includes stars Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar.
“I think it’s a huge add,” Bednar said. “Big, long, strong, can skate. Highly productive. Getting better with age. He’s always been a trusted 200-foot player. To get a player of that caliber is hard to do. I think it’s an amazing add for our team.”
Dallas Stars
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If you didn't regard the Dallas Stars as a significant Stanley Cup contender before trade deadline week, there's an excellent chance you've changed your mind.
The Stars made the biggest move of the final day when they became the second team this season to acquire Rantanen, grabbing him from Carolina for 22-year-old center Logan Stankoven and a pair of first-round draft picks.
It came a few weeks after GM Jim Nill dipped his toes in the water to acquire forward Mikael Granlund and defenseman Cody Ceci from San Jose for a first-round pick and a conditional third rounder at this summer's draft
Rantanen instantly put down long-term roots by agreeing to an eight-year, $96 million contract extension that'll presumably keep the 28-year-old, coming off two straight 100-point seasons in Colorado, with Dallas through 2032-33.
He has 70 points after 52 games (1.13 per game) with the Avalanche and Hurricanes this season, making him the highest points-per-game player involved in a deadline trade since Joe Juneau (1.14) went to Washington from Boston in 1994.
Florida Panthers
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Life was already good for the Florida Panthers.
The NHL's southernmost franchise won its first Stanley Cup after a classic seven-game title series with Edmonton last June, so even a stand-pat performance from GM Bill Zito this March would have been satisfactory in metropolitan Miami.
But, this just in: The champs are all in for another deep run.
Zito got back to work six days before the actual deadline this year when he sent former 13th overall pick (2019) Spencer Knight and a first-round pick at the 2026 draft to Chicago for 13-year veteran and four-time All-Star defenseman Seth Jones.
Then, in a deal whose news broke moments after the deadline, the Panthers acquired Boston captain Brad Marchand, ending the 36-year-old's 19-year run with the franchise that drafted him 71st overall in 2006.
Jones is under contract through 2029-30 at $9.5 million per year and had already slotted in on both Florida's second blue-line pair and its second power-play unit across his first two games with the Panthers on Monday and Thursday.
Marchand is week to week with an upper-body injury.
"Adding a player like Seth is a big thing for us," Florida captain Aleksander Barkov said. "A big thing from Bill to show us that he wants to give us all the possible chances to win."
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Pittsburgh Penguins
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Not every team is in the market for a playoff difference-maker.
Case in point, the Pittsburgh Penguins, who entered Friday's games having gone 2-6-2 in their last 10 games to plummet to 27th overall.
So, while other GMs have been working the phones looking for an impact player for the next few months, Kyle Dubas has his sights set on stockpiling assets for the next several years.
The second-year boss in Pittsburgh was on the "seller" side of a series of deals in the days leading up to the deadline, including Friday trades that netted a second-round pick in 2026 and a fourth-rounder in 2027 from Winnipeg for defenseman Luke Schenn, a second-rounder this summer from Washington in exchange for forward Anthony Beauvillier, and a third-rounder from New Jersey for forward Cody Glass.
Dubas' Friday work came two days after he got a fifth-rounder in 2028 from San Jose and center Tommy Novak (and the since-dealt Schenn) from Nashville, and a few weeks after he got winger Danton Heinen, prospect Melvin Fernstrom, and a 2025 first rounder from Vancouver.
"Overall," Dubas said Wednesday, "I think we are positioned well over the next few days, but especially heading into the summer and beyond, to continue to execute our plan as we have been for the last 12 months and continue to work to return the Penguins into contention as soon as possible."
San Jose Sharks
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It's hard to believe Mike Grier is still, relatively, a newbie among GMs.
The 14-year NHL player took the gig atop the San Jose personnel department in the summer of 2022 and has taken the bumps and bruises associated with a 32nd overall team, though it did net the franchise a top pick in Macklin Celebrini last July.
But the 50-year-old former Oiler, Capital, Sabre and Shark handled himself like a seasoned transaction veteran from early February through Friday afternoon.
Grier started by getting a first-rounder and a third-rounder this summer from Dallas for the aforementioned Granlund and Ceci, then stocked up the back end on Wednesday with defenseman Vincent Desharnais from Pittsburgh and the forward depth with Patrick Giles.
Thursday yielded a fourth-rounder in 2026 from Florida before Grier reconnected with his Edmonton roots and sent defenseman Jake Walman to the Oilers for a first-rounder in 2026 and a depth forward. The Walman move was particularly impressive for the San Jose boss, considering he'd grabbed him from Detroit last June along with a second-rounder last summer that became defenseman Leo Sahlin Wallenius.
Tampa Bay Lightning
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Just when you thought the Tampa Bay Lightning were ready to go gently into that good night after a run of Eastern Conference relevance that included three Stanley Cup Final trips and two titles, GM Julien BriseBois suggested otherwise.
Not only did BriseBois snatch last summer's biggest prize with free agent Jake Guentzel, but he also added Wednesday to the in-season arsenal of a team that's seventh overall by grabbing forwards Yanni Gourde and Oliver Bjorkstrand, a pick and a prospect from Seattle for a pair of first-round picks in 2026 and 2027.
It's a big price to pay but a nice return to Florida's Gulf Coast for Gourde, who scored 13 goals in 48 games during the Lightning's championship runs. Bjorkstrand, meanwhile, has scored 20 or more goals in five NHL seasons and netted his 17th of 2024-25 in his first game with Tampa Bay on Thursday against Buffalo.
"If I can use those picks to help me accomplish those objectives of winning as many hockey games as possible and chasing championships," BriseBois said, "I think that's my job to go ahead and get those transactions done and acquire those players."
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