The 6 Biggest Regrets From the 2025 NHL Trade Deadline

Now that the NHL Trade Deadline has come and gone, the time to assess how teams played their hands is upon us. Buyers bought and sellers sold, of course, but who amongst them is left with remorse?

After all, not all trades can be winners. It’s not easy and every GM will tell you that making trades can be hard. 

Asking teams to say whether or not they’ve done enough won’t yield useful responses so we’re here to decide for them. We’ve identified a few teams who are left wanting after the trade deadline and for various reasons. These teams will walk away from the past week wondering what went wrong that allowed everything to get away from them and our takes on the matters will only rub it in even more. 

Hurricanes Gambling on Mikko Rantanen

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The Hurricanes and GM Eric Tulsky were in a real bind with Mikko Rantanen.

After they made the huge trade to acquire the star Finn in January, they knew they had to get him signed to an extension to make it worthwhile. When it became clear that wasn’t happening, they had to send him elsewhere regardless of how painful and frustrating that was. 

What got them, however, was the difficulty they ran into to make it happen since any team acquiring him wanted to make sure he’d sign with them first. When Carolina had a deal in place with Dallas, all was well… until it took a long time for the Stars and Rantanen to agree on an extension. 

Carolina had to wait it out because if they didn’t trade Rantanen, there was a high probability that he'd leave as a free agent like Jake Guentzel did last year. Rantanen managed to gum up the works for Carolina and it prevented them from making anything else happen at the deadline.

Yes, adding Logan Stankoven is great, but if they wanted to address anything else, they were essentially out of time to do it once the Rantanen trade could be done. 

If that whole process costs the ‘Canes a shot at the Cup, the villain status Rantanen has partially gotten from the fans in Raleigh will be widespread and heated. 

Maple Leafs Not Getting Mikko Rantanen

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The Maple Leafs certainly were busy at the deadline and made a couple of nice moves to get Brandon Carlo from Boston and Scott Laughton from Philadelphia, but if reports and rumors are to be believed, they had a chance to get Mikko Rantanen as well and didn’t. 

It may have cost them Mitch Marner, but considering both guys were set to be UFA this summer, it would’ve been a fascinating swap. Then again, if there was a way to add Rantanen and not give up Marner, that avenue wasn’t pursued either. 

Toronto gave up first-round picks for Carlo and Laughton, but you wonder if the move would have been using them in a Rantanen trade package. When you think back to what’s cost the Leafs in previous postseasons, (not scoring enough goals) that decision may loom ominous if another early exit occurs. 

Oilers Not Doing Enough to Add

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The Oilers are one of the top teams in the Western Conference. They’re also a team that had clear areas they could’ve and should’ve addressed at the deadline, what with Evander Kane’s status still being up in the air and goalie Stuart Skinner looking shaky of late. With those kinds of question marks, the attack plan at the deadline should’ve been straightforward.

Edmonton adding Trent Frederic from Boston was a nice move to be more formidable in the postseason, but they didn’t add another scorer nor did they add any goalie help. Sticking to your guns is noble, but when you look at what other teams in the West did, those areas had to be addressed. 

Seeing the moves Dallas (Mikko Rantanen), Colorado (Brock Nelson, Charlie Coyle, Erik Johnson), and Winnipeg (Brandon Tanev, Luke Schenn) made should’ve scared them straight since one of those teams will likely be waiting for them in Western Conference Final if they get there. Even Los Angeles added Andrei Kuzmenko and Vegas brought back Reilly Smith. If the Oilers don’t get back to the Stanley Cup Final, they’ll only have themselves to blame. 

Bruins Trading Captain Brad Marchand to Florida

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Remember a couple of years ago when the Florida Panthers came back to upset the Boston Bruins in the first round of the playoffs and kickstarted Florida’s run to the Stanley Cup Final?

Of course, you do, especially if you’re a Bruins fan and it’s that bitter loss that makes you see red upon watching GM Don Sweeney send captain Brad Marchand to the Panthers for a conditional 2027 second-round pick. 

Packing up the team captain and sending him to a bitter divisional rival while still in a playoff race is virtually beyond the pale. We know Marchand is hurt and wouldn’t be back until close to the playoffs, but wouldn’t that have been a great addition to Boston’s lineup if they got in? Absolutely!

Instead, the Bruins hedged some bets both deciding that they were out (trading Marchand and Brandon Carlo, to Toronto no less) while also looking to save face for now and be better for the years ahead (adding Casey Mittelstadt in exchange for Charlie Coyle). 

Trading Trent Frederic to Edmonton and Justin Brazeau to Minnesota were acceptable moves, but sending Marchand to Florida? Incredible, and not in a complimentary way.

Canucks' Lack of Activity at the Deadline

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You could argue that the Canucks got most of their business taken care of well ahead of the trade deadline with the J.T. Miller trade and adding Marcus Pettersson as well. But Vancouver is in a playoff race and their captain Quinn Hughes is ailing and top scorer Elias Pettersson has been ice-cold for a while now. 

The Canucks also had questions about what to do with UFA-to-be Brock Boeser. They couldn’t get an extension worked out but held onto him despite his impending available status. The one move Vancouver did make was sending defenseman Carson Soucy to the Rangers for a third-round pick. 

If you can make heads or tails of how any of that makes sense, we’re all ears because it doesn’t make a lick of sense to us and we’re professionals. If Vancouver wants to secure a playoff spot, they have to do more.

There are holes in the lineup and they’ve essentially put everything on Kevin Lankinen’s back to get them to the postseason until Hughes is healthy and Pettersson gets his mojo back. That’s a tall ask. 

Sabres Trading Dylan Cozens

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In one way you can see what the Sabres are thinking, but from another point of view, it looks like they’ve set themselves up for more painful reminders of how things can go wrong. 

Buffalo traded Dylan Cozens, Dennis Gilbert and a 2026 second-round pick to division rival Ottawa for forward Josh Norris and defenseman Jacob Bernard-Docker. General manager Kevyn Adams needed to shake up his core group and dealing Cozens, who has struggled the past two seasons since scoring 31 goals, was the guy to go. 

At 24 years old, Cozens has his best years ahead of him and the Senators are banking on that being the case so he can follow in the footsteps of Jack Eichel and Sam Reinhart and lead his new team to the Stanley Cup. The Sabres are hoping by adding Norris they’ve brought in a more consistent offensive threat and found a way to better themselves despite the optics of moving on from yet another highly-drafted young star. They certainly hope Norris is past the shoulder issues that haunted him in his time in Ottawa.

It’s a seismic gamble by Adams and a gutsy one. It’s certainly not the kind of move made by someone with an ounce of fear for their job would go for, so he gets respect for that, but if it doesn’t pay off, the optics of it will be horrendous.