Buy or Sell Moves Made at the 2025 NHL Trade Deadline So Far
Three weeks is far too soon to draw any definitive conclusions on any pre-trade deadline action.
We only have to remember the New York Rangers' acquisition of Martin St. Louis in 2014. His regular season was a flop, but he became a cult hero for his playoff performance that took the organization to the Stanley Cup Final for the first time in two decades.
Teams make these moves in the hopes they will be the difference in the playoffs. In some cases, the ambition goes multiple seasons ahead. With most teams roughly 10 games removed from the trade deadline, nothing is definitive.
We do have enough of a sample to get the sense of how players fit with their new teams, though. For some teams, added dimensions have lifted them to a different level. In other cases, the players haven't found comfort in a new home.
In one case, a desperate attempt to fundamentally change the team's look has only led to more questions about the direction of the franchise.
We are not setting anyone's fate in stone, but we have seen enough to buy or sell whether these moves will accomplish what the teams involved had hoped.
Florida Panthers
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Seth Jones was paid to be a cornerstone defenseman in Chicago. It did not work out.
When the Florida Panthers acquired him on March 2, the idea was that he'd thrive in a system better suited for his style of play and with better support around him.
Aaron Ekblad was then suspended for 20 games, and Jones is again being asked to pull an unreasonable amount of weight on the right side of the defense, and the results look a lot like they do in Chicago.
The 30-year-old ranks dead-last among all Panthers defensemen by expected goals against since March 2, averaging 3.12 per 60 minutes. Offensively, he's created some chances, but the puck isn't going in the net.
To be fair to Jones, the whole team hasn't played excellent hockey the last few weeks. Ekblad and Tkachuk are major absences, and Dmitri Kulikov is injured.
However, Florida head coach Paul Maurice has to be encouraged by the rejuvenated competitive level Jones is showing.
And again, the idea is Jones will have his role reduced in Florida, but he's currently playing even more minutes than he did in Chicago. When the Panthers get numbers back on defense, there is reason to believe he will stabilize.
Meanwhile, Vitek Vanecek has been a solid backup and Nico Sturm is adequate fourth-line depth. Once Brad Marchand is healthy and can make his debut, the Panthers should again be one of the favorites to win the Stanley Cup.
Verdict: Buying the game plan, even if the launch date has been delayed.
Dallas Stars
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The Mikko Rantanen deal was an all-timer.
Rarely does a player of his caliber get moved at the trade deadline, and his addition crowned Dallas as the clear favorites to emerge out of the Western Conference.
And with his eight-year deal, Rantanen would be the kind of franchise-altering talent who would singlehandedly elevate the Stars this year and beyond.
It hasn't worked out that way so far. In Texas, the 28-year-old has two goals and three assists in eight games. That's not good enough for a player who left Colorado at a pace to cruise past the 100-point mark for a third straight season.
But it gets worse when you filter the numbers down. At even strength, Rantanen has just one point, a secondary assist. The Finnish winger averaged 3.6 individual shooting attempts in Colorado this season but is down to 2.75 in Dallas.
In general, his line is giving up more scoring chances than it is creating; an unheard-of dynamic in Colorado or even in his brief Carolina stint.
Some are now arguing Rantanen is being exposed as a fraud away from Nathan MacKinnon. Perhaps the potential MVP center was able to get the most out of Rantanen, but Roope Hintz is no slouch and Rantanen is better than a PP merchant.
The obvious answer is that he still is coming to terms with his exit from Colorado. In 2016, Taylor Hall took the Edmonton Oilers' trading him personally and played the worst hockey of his career in New Jersey. The next season, he won the Hart Trophy.
The merits of this move will play out over eight years and we're buying that Rantanen will eventually figure it out. But the Stars are a contender this season and sure would like him to figure it out in time for the playoffs.
Mikael Granlund and Cody Ceci, also acquired at the deadline, have been more or less as advertised. The former is living up to his role as a sheltered offensive opportunist, while the latter has been a surprising source of offense on the blue line.
Verdict: Buying the long-term vision.
Toronto Maple Leafs
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The Toronto Maple Leafs moved two first-round picks, and the rough equivalent of another in prospect Fraser Minten, to acquire Brandon Carlo and Scott Laughton at the trade deadline. The results have been mixed.
Carlo, for his part, has been everything Toronto could have asked for. Chris Tanev is a defensive rock but is a black hole offensively. Oliver Ekman-Larsson plays the reverse role. Toronto needed someone who could do both.
No, Carlo isn't getting on the scoresheet, but he is good enough to create clean breakouts and get the biscuit onto the blade of Toronto's dynamic creators. Defensively, he's been stout. He is the right type of defenseman to pair with Morgan Reilly as he's providing the defensive proficiency while giving enough support to puck movement that he's not stifling offensive moments.
The Leafs have 60 percent of the expected goals share with Carlo on at five-on-five, per Evolving Hockey. It remains to be seen if he will keep this up for the three seasons in which he's signed to Toronto, but so far, so good.
Scott Laughton hasn't fully lived up to expectations. He's been pretty good defensively and that's primarily what Toronto are asking from him in a third-line role behind Auston Matthews and John Tavares.
However, he does need to provide at least supplementary offense. Laughton is pointless through nine games and hasn't even been involved in hopeful play developments.
Laughton's inadequate offense outweighs the decent defensive contributions and, given the price paid, his play so far only reinforces that the Leafs may have been better off finding someone like Cody Glass or Mark Jankowski to do a similar job for less investment.
The biggest issue? Toronto has looked pedestrian since the trade deadline. Matthews is playing injured, but this does not look like a team that has been pushed into the realm of elite contenders by these trades.
Given Carlo may regress to a more humble second-pairing ability and this might be the last ride with Mitch Marner, that's a lot of investment without overall change in team trajectory.
Verdict: Buying Carlo's fit, but selling the entire trade deadline vision.
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Colorado Avalanche
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No contending team looks more different post-deadline than Colorado.
GM Chris McFarland made several bold moves that, for better or worse, will change the trajectory of this team this season and for many years ahead.
Martin Necas is not Mikko Rantanen and never will be. Regardless, how can Colorado be anything but thrilled with his play?
The Czech winger's style, which relies on carrying the puck with speed, fits the Avalanche's team-wide dynamic. He's tallied eight goals and 14 assists in 23 games. The 26-year-old will be an unrestricted free agent in 2026, but he'd be wise to stick around with a team built to get the most out of him.
Brock Nelson is doing his job. Now second-line center behind MacKinnon, he has taken advantage of playing with two strong wingers in Necas and Artturi Lehkonen. They've been the scaffolding he needs to stick to what he does best: Fire pucks at the net.
Nelson has seven points in nine games. The risks of moving a top prospect and first-round pick to potentially rent him remain.
Charlie Coyle has been a breath of fresh air in Colorado, and maybe Colorado's air has brought something out of him, too.
The basic numbers won't tell you that—Coyle has just two assists in nine games—but that doesn't tell the story. He has been exactly the third-line checking center the Avalanche need.
MacKinnon and Nelson will handle the scoring, but depth has been a problem in Colorado for a few years. Coyle is maintaining momentum when those two are off the ice, keeping pucks out of Colorado's net while sustaining offensive zone pressure. The Avs have 65 percent of the expected goal share at 5v5 with Coyle on the ice, per Evolving Hockey.
Ryan Lindgren hasn't reversed time in Colorado, and it's becoming more and more evident that his time as a top-pairing or maybe even top-four defenseman in the NHL is over.
What head coach Jared Bednar has proved, though, is that Lindgren can be serviceable in a third-pairing role. He's played low-event hockey, which is all the Avs need when Toews and Makar are off the ice.
There are some questions remaining and it's possible the Avalanche exit in Round 1 against Dallas, say goodbye to Nelson and regret moving big pieces for such a short run. They did complement that move with additions that satisfy a long-term vision.
The Avalanche bet they could lose Rantanen and become a better team by building out their depth. So far, that's proving true.
Verdict: Buy.
New York Rangers
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The Rangers are getting the full J.T. Miller experience.
In his first handful of games, he looked completely reenergized and was playing the type of impassioned 200-foot game the Rangers showed few signs of the whole season.
Add in a shooting percentage bender and, despite warnings, the Blueshirt fans prematurely declared the trade mission accomplished.
Since March 4, Miller has just two goals (one empty net) and only three even-strength points in 11 games. Did we mention his 14 penalty minutes? The team has three wins in its last 11 games.
Carson Soucy scored a fluke goal in his first period as a Ranger and since has found himself in the press box as often as he has on the ice.
Juuso Parssinen, whom the team reportedly believed could step in as a third-line center, has shown little of anything and also spent many nights as a healthy scratch.
The team has given Brendan Brisson every opportunity to succeed in the AHL. He has two points in seven games.
The ups-and-downs are part of the Miller experience. Just as that initial run of offense was unsustainable, he's not going to struggle to find the scoresheet like this for much longer, either.
But the big picture remains the same in New York. The rush of the Miller trade has worn off and what's left?
The team looks as flat as it has at any other moment this season. Only now it has even less roster flexibility and fewer trade assets with which to fix things in the summer. The looming decision on whether to keep a lottery pick and hand over an unprotected 2026 pick despite no assurances the Rangers won't be just as lost next season creates a Trolley Problem of their own doing.
This does not look like a team with a vision for how it wants to play hockey, let alone how to execute that vision.
Verdict: Sell.
Ottawa Senators
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One of the boldest trades of the season was Ottawa's swapping of Josh Norris to Buffalo for Dylan Cozens.
Cozens has an enticing package of skills, but he was dreadful in Buffalo this season. It would be a second-straight underwhelming season for Cozens and it made his $7.1 million cap hit through 2030 a potential liability, even at age 24.
Of course, the Sabres are where careers of young players go to die. Jack Eichel, Sam Reinhart, Linus Ullmark, Rasmus Ristolainen, Brandon Montour, and the list goes on. All found success once they left.
The change of scenery has been kind to Cozens. He has eight points in nine games. And it's not as if he's just getting lucky. He looks like a new player, again showcasing his ability to use his size to create space and his hands to take advantage of that space. He's playing with speed and he's getting to tough areas around the net.
The eight points in nine games may be a fortunate streak but, if his first nine games are any indication, he may justify his contract in Ottawa.
Josh Norris, who was traded to Buffalo, has less upside than Cozens and has been unable to stay healthy. It took only three games for the Sabres for Norris to get injured yet again, and his $7.95 million cap hit through 2030 presents its own worries.
It's too soon to say Cozens can be the first-line center he was once thought to be, but there's no debate about which player is the better investment at this moment.
Verdict: Definitive Buy.
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