Grading the Biggest NHL Trades During 2025 Draft Week
Our favorite part of the NHL Draft weekend, aside from seeing all the great young players land with their new organizations, is the trades.
No volume of trades keeps us all happy as can be, and even though things were quiet on Day 1 of the draft, Day 2 stepped up to fill the void.
Trades keep us talking and thinking and being the snarkiest and harshest judges we can be. Although there wasn’t the cavalcade of deals that we wanted, there’s more than enough to break down and plenty of high-profile players landing in new locations.
The other fun part of trades for us? We get to grade them and that’s just what we’re going to do now that the draft is over, as we prepare for free agency on July 1.
Whether teams passed with flying colors and earned an “A” or they fell asleep in class and got an “F,” it’s up to us to hand out the letters. Let’s get to it.
Buffalo Trades JJ Peterka to Utah for Michael Kesselring and Josh Doan
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This was the trade that unofficially kicked off draft weekend and did so with a bang.
The Mammoth added the 23-year-old German winger who was fresh off a 27-goal, 68-point season and has 67 goals in his first three seasons. He’s a rising star with a ton of offensive upside, but he has defensive holes in his game. That’s fine by Utah because they needed a true goal scorer and got one, locking him up to a five-year, $38.5 million extension.
The Sabres had to make the best of Peterka, telling them he didn’t want to stay in Buffalo and are hoping they filled a spot on the blue line next to Owen Power with the right-handed Kesselring. He’s a big guy (6’5” 215) with a big shot that’s improved his game the past couple of years. With Doan, they get a guy with NHL genes (Shane Doan is his dad) and takes pride in playing a high-pressure and annoying forechecking style.
It's a trade that feels like Buffalo should’ve gotten more and they still need to find a way to replace Peterka’s offense, but they’re very happy with what they got regardless.
Grades: Utah A; Buffalo B-minus
Colorado Sends Charlie Coyle & Miles Wood to Columbus for Gavin Brindley, picks
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The Avalanche are a team that’s always close to the ceiling of the salary cap and this offseason was shaping up to be no different. Finding a way to loosen things up can be difficult.
Sometimes.
The Blue Jackets made themselves a deeper team up front, adding talented center Charlie Coyle and gritty winger Miles Wood. Coyle is in the final year of his contract, while Wood has three years remaining. The Jackets have taken to playing harder up front and Wood will help out while Coyle gives them a solid scorer and puck mover up the middle for their top six.
The Avalanche get a prospect in Gavin Brindley, who has a ton of skill and was a big scorer in college, but lacks size and a couple of picks. More importantly, they were able to gain $7.75 million in cap space for the offseason.
Grades: Colorado: A; Columbus: C
Montréal Acquires Noah Dobson from NY Islanders for Emil Heineman and Two Firsts
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If you needed a signal that the Canadiens are done rebuilding, they made it abundantly clear by adding Noah Dobson.
Dobson joins a Canadiens team that needed defense help and another puck mover and offensive-minded guy, apart from Lane Hutson. They got that in a big way in Dobson, who’s broken out over the past few seasons with the Islanders.
The Isles signed Dobson to an eight-year, $76 million extension before sending him to Montréal and a $9.5 million cap hit for a guy who had 70 points a year ago is a good deal. Although he had a down year points-wise this season, his style of play mixed with the Canadiens' get-up-and-go hockey should be a perfect mix.
The Islanders used the two picks on Swedish forward Victor Eklund and defenseman Kashawn Aitcheson to help them rebuild their system and give them a couple of young players that should be on Long Island sooner rather than later.
If nothing else, the Islanders are much closer to rebuilding on the fly than they are to making a run at the playoffs. Then again, they did just take Matthew Schaefer with the No. 1 pick in the draft, which will more than soften the blow for losing Dobson.
Grades: Canadiens: A; Islanders: A
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Los Angeles Sends Jordan Spence to Ottawa for 2025 3rd and 2026 6th-Round picks
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The right side of the blue line for the Kings was getting a bit crowded. Drew Doughty has had his spot on lockdown for ages and young up-and-comer Brandt Clarke has arrived.
Jordan Spence’s puck-moving abilities and play well, but without power play time and playing third-pair minutes, he was a guy out of place.
The Kings sent Spence to Ottawa, where he’ll slot in on the right side and compete for those special team minutes with Artyom Zub and young blue liner Carter Yakemchuk. Spence is more veteran than Yakemchuk and should ideally have an edge there and given his speed and skill he could push Zub as well.
Ottawa giving up a third and a sixth is an easy price to pay for a mobile defender with a $1.5 million cap hit. Meanwhile, the Kings aren't in a cap crunch and gave up a pretty good player. Hmm.
Grades: Kings: C; Senators: B+
Buffalo Sends Connor Clifton & 2025 2nd to Pittsburgh for Conor Timmins, Prospect
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If there’s a theme the Sabres set for this draft, it’s that they’re going all-in on their blue line even if they’re trading defensemen away.
The Penguins gain a right-shot defenseman in Connor Clifton, who can move the puck and hit hard in a second or third pairing role. The Pens used the pick to take defenseman Peyton Kettles, who was their top prospect Owen Pickering’s partner in juniors.
Timmins slots in as a solid third-pair defenseman on the right side for Buffalo. He’s had strong advanced stats in his time with Toronto and Pittsburgh and at 6’3” 213, he’s a big guy. Belliveau will provide depth in the AHL.
By sending Clifton to the Penguins, the Sabres shed his $3.3 million cap hit to loosen up their still well below the cap salary.
Grades: Sabres: B; Penguins: B
Anaheim Trades John Gibson to Detroit for Petr Mrazek, 2026 4th, 2027 2nd
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Let’s pour one out for all of us on the content side who spent the past few years writing pieces about where the Ducks would/could/should trade goalie John Gibson.
At long last, he’s been traded, this time to Detroit, which was in desperate need of goalie help.
The Red Wings tried hard to make it work with Petr Mrazek, Cam Talbot, Alex Lyon, and, for part of the season, Ville Husso. The collective play was too streaky, and it conspired to help them finish out of the playoffs for the ninth straight year.
By adding Gibson, the hope is he’ll steady things out for the Wings and get them back to the playoffs. The catch, unfortunately, is that Gibson struggled to stay healthy over the years. At least with Talbot in a backup role, they’ve got a veteran to steady things out if Gibson misses time.
The Ducks get a couple of picks, yes, but they add a veteran in Mrazek to help new No. 1 Lukas Dostal. That Mrazek is Czech, like Dostal, is a bonus to have a veteran countryman to help him along.
Trading Gibson to loosen up the net for Dostal to take over full-time was the way for Anaheim to move forward.
Grades: Ducks: B+; Red Wings B+
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