8 NHL Teams With Clear Needs Already for 2026 Trade Deadline
We're just a couple of weeks into the NHL season, and while, yes, it's still quite early, we're getting some clarity about many of the teams.
Many teams are already showing that they are who we thought they were, and even some of the surprise teams are showing a lot of spunk. After all, no one gets eliminated after three games, right? Yet there are a handful of teams whose issues were apparent in the offseason and continued to be so during the preseason. Lo and behold, they're still proving to be problematic now.
We've identified these teams and the issues they'll need to address by the time the NHL trade deadline hits March 6, 2026. The best part about all of us on the outside seeing these issues and knowing they must be fixed is that those running the teams definitely know they're problems and have been for some time, yet haven't taken the dangerous leap to do something about it.
Los Angeles Kings
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During the offseason, we questioned new general manager Ken Holland for not just losing defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov in free agency, but also for reimagining the blue line corps with veterans Brian Dumoulin and Cody Ceci, while also trading away Jordan Spence to Ottawa.
The Kings have started the season 1-3-2 and are bleeding goals against (24) enough that the offense can't keep pace enough to bail them out of trouble. Their penalty killing has been terrible (eight PPG allowed), and to top it all off, they're not getting the saves they need from Darcy Kuemper or Anton Forsberg.
The Kings have a lot on their plate, namely getting Adrian Kempe extended, but if the defense is going to play like this, they must find ways to make it better if they're going to give Anze Kopitar a career sendoff to remember for all the right reasons.
New York Rangers
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The good news for the Rangers is that Igor Shesterkin started the season looking like the world-beating goalie we've all come to know. The bad news for them is that they look like a team that really misses Chris Kreider.
While Kreider is off to a hot start with Anaheim (four goals in five games), the Rangers as a team have scored 15 goals in their first seven games. Defenseman Adam Fox has three of them, while Mika Zibanejad and J.T. Miller have two apiece. That's nearly half of the team's goals among three players. That's not going to cut it long-term.
With the Rangers getting great play from Shesterkin and their team defense doing extremely well, it ideally means the offense won't need to do a lot of heavy lifting to win games. But we all know that relying on things playing out like this for the length of the season is foolish and New York should 100 percent be in on any available scorers.
They should also figure out what they're going to do with Artemi Panarin (UFA after this season) while they're at it, too.
San Jose Sharks
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It's been hard to watch what's gone on with the San Jose Sharks to start the season. As fun as it is to watch young stars Macklin Celebrini, Will Smith, Michael Misa, and Sam Dickinson, it's not great to watch them struggle because the Sharks' defense and goaltending are well beyond subpar.
Alex Nedeljkovic and Yaroslav Askarov have had terrible starts to their season. Askarov has bled goals against, while Nedeljkovic has had some unfortunate highlight reel mistakes that cost San Jose games.
What's worse is that the Sharks' overall team defense is allowing the goalies to get inundated nightly. San Jose is allowing 54.6 shot attempts per game at 5-on-5, and their 40 percent CorsiFor rate is the worst in the NHL (granted, it's automatically a small sample size).
This season is meant to be one where the Sharks take steps forward out of the muck of their rebuild and start growing towards returning to the playoffs. These kinds of results from both their defense and goaltending cannot persist, and if that means being bold by or at the deadline to change things, so be it.
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Florida Panthers
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Being the two-time defending Stanley Cup Champions is hard enough, but it's even harder when losing key players to lengthy injuries.
Florida losing Aleksander Barkov and Matthew Tkachuk before the season even started was hard enough to deal with, but now they'll be without defenseman Dmitry Kulikov for five months after surgery and await to see how defenseman Niko Mikkola is doing after he left Saturday's 3-0 loss to Buffalo with an upper-body injury.
The loss of Barkov is the crushing blow that could weaken the Panthers enough to make the push for the playoffs an actual battle in the East. Replacing a Selke Trophy-winning center who can shut down any opposing forward he's matched up against and be one of the team's best scorers. Although the Panthers and GM Bill Zito will allow time to see if Anton Lundell and Sam Bennett can handle more of the load asked of them, that doesn't mean Florida will or should sit pat.
The Panthers and their ability to make use of LTIR gives them the chance to add a sizable piece should it come down to it. Letting our imaginations run wild with possibilities is actually a healthy thing to do, given the more tantalizing names that will be out there (Evgeni Malkin?). Matthew Tkachuk will be back within a couple months, but the up-and-down performance they've had to start the year is a warning.
Edmonton Oilers
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How many times over the past few years have we said the Oilers have to do something about goaltending if they're going to be actually serious about winning in the playoffs and win the Stanley Cup? Innumerable at this point, and yet the issue persists.
We've seen some tough highlights from Stuart Skinner to start the season, and they're enough to serve as an omen for how things could go again for the Oilers. For all of Skinner's highlights and stretches of strong play, there are still far too many of those other moments that make us say, "Oh no, not again."
The Oilers chose to run it back this season with both Skinner and Calvin Pickard, and you can sort of understand why GM Stan Bowman did that. They played well enough to get them back to the Stanley Cup Final, and although they didn't win again, they still got there and won the beastly Western Conference to do it.
And yet, does anyone feel overly confident about the Oilers getting back there again and winning the Cup with the same tandem? If there's an upgrade or a breath of fresh air to be found between the pipes, Edmonton cannot hesitate and let another shot at the Cup slip away.
Vancouver Canucks
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Perhaps it bodes well for the Canucks that they've gotten off to a good start (4-2-0) and they've yet to get a big contribution from Elias Pettersson.
Conor Garland is their leading point scorer (6), Kieffer Sherwood is their top goal scorer (4), and Quinn Hughes has a goal and four assists already. Brock Boeser and Filip Chytil each have three goals as well, although Chytil's injury against the Capitals on a hit from Tom Wilson gives reason to worry.
The pack approach to scoring is one that could pay huge dividends for the Canucks, but they're also a team that should have its ears to the ground when it comes to adding another big offensive threat, either on the wing or up the middle.
Their approach in the West might not have to be one where they need to land a player to save their playoff chances, but rather to get them an upper hand when it comes time for the playoffs instead. Considering how much quieter things are in Vancouver this season, lying in wait to make a big move might be the best thing they can do.
Ottawa Senators
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The Ottawa Senators contain multitudes, and unfortunately for them, right now, a lot of what they're doing is giving up a boatload of goals while their offense figures things out without Brady Tkachuk.
The Senators' 2-4-0 start is a bit of a downer after coming off a playoff season, but what's made it more difficult is they've allowed 30 goals in the first six games and scored 20. The NHL isn't a 5-3 league, but every Senators game tends to be in that direction thanks to their goaltending struggling as much as their penalty kill (nine PPG allowed).
If Ottawa wants to survive without Tkachuk for the next month, it can do so as long as its other top offensive players step up. Shane Pinto has carried the load so far (seven goals), but they'll need more from Tim Stützle, Dylan Cozens, and recently returned Drake Batherson.
Ottawa could be a wild card when it comes to making a deal to help themselves because a boost at forward would be nice, but more depth on the blue line would go a long way, too.
Calgary Flames
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It's been a rough start to the season for the Flames. Going 1-5-0 out of the gates isn't going to have anyone feeling good about things, but it's even tougher when they're not scoring or stopping opponents in equal measure.
Calgary has 11 goals in the first six games and allowed 25. It's hard to win games when scoring less than two per game, and even if they were getting top-notch goaltending, it would be hard. But they're not getting either of those things either.
Last season's rookie phenom Dustin Wolf has taken the brunt of it, going 1-4-0 with an .854 save percentage and a 4.30 goals-against average, a performance that's opened the door for backup Devin Cooley to get a little more action. Regardless of who's in the net, they're not getting help around their cage.
The Flames have allowed 10 high-danger goals at 5-on-5 already this season, which ties them with St. Louis for second most to Anaheim's 13. This helps draw attention to the looming status of defenseman Rasmus Andersson, who seems all but set to be traded (to Vegas, perhaps?) by the deadline because he's set to be a free agent after the season, and the likelihood of him staying in Calgary is low.
The Flames have to make it a point to cash in as big as they can for Andersson when it's time to move on from him, but the lack of offense and the struggling defense in tight makes it difficult to pick an area to focus on.
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