We’re 48 hours out from the NHL’s Trade Deadline on Friday at 3 o’clock ET. Who is still in the market? And what are they seeking?

2025 NHL Trade Deadline Countdown: 2 days

Here are the clubs still shopping ahead of Friday’s deadline, listed in order of perceived aggression:

TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING
Top Objective: Scoring winger
Ideal Fit: Alex Tuch, Buffalo Sabres
Scoop: What does GM Julien BriseBois have up his sleeve? The Bolts have been one of the hottest teams in the league in recent weeks. Coach Jon Cooper and his Team Canada boys are riding high off 4 Nations. Andrei Vasilevskiy is back to being the Big Cat. BriseBois created roster flexibility by placing Cam Atkinson on waivers. BriseBois tried to sign brief UFA Brandon Saad and usually finds a target and hones in on it – willing to pay the price in order to get his guy.

TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS
Top Objective: Third Line Center
Ideal Fit: Yanni Gourde, Seattle Kraken
Scoop: Let’s set the over/under for new players brought in by Brad Treliving at 2.5 for this deadline. They’d also like to add a winger with scoring touch and a defenseman to bolster the blueline. But it all starts with the center. That is the first priority and likely the first domino, sorting out the assets and cap space remaining after that. The Leafs have been focused on Brayden Schenn and to a lesser extent Scott Laughton, but Treliving is weighing cost with putting all the puzzle pieces together. Could Gourde and Brandon Tanev come over in the same package?

LOS ANGELES KINGS
Top Objective: Scoring Punch
Ideal Fit: Mikko Rantanen, Carolina Hurricanes
Scoop: The Kings are staring down the barrel of a fourth consecutive first-round matchup with the Edmonton Oilers. The Kings are 0-3. They have not won a playoff round in Rob Blake’s eight seasons as GM. They have scored 30 fewer goals this season than almost all of their competitors in the West. We’ve been told that L.A. will be at the front of the line for Rantanen if he’s available, but don’t count out a move of significance if he’s staying in Carolina.

WINNIPEG JETS
Top Objective: Second Line Center
Ideal Fit: Brock Nelson, New York Islanders
Scoop: Few teams have been as aggressive in recent years as the Jets. It was Tyler Toffoli and Sean Monahan last year. The problem hasn’t been trading for rentals, it’s been keeping them. They stand a pretty good chance of keeping Brock Nelson if they can snag him from the Islanders. They have a clear and defined need in that 2C role which could help put them over the top while they run away with the division. You could also see the Jets add an inexpensive depth defensive piece as well.

DETROIT RED WINGS
Top Objective: Fix the Blueline
Ideal Fit: Bowen Byram, Buffalo Sabres
Scoop: Detroit has been chasing their tail for a couple years now trying to solidify their defense corps. In a way, they did the deadline backwards – they acquired the ‘missing pieces’ at forward over the summer with Patrick Kane and Vladimir Tarasenko. Now, they need more substance on the back end. It’s the biggest thing separating them from locking down this playoff spot, which the franchise desperately needs. Little Caesars Arena hasn’t hosted a playoff game – and that used to be a Rite of Spring in Hockeytown.

COLORADO AVALANCHE
Top Objective: More Depth
Ideal Fit: Jean-Gabriel Pageau, New York Islanders
Scoop: That ideal fit might be a bit of a reach, but Pageau reminds me a lot of an Artturi Lehkonen addition from a couple years back. As much as Colorado flies and plays with pace, they also need players who can think their way around the ice, and Pageau might be a better stylistic fit as a 2C or 3C than Casey Mittelstadt. They could ideally also use one more defenseman for the right side, to balance out their pairs, but that’s easier said than done on this market. Expect them to use Gabriel Landeskog’s LTIR money, but it will be hard to find difference makers.

UTAH HOCKEY CLUB
Top Objective: Making the Playoffs
Ideal Fit: Reilly Smith, New York Rangers
Scoop: Don’t sleep on the Utah Hockey Club. They’re finally healthy and they’re just four points out. They have so many picks and prospects that they cannot possibly sign them all with roster limits. They also have cap space. GM Bill Armstrong has been planting seeds all season for a larger acquisition. But if the time isn’t right or that doesn’t materialize, how can he support this young roster? They need more Stanley Cup pedigree, a guy they can learn from, like they have with Mikhail Sergachev and Ian Cole. They don’t have one of those players up front, and they’ve got extra second-round picks to do it, including New York’s own in 2026.

VEGAS GOLDEN KNIGHTS
Top Objective: Secondary Scoring
Ideal Fit: Rickard Rakell, Pittsburgh Penguins
Scoop: If they could squeeze in the longer-term contract, Rakell would be a great fit. If not, what about bringing back one of the original Golden Misfits in Reilly Smith? He was such a big part of two Stanley Cup Final runs. Since Pittsburgh took Smith’s contract on in full from Vegas, he is eligible to be reacquired by the Golden Knights, and they have the cap space to do it without another retainment. One of their second round picks should suffice, too. Who says no to a reunion? You can never rule out Vegas on anything.

EDMONTON OILERS
Top Objective: A True Defender
Ideal Fit: Jamie Oleksiak, Seattle Kraken
Scoop: While Edmonton operates on dual tracks – using Evander Kane’s LTIR money or not – they have gone out and addressed one need by adding Trent Frederic. He brings a different element, lineup flexibility and some size. Their goaltending hasn’t been great, but the Oilers have also been a mess in their own end lately. They need another ‘defender’ in every sense of the word. Carson Soucy is a fit, particularly since he can play both sides, but the Canucks aren’t going to do the Oilers any favors. Oleksiak has size and term.

DALLAS STARS
Top Objective: Right-Side Defenseman
Ideal Fit: Brandon Carlo, Boston Bruins
Scoop: Oof. The Stars have LTIR coin to spend, but there isn’t a clear fit. The truly ideal candidate is a right-shooting defenseman who is a rental – because the real crime here was giving Matt Dumba and Ilya Lyubushkin term last summer. Neither has fit well and they’re in a tough spot. From a stylistic perspective, and even cap perspective, Carlo makes a ton of sense. But it’s the two extra years on his deal that would be really difficult for Dallas to fit. The right defense market as a whole is so thin, which is how they ended up with Cody Ceci.

NEW JERSEY DEVILS
Top Objective: Center Help
Ideal Fit: Casey Mittelstadt, Colorado Avalanche
Scoop: The injury to Jack Hughes (and its severity) looms large over the Devils’ deadline plans. They have been sputtering in recent weeks and suddenly, their playoff spot is in question, with the Blue Jackets and Rangers in a virtual dead heat with games in-hand. Should the Devils still be in the big buyer category? No doubt they want to improve their team. But perhaps it makes more sense to only buy if you can get a younger player with term or team control that fits their continued ascent.

OTTAWA SENATORS
Top Objective: Quality Depth
Ideal Fit: Brandon Tanev, Seattle Kraken
Scoop: The Sens desperately need to make the playoffs – not just for their marketplace to show a solid step forward, but also for their players to get a taste and experience what it’s all about. It’s been a long, arduous build to this point. And they’re so close. But the complicating factor is the Senators don’t have much at all by way of cap space. So if they’re going to be making a big deal, there’s likely going to have to be someone plucked off their roster to go the other way.

MINNESOTA WILD
Top Objective: Center Support
Ideal Fit: Ryan O’Reilly, Nashville Predators
Scoop: Minnesota added winger Gustav Nyquist for a second-round pick over the weekend, but they may be capped out now. They have such little salary cap flexibility that it is now penny-in and penny-out, quite literally. That doesn’t mean they wouldn’t be willing to take a bigger swing and trade someone off their roster. But the health of star Kirill Kaprizov has also put a bit of a damper on the push to really go for it, as they may be a year off from doing that.

FLORIDA PANTHERS
Top Objective: Scoring Winger
Ideal Fit: Kyle Palmieri, New York Islanders
Scoop: Keep an eye on the Cats as they’ve got some Matthew Tkachuk LTIR money still to burn. It’s use-or-lose, not like you get a refund at the end of the year for any unspent cap space. The more difficult part for GM Bill Zito will be finding the proper assets to take a bigger swing. He’s made a lot work with a little in the past couple deadlines, but Spencer Knight was his best trade chip. They’re pretty well set on ‘D’ now with Seth Jones. They could maybe use another scoring winger (last year it was Vladimir Tarasenko).

WASHINGTON CAPITALS
Top Objective: Third Line Center
Ideal Fit: Scott Laughton, Philadelphia Flyers
Scoop: For weeks now, we’ve heard rumblings that the Capitals might just as well sit back at the deadline. In 2018, their ‘big’ deadline add was defenseman Michal Kempny for a third-round pick, and they ended up winning their first Stanley Cup in franchise history that spring. It’s a reminder that more often than not, the team that makes the big sexy addition doesn’t end up with the prize. Washington could shock us all with a big splash, but that would be quite a surprise, as Boston College’s Ryan Leonard could be their most sizable addition.

COLUMBUS BLUE JACKETS
Top Objective: Reward for the Boys
Ideal Fit: Jason Zucker, Buffalo Sabres
Scoop: GM Don Waddell has been in pro hockey for more than 40 years and he said Wednesday that this is “by far” the most proud he’s ever been of any one team, the way the Blue Jackets have bonded through tragedy, injury and talent disparity to defy the odds. They’re here. They’re squarely in the playoff hunt. Now, how will he reward them? They’ve earned the right. They could use a boost at a few different positions, but will have to be judicious in terms of how they spend future assets for rental pieces that may not be long-term fits.

CAROLINA HURRICANES
Top Objective: Goalie Depth?
Ideal Fit: Dan Vladar, Calgary Flames
Scoop: No team in the NHL has less cap space than the Hurricanes, who already made their big move on Jan. 24 in bringing in Mikko Rantanen. Will they flip him? The odds are against that, as they may just roll the dice and see if they can convince him with a deep playoff run. Everyone probably feels a little uncomfortable about Freddie Andersen’s injury history, but the goalie market isn’t great, the Canes don’t have any cap space, and they historically don’t believe in paying goalies. They keep their eye on everything, though.

CALGARY FLAMES
Top Objective: Goals!
Ideal Fit: Dylan Cozens, Buffalo Sabres
Scoop: Dustin Wolf should win the Calder Trophy based on the lack of run support in front of him. Only the Predators have scored fewer goals – and the Sharks and Blackhawks are 23 and 24 points behind the Flames. They need goals. Expect GM Craig Conroy to be watching the market closely in the final hours. If there is an easy, low-cost solution that the Flames can bring in to support their playoff bid, expect him to spend a mid-to-late round pick or so to do it. They’ve earned it.

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Get ready, hockey fans! The Daily Faceoff Deadline is happening on March 7th from 11 AM to 4 PM Eastern, and you won’t want to miss it. We’ll be LIVE, breaking down every trade and big move as it happens, with instant reactions and expert analysis from the Daily Faceoff crew. Plus, we’ve got special guests lined up throughout the show, offering exclusive insights from some of the biggest names in the game. From blockbuster trades to surprise moves, we’re covering it all. Tune in to the Daily Faceoff YouTube channel and follow Daily Faceoff socials on March 7th to catch all the action!

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Recently by Frank Seravalli