The NHL Trade Deadline has come and gone following a flurry of activity leading up to the 3 p.m. ET deadline Friday. On deadline day alone, there were 24 trades involving 47 players, including top-level stars such as Mikko Rantanen – plus numerous draft picks.
Those numbers don’t include the deals made in the days before Friday’s deadline, which saw big names like Brock Nelson and Seth Jones change teams since the start of March.
Here are 10 of the biggest deals at the deadline and the five preceding days.
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1. Carolina Hurricanes trade RW Mikko Rantanen to Dallas Stars for C Logan Stankoven, a conditional first-round pick in the 2026 NHL Draft, a conditional first-round pick in the 2028 draft, a third-round pick in the 2026 draft and a third-round pick in the 2027 draft (Dallas then signed Rantanen to an eight-year, $96 million contract)
Call this one an effort by the Hurricanes to make the best of a bad situation.
The ’Canes swung for the fences on Jan. 24, acquiring Rantanen from the Colorado Avalanche and Taylor Hall from the Chicago Blackhawks while sending forwards Martin Necas and Jack Drury to the Avalanche. Rantanen, who was eligible to become an unrestricted free agent on July 1, was a 100-point scorer in each of the past two seasons with the Avs, but he managed just two goals and six points in 13 games with the Hurricanes.
When Rantanen wouldn’t commit to re-signing with the Hurricanes before the deadline, GM Eric Tulsky unloaded him, bringing back four draft picks, including two first-rounders (both top-10 protected, and Stankoven. The smallish (5-foot-8, 165-pound) 22-year-old center had 29 points (nine goals, 20 assists) in 59 games with Dallas this season. He should eventually wind up in the top six.
Rantanen quickly committed to Dallas for the long term, signing an eight-year contract with an average annual value of $12 million.
Tulsky has no regrets about trading for Rantanen only to deal him six weeks later.
“Our organization is characterized by an aggressive approach. Being aggressive means taking some risks. It means taking some chances,” he said. “If the team was already winning [Stanley] Cup after Cup after Cup, maybe that would be a time to be conservative, but we haven’t gotten to where we want to be yet. Ultimately, that means you’re taking some risks.”
2. New York Islanders trade center Brock Nelson and forward William Dufour to the Colorado Avalanche for forward Calum Ritchie, defenseman Oliver Kylington, a first-round pick in the 2026 or 2027 NHL Draft and a third-round pick in 2028 (the Islanders then traded Kylington to the Anaheim Ducks for future considerations)
Lou Lamoriello had just joined the Islanders in 2018 when star center John Tavares signed with the Toronto Maple Leafs as a free agent after former GM Garth Snow had opted not to trade him at the deadline. Lamoriello wasn’t going to allow the same thing to happen with Nelson, a 12-year veteran who can be a free agent on July 1 and wouldn’t commit to a new deal.
With his team’s playoff hopes largely gone, Lamoriello pulled the trigger Thursday and swapped Nelson to the Avs, who have been looking for a No. 2 center since Nazem Kadri left as a free agent three years ago. Nelson didn’t come cheap – Colorado send Ritchie, its 2023 first-round pick, along with a future first-rounder and Kylington, a spare-part defenseman who was quickly traded to Anaheim.
This is the kind of trade that should help both teams. Colorado needed help now and got the best center available in Nelson. The Islanders desperately need young talent and got the Avs’ top prospect and a future first-round pick.
3-4-5. Boston Bruins trade forward Brad Marchand to the Florida Panthers for a conditional second-round pick in the 2027 draft; trade center Charlie Coyle and a fifth-round pick in the 2026 draft to the Colorado Avalanche for center Casey Mittelstadt, forward William Zellers and a second-round pick in 2025; trade defenseman Brandon Carlo to Toronto for C Fraser Minten, Philadelphia’s fourth-round pick in the 2025 draft (previously acquired by Toronto) and Toronto’s first-round pick in 2026 (top-5 protected)
The Bruins, like the Islanders, appear to be giving up on the playoffs this season and spent Friday trading away key veterans for youth and draft picks.
The stunner was the deal that sent Marchand, their captain, to the defending Stanley Cup champs for a second-round pick in 2027 that will become a 2027 or 2028 first-round pick if Florida wins two rounds of the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs and Marchand appears in at least 50 percent of his new team’s playoff games. The 36-year-old, who can become a free agent this summer, has spent his entire NHL career (1,090 games) with the Bruins and helped them win the Cup in 2011. He has 976 points (422 goals, 554 assists) in 16 seasons. He will help compensate for the loss of Matthew Tkachuk, who’s out for the regular season with a groin injury sustained in the 4 Nations Face-Off.
Marchand, one of the most famous agitators in NHL history, is out week-to-week with an upper-body injury sustained against the Pittsburgh Penguins, but assuming he’s ready to go for the playoffs, Florida has helped its chances for a repeat.
The Bruins got younger by dealing Coyle, a 33-year-old Boston native, to the going-for-it Avalanche, bringing back Mittelstadt, a 26-year old who was acquired by the Avalanche at the deadline last year but never produced the way the Avs had expected.
Carlo, a 28-year-old defensive defenseman who’s played all 617 games of his NHL career with Boston and could end up partnered with Morgan Reilly, brought back a future first-rounder plus Minten, a 20-year-old who had two goals and four points in 15 games with Toronto this season but was regarded as one of the Leafs’ top prospects.
Despite trading away three key cogs, including his captain, GM Don Sweeney wouldn’t concede that he’s rebuilding.
“We didn’t burn it down,” he said. “You have to have a little bit of a step back at times. Did we know this morning that we’d end up making all of these moves? No. But we were prepared if the things that we liked were presented.”
But rebuild or not, it’s a new day in Boston, where more than a decade of Stanley Cup contention is over.
6. Chicago Blackhawks trade defenseman Seth Jones and a fourth-round pick in the 2026 draft to the Florida Panthers for goalie Spencer Knight and a conditional first-round pick in the 2026 draft
Jones had expressed his unhappiness playing with a rebuilding franchise, so on March 1 the Hawks found a trade partner in Florida to take most of the final five seasons of his eight-year, $9.5 million AAV contract (Chicago will retain 26 percent).
“Seth is an elite veteran defenseman and a proven leader in our league,” Panthers GM Bill Zito said. “He has been one of the most consistent players of the past decade serving as a reliable workhorse on both sides of the puck, and he will help our club continue to compete at the highest level.”
Adding Jones, a righty-shooting defenseman who averaged more than 24 minutes a night in Chicago, came at the cost of dealing Knight, a 23-year-old who had been regarded as the Panthers’ goalie of the future — but it didn’t happen.
However, Knight won’t be stuck behind multiple Vezina Trophy winner Sergei Bobrovsky. He showed what he’s capable of in his first game with the Hawks, making 41 saves in a 5-1 victory against the Los Angeles Kings. Knight will be a restricted free agent after next season and should be Chicago’s No. 1 goalie by then, especially after the Hawks traded veteran Petr Mrazek to the Red Wings on Friday.
7. Buffalo Sabres trade center Dylan Cozens, defenseman Dennis Gilbert and a second-round pick in the 2026 draft to the Ottawa Senators for center Josh Norris and defenseman Jacob Bernard-Docker. Senators trade center Zach Ostapchuk, winger Noah Gregor and a second-round pick in the 2025 draft for forward Fabian Zetterlund, defenseman Tristan Robins and a fourth-round pick in 2025
It’s unusual for division rivals to make a deal involving two 24-year-old talents like these, let alone to do so a few hours before the deadline.
No one disputes Norris’ talent. He scored 20 goals in 53 games with the Senators and had a career-high 35 goals in 66 games in 2021-22, after which he signed an eight-year contract with an AAV of $7.95 million. His problem has been staying on the ice. Norris missed all but eight games in 2022-23 and was limited to 50 games last season. He’s been healthier this season, and when he’s able to play, he’s a fine two-way center who can score.
Many of his now-former teammates, including a tearful captain Brady Tkachuk, expressed disappointment at seeing Norris traded. But GM Steve Staios, whose team enters Saturday’s home game against the New York Rangers in the second wild-card spot in the East, is delighted.
“We feel like we’re a stronger team today,” Staios said. “You know, we’ve balanced out the roster.”
Cozens, selected by the Sabres with the No. 7 pick in the 2019 draft, got a big contract after scoring 31 goals in 2022-23, but hasn’t scored at anywhere near that pace since then. He has 31 points (11 goals, 20 assists) in 61 games this season. At 6-foot-3 and 207 pounds, he adds size to a relatively team group. So does Gilbert, a 6-foot-2, 216-pound defenseman who has five assists in 25 games.
Zetterlund will add depth scoring after putting up 36 points (17 goals, 19 assists) in 64 games for the Sharks. More impressive might be that he’s plus-8 on the NHL’s last-place team.
“Do I feel like we’re a harder team to play against now?” Staios said. “Yeah, I do.”
8. Seattle Kraken trade forwards Oliver Bjorkstrand and Yanni Gourde, defenseman Kyle Aucoin, and a fifth-round pick in the 2026 draft to the Tampa Bay Lightning for forward Michael Eyssimont, a second-round pick in the 2025 draft, a conditional first-round pick in 2026 and a conditional first-round pick in the 2027 draft (the Lightning sent a conditional fourth-round pick in the 2025 draft to the Detroit Red Wings for retaining 50 percent of Gourde’s contract)
The Lightning, winners of 10 of their past 11 games, have never been reluctant to deal draft picks, even first-rounders, in their quest for the Stanley Cup. That’s what they did Wednesday to bring back Gourde, who played an important role in Tampa Bay’s back-to-back championships in 2020 and 2021, and add Bjorkstrand, who should help balance the offense on one of the NHL’s most top-heavy teams.
“We’re adding two players that can play significant minutes for us,” Lightning GM Julien BriseBois said. “Two players that are highly competitive, have had postseason success in the past and have elevated their game when it matters most. They are skilled, they play 200-foot games and they can be used in all sorts of situations.”
Gourde figures to slot into a fourth-line role and kill penalties. Bjorkstrand is likely to see third-line minutes and time on the second power-play unit.
The Kraken, who are all but assured of missing the playoffs for the third time in four seasons since joining the NHL in 2021-22, were happy to add significant future draft capital while creating opportunities for younger players.
“Given the date and given our season to date and where we’re at in the standings with the Deadline coming, there was some anticipation about potential trades and players in contract situations,” Kraken coach Dan Bylsma said. “I think the draft capital that (GM) Ron (Francis) was able to get in return — two firsts and a second — was a substantial thing for the future.”
9. San Jose Sharks trade defenseman Jake Walman to the Edmonton Oilers for a conditional first-round pick in the 2026 draft and forward Carl Berglund
The Oilers were wearing their top-four defensemen to a nub, so they were more than willing to send a first-rounder next year and Berglund, a minor-league forward, to the Sharks for Walman, who adds depth to Edmonton’s blue line after being one of the big surprises this season with San Jose.
The Sharks acquired Walman last summer from the Red Wings in a salary dump. The 29-year-old, given the most playing time of his career, has a career-high 32 points (six goals, 26 assists) in 50 games this season — attracting the Oilers, who are trying to get back to the Stanley Cup Final after losing to Florida in Game 7 last June.
San Jose GM Mike Grier basically turned a free player into a first-round pick – and he got the Oilers to play all of Walman’s remaining contract; Walman is the second-year of a three-year, $10.2 million deal that carries an AAV of $3.4 million. The Sharks now have six picks in the first four rounds of this year’s draft as well as four within the first two rounds in 2026.
10. Philadelphia Flyers traded center Scott Laughton, a fourth-round pick in the 2025 draft and a sixth-round pick in the 2027 draft to the Toronto Maple Leafs for a first-round pick in the 2026 draft and forward Nikita Grebenkin
Laughton, a native of nearby Oakville, Ontario, is thrilled to be coming home – and the Leafs are happy to have him. The 30-year-old figures to slot in as the No. 3 center on a team that’s embroiled in a three-way race for first place in the Atlantic Division with the Lightning and Panthers.
“He was emotional talking about coming home playing for the Leafs,” Toronto GM Brad Treliving said. “That was a really important chapter in his life in Philly, but he’s excited to start one here.”
Getting Laughton, as well as bringing in Carlo from the Bruins, show the Leafs are in win-now mode with their core in its prime. He’s a reliable, two-way center who can be trusted to play in all situations
Philadelphia is more concerned about the future after bobbing around the .500 mark for most of the season. Getting a 2026 first-rounder adds to the Flyers’ building plans. The Flyers have three first-round picks and four second-rounders in this year’s draft. By adding another 2026 first-round pick, they’ll have multiple first-rounders in consecutive years.