It was an active trade deadline this season. Even in the weeks leading to the 4 Nations Face-off, general managers were busy improving their rosters. Now that the dust has settled, which teams used the trade deadline best to bolster their Stanley Cup chances?
Tampa Bay Lightning
The Lightning were one of the hottest teams in the NHL heading into the trade deadline, and they should only get better after adding Yanni Gourde and Oliver Bjorkstrand. Now, with Gourde and Bjorkstrand, their forward depth should be much improved, and head coach Jon Cooper should be able to spread the wealth better among his top nine.
One area where the Lightning have struggled this season is at five-on-five. They have an expected goals share (xG%) of 49.8 percent and are at just a 43.38 xG% over their last ten games. They’ve been getting by with elite finishing and goaltending, but they need to improve at five-on-five come playoff time.
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That’s why adding Gourde and Bjorkstrand should help. Bjorkstand has pushed Nick Paul down to the third line alongside Gourde and Gage Goncalves. Not only does that improve the Lightning’s second line, but Bjorkstrand pushing Paul down a line improves the team’s depth. The Lightning were generally giving their top two lines around 20 minutes a night before the trade deadline, but they should be better balanced down the stretch run.
The Lightning were already getting elite performances from their core players. Nikita Kucherov is Nikita Kucherov, Andrei Vasilevsky is a Vezina contender again, and Jake Guentzel has been the perfect replacement for Steven Stamkos. If their depth is truly improved, they should be a hard out come playoff time.
Colorado Avalanche
It’s been a busy season trade-wise for the Avalanche. They revamped their goaltending situation before the trade deadline by swapping out Justus Annunen and Alexandar Georgiev for Mackenzie Blackwood and Scott Wedgewood in separate trades. They then shocked the world by trading Mikko Rantanen to the Carolina Hurricanes for Martin Necas, Jack Drury, and a couple of draft picks.
All of this occurred months before the deadline, but their work didn’t stop there. General manager Chris MacFarland had a busy deadline, acquiring Ryan Lindgren, Jimmy Vesey, Brock Nelson and Charlie Coyle. Nelson and Coyle are the two most notable additions for the Avalanche. Nathan MacKinnon is elite, but their center depth was lacking.
Nelson should help the Avalanche the most from their deadline moves. He’s a well-rounded two-way center who skates well and has an above-average shot. Coyle wasn’t having the best season with the Boston Bruins, but it wouldn’t shock me if he finds more success with the Avalanche in a third-line role.
I don’t love the Lindgren addition for the Avalanche. He probably hurts their defense more than he helps it, even if he’s playing a lesser role than he did with the New York Rangers. Still, this Avalanche team has all the goods to make a deep run in the West, even though they may be on a collision course with the Dallas Stars in Round 1 of the playoffs.
Dallas Stars
Speaking of the Stars, their busy deadline also has them positioned to make a deep playoff run. It started with acquiring Mikael Granlund and Cody Ceci ahead of the 4 Nations Face-off. Granlund was having an excellent season with the San Jose Sharks and has played well for the Stars, totaling nine points in 13 games since the trade.
GM Jim Nill could have called it a day with the Granlund and Ceci trade, but you can’t pass an opportunity to acquire a player like Rantanen when the opportunity arises. When it became clear the Hurricanes were ready to flip Rantanen because he wouldn’t sign an extension in Raleigh, the Stars pounced and acquired him in a sign-and-trade that included an eight-year extension.
Rantanen’s brief time in Carolina did not go well, but he’s one of the best wingers in the NHL. The Stars are starting him out on a line with Jason Robertson and Roope Hintz. If that works, imagine the problems it’ll cause for opponents trying to defend them. Overall, the Stars have a loaded top nine, and Rantanen makes it that much more threatening.
The one worry I have with the Stars is the right side of their blue line. They’re icing a right side of Ilya Lyubushkin, Ceci and Matt Dumba. It will get better once Miro Heiskanen returns from his injury and fills out the top pair alongside Thomas Harley, but even then, two of Ceci, Lyubushkin and Dumba will continue to play. That might be a concern in a first-round matchup with the Avalanche, but they can win the West if they get past that.
Toronto Maple Leafs
Maple Leafs GM Brad Treliving didn’t have a flashy trade deadline, but he did help round out the team’s edges. I don’t love giving up a first-round pick and prospect for Scott Laughton. That is an overpay for what he is, but he should still help the Maple Leafs’ forward depth. Just because they overpaid for him doesn’t mean he’s a bad player and won’t help.
Treliving also paid a high price to acquire Brandon Carlo from the Boston Bruins, sending top prospect Fraser Minten and a conditional 2026 first-round pick to the Bruins. Carlo is a solid defensive defenseman who can play top-four minutes, and he is under contract through 2026-27 at a cap hit of $3.485 million, so the high price is more understandable than Laughton, even though both have term.
You can argue whether Treliving overpaid or not to make the Maple Leafs better, but the bottom line is they should be better after adding Carlo and Laughton. Getting out of the first round continues to hang over the franchise, and they are on a collision course for a first-round matchup with the Lightning. If they can get past the Lightning, they can make a run in the Eastern Conference.
Florida Panthers
GM Bill Zito doesn’t mess around on the trade market. The Seth Jones trade could age poorly in the years to come. But he should help in the immediate future, especially since Aaron Ekblad received a 20-game suspension for using performance-enhancing drugs. The Panthers seem like a good fit for Jones, and they should know how to get the best out of him by playing to his strengths.
Brad Marchand is week-to-week with an injury, but he will only make the Panthers more annoying to play against. Imagine their roster with Marchand, Matthew Tkachuk and Sam Bennett when everyone is healthy. That’s a lot of pests to cause havoc during the playoffs. They also improved their bottom-six depth by adding Nico Sturm, one of the more underrated fourth-line centers in the NHL.
The Panthers are defending champs for a reason, and they look well-positioned to defend their title come playoff time. I am concerned about their goaltending situation since Sergei Bobrovsky has struggled this season and they traded Spencer Knight in the Jones trade. The hope is Bobrovsky turns it on in the playoffs as he always does, but if he doesn’t, they may be in trouble because Vitek Vaněček has struggled mightily in the postseason.
NHL Playoffs Should Be Thrilling
The Stars might be best positioned to make a run since they acquired the best player available at this trade deadline. But they’ll have competition from the Avalanche, who have also loaded up. In the East, it looks like the Atlantic Division will beat each other up in the first two rounds. Regardless, it should make for some exciting hockey to close out 2024-25.
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