The NHL has seen a sellers’ market at the NHL Trade Deadline for at least the past few years, including this past year. The sellers’ market extended well into the draft and summer, as teams paid astronomical prices for top NHL-ready talent.
The deadline is still over five months away, and there’s plenty of hockey to be played, but could this season have more sellers than in years past? Only time will tell, but given some teams’ slow starts, the NHL could see more sellers than in some years, which would be good news for buyers.
Every year, some teams enter the deadline focused on the future, hoping to move pending unrestricted free agents and other veterans in exchange for future assets. Some teams that might otherwise be sellers instead try to remain competitive, even as their playoff chances fade.
This season, with so many teams starting so poorly, it will be interesting to see whether some teams punt on their season earlier than in years past, hoping to beat the sellers’ market and move their assets before the market gets flooded with talent. Perhaps this is the thinking in Pittsburgh, where general manager Kyle Dubas and Penguins management are reportedly looking to move talent to make room for their young prospects.
If the Penguins do become sellers, which is very possible given their struggles so far, they will have many chips to play. Defenseman Erik Karlsson is a pending UFA, as are superstar forwards Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin.
Of the three, Karlsson is the only one likely to move, but the Penguins also have Samuel Girard, Justin Brazeau, and Andrei Kuzmenko, whom they could move for future considerations, as well as veterans Bryan Rust and Rickard Rakell, both on bargain-bin contracts.
Outside Pittsburgh and across the state, the Philadelphia Flyers have also started the year terribly and are already well behind in the Metropolitan Division. The Flyers were hoping to take a step this year, but they didn’t get their first win until their 10th game.
The Flyers don’t have many UFAs next summer, but defensemen Simon Benoit and Rasmus Ristolainen would presumably be available if Philadelphia punted this season and looked to the future. The Flyers likely don’t have many other NHL-level players they’d want to move this season, but given how rocky the start has been, anything seems possible.
Out West, the first few weeks of the new season have been a disaster for the Los Angeles Kings, who are 1-4-2 through seven games and have been outscored 27-17. The Kings are the NHL’s oldest team, with an average age of 31.2, and they have looked it to start the year.
NHL veterans generally start slower than younger players, and with a short NHL training camp, the Kings could turn things around and find their game. The Kings have a ton of veteran free agents next summer, headlined by Drew Doughty.
Los Angeles’ netminding duo of Anton Forsberg and Darcy Kuemper are both free agents in July 2027, as are veteran forwards Mats Zuccarello, Corey Perry, and Joel Armia.
Staying out West, the Calgary Flames were expected to be bad this year, and they have lived up to the billing, winning just one of their first seven games and looking very poor in the process. Calgary doesn’t have any high-end pending UFAs, though Morgan Frost should be a popular name if he hits the market, while Ryan Strome might draw lukewarm interest depending on how he plays over the next few months.
Calgary seems destined for a difficult season, with or without their veterans, which could leave the door open for the Flames to move players with term left on their contracts if the deal makes sense.
Sticking with Canadian teams, the Vancouver Canucks could quickly shift into sell mode at some point this fall. The Canucks have an awful pile of veteran talent on pricey long-term deals, and with no real contention in sight, they would probably like to move some of them.
This isn’t a big revelation; Vancouver has been a bad team for well over a year, but it’s hard to gauge how far down the Canucks are willing to tear their roster. Pittsburgh and Philadelphia face a similar issue: they have veterans they won’t move, but Vancouver has few untouchables outside its young, up-and-coming core.
As in any other season, pending free agents will likely drive the market. Of the teams listed above, Pittsburgh has the most intriguing free-agent list, though some of them have little chance of being moved.
This list of teams is not exhaustive, and Chicago, St. Louis, Seattle, and others will likely join to round out the sellers. Teams in the market to sell have to weigh whether they can compete next season as they look to offload veterans.
For Pittsburgh, Vancouver, and Calgary, it’s hard to say they can compete, which could make them the market’s sellers.
One or more of the teams listed could go on a run and exit the selling side of the market, so there’s no guarantee of a buyer’s market for trades. The standings could tighten up, and more teams could find themselves in the playoff hunt, even if they didn’t expect to be.
Asking prices could also be too high, or teams might not see the need to spend lavishly at the deadline.
It’s too early to say for sure whether buyers or sellers will have the upper hand heading into the NHL Trade Deadline, but one thing is for sure: a lot of teams aren’t happy with how the season has started, and those teams will be looking high and low for ways to improve, including in the trade market.