NHL trade deadline: Grading every deal completed this trade season

New York Times

03-03-2025

NHL trade season is well underway. There have been significant trades going back to the fall but the 'trade season' really kicked off in a big way in late January when the Colorado Avalanche shocked the hockey world by trading Mikko Rantanen to the Carolina Hurricanes.
We've been dishing out Trade Grades analysis ever since. Here they all are so far with many more to come this week ahead of the 3 p.m. ET deadline on March 7.
Florida Panthers get: D Seth Jones (Blackhawks retain $2.5 million of Jones' $9.5 million contract per season).
Chicago Blackhawks get: G Spencer Knight, 2027 first-round pick
This could easily be a win-win for both sides.
This had the potential to drag out into an awkward, ugly saga. Instead, the Blackhawks found a swift solution and got a couple of intriguing pieces.
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Spencer Knight is enjoying a breakout season. Landing a first-round pick on top of Knight is impressive work for the Blackhawks.
However, the Panthers desperately needed more help on the blue line. Their bottom-four defense has looked compromised without Brandon Montour and Oliver Ekman-Larsson. Jones is a polarizing player, but most of that is because he was miscast and paid to be an elite No.1 defenseman on an awful team.
Blackhawks grade: C
Panthers grade: B
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Minnesota Wild get: F Gustav Nyquist
Nashville Predators get: 2026 second-round draft pick
Will playing for a better Wild team unlock the Gustav Nyquist of old? Or, at least, the Nyquist of last season?
Minnesota can only hope so. But if this really is the year that the Wild break out of the mushy middle and win a playoff series for the first time in a decade, they're going to need more than just a third-line depth scorer.
Wild grade: B
Predators trade: A-
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Colorado Avalanche get: Ryan Lindgren, Jimmy Vesey, prospect Hank Kempf
New York Rangers get: Juuso Parssinen, Calvin de Haan, 2025 second-round draft pick, 2025 fourth-round draft pick
Rangers retain 50 percent of Lindgren's salary.
This trade threads the needle for both the Rangers and Avalanche, just in different ways.
The Rangers could have kept battling it out in the Eastern Conference playoff race and bet on their goaltender to drag them into Round 1. But maybe the Adam Fox injury was the final straw that persuaded management to take a step back and start loading up for next year.
While there is some risk to Lindgren's game, between his on-ice decline and durability (thanks to his playing style), the Avalanche should be able to maximize him better. At 50 percent retention, he should be an upgrade over Calvin de Haan, because he can step up into a bigger workload if needed.
Rangers grade: B+
Avalanche grade: B
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Hurricanes get: RW Mikko Rantanen, LW Taylor Hall.
Avalanche get: RW Martin Necas, C Jack Drury, second-round draft pick in 2025, fourth-round draft pick in 2026.
Blackhawks get: Third-round draft pick in 2025. Chicago retains 50 percent of Rantanen's salary
The Avalanche give up the best player in the deal, and traditional reasoning in the NHL is that means they lose the trade. But the reality is there had been rumors all season they weren't going to meet Rantanen's asking price — said to be Leon Draisaitl-ish — and it made no sense to walk him to UFA status in July. But this one will sting, big time, on the ice, as Rantanen was one of their heart-and-soul leaders, an all-situations superstar playing the second-highest minutes for a forward in the league.
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Necas has had a nice offensive breakthrough this year, but he's not the all-around player Rantanen is and there remains some debate about how high the 26-year-old's ceiling really is given his limitations.
Hurricanes grade: A
Avalanche grade: B-
Blackhawks grade: C
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Dallas Stars get: F Mikael Granlund, D Cody Ceci.
San Jose Sharks get: 2025 first-round pick, 2025 fourth-round pick (becomes third-round pick if Dallas makes Stanley Cup Final).
If the Stars get the Granlund who has thrived on a bad Sharks team with a scoring resurgence, they are adding someone who can help retrieve puck from his own zone and transition the puck up the ice. Last year, his passing was up in San Jose and this season he seems to be emphasizing his shot volume more. Dallas may need some depth to navigate the Miro Heiskanen injury, but Ceci isn't the answer. He is a one-dimensional defensive defenseman who tends to play in roles that are above his head.
Getting a first-rounder in return is a great bit of business for the Sharks, especially without any salary retention.
Stars grade: C+
Sharks grade: A-
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Vancouver Canucks get: D Marcus Pettersson, F Drew O'Connor.
Pittsburgh Penguins get: F Danton Heinen, D Vincent Desharnais, F Melvin Fernström, 2025 first-round pick (via New York Rangers, top-13 protected).
After it looked like Vancouver was set to take a step back by sort of punting with the J.T. Miller trade, it flipped the Rangers' first-rounder and picked up exactly what the team needed: another top-four defender who can play significant minutes and take some of the pressure off Quinn Hughes.
O'Connor, meanwhile, has been mired in a season-long slump and brings at least some potential to offer physicality and depth scoring off the wing after he had 16 goals and 33 points last season.
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It's obviously a lot for the Canucks to pay for two rentals, but their need on D was so glaring that it threatened their season, even with all the focus on the Miller drama.
Canucks grade: B
Penguins grade: B+
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New York Rangers get: F J.T. Miller, D Erik Brännström, D Jackson Dorrington.
Vancouver Canucks get: F Filip Chytil, D Victor Mancini, 2025 first-round pick (top-13 protected).
A high-risk, high-reward trade for both sides.
For the Rangers, this comes down to what version of Miller they're going to get. Miller has been an excellent player for the Canucks through six seasons, but he's alternated between two different versions of himself. The upside for New York is that it didn't give up a lot and that Miller could give them a home run-like jolt if he regains last season's form.
For the Canucks, this is an underwhelming return on paper for a player of Miller's stature.
Rangers grade: C
Canucks grade: C+
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Calgary Flames get: F Joel Farabee, F Morgan Frost.
Philadelphia Flyers get: F Andrei Kuzmenko, F Jakob Pelletier, 2025 second-round draft pick, 2028 seventh-round pick.
The Flames, wild-card spot aside, are an abysmal offensive team, enough for Morgan Frost and Joel Farabee to represent upgrades. These aren't world-beaters. They're not going to make the Flames good. Better, maybe, but not good.
Kuzmenko is a creative, skilled player. He's had offensive success in the past, most notably the 39 goals he scored with the Vancouver Canucks in 2022-23, but that was a flash in the pan, given that he scored on an outrageous 27.3 percent of his shots playing next to Pettersson. Kuzmenko's defensive habits are poor, and he's a very slow forechecker.
Flames grade: B+
Flyers grade: C
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(Photo of Seth Jones: Michael Reaves / Getty Images)