NHL Trade Deadline Deal Tracker – With Instant Analysis

We’ve finally made it to March 8 and the NHL Trade Deadline, but it sure feels like all the big deals have already been made.

So far, the Colorado Avalanche have made four trades in a span of just two days. Are they done? And who is even left to be traded out there? On Thursday night, Jake Guentzel went to Carolina (we’ll get to that), taking the biggest trade piece off the board, but there’s still some pieces out there. A goalie hasn’t been moved yet. That has to happen today, right?

When trades start happening, we’ll continue to update this page so you can keep track of everything happening around the NHL and with the Colorado Avalanche. If the Avalanche do even more, we’ll have separate pieces on those.

Welcome to the NHL Trade Deadline Deal Tracker.

Trades

• Tampa Bay Lightning Acquire Anthony Duclair and a 7th Round Pick in 2025 from the San Jose Sharks for D Jack Thompson and a 2024 3rd Round Pick

Duclair was mentioned a few times for the Avalanche by some, but I just didn’t see the fit with the wingers that they have. Turns out, they were just looking for some bigger bodies up front. This is a savvy deal for the Lightning, though. Duclair isn’t having his best season, but he’s still got 16 goals and brings some speed to their lineup. He went to the Stanley Cup Final just a year ago, so he’s got experience and knows what it takes to go on a run. It’s all Kucherov in Tampa Bay, so they need some depth scoring. For the price, that’s a solid pickup.

• Pittsburgh Penguins trade Jake Guentzel and Ty Smith to the Carolina Hurricanes for Michael Bunting, forward prospects Vasily Ponomarev and Ville Koivunen, the rights to forward Cruz Lucius, a conditional 1st-round pick in the 2024 NHL Draft and a conditional 5th-round pick in the 2024 NHL Draft.

I, like everyone else, had the same thought – that’s it?!? Bunting hasn’t come close to recreating what he did in 2021-22 in Toronto, but the Penguins wanted someone that can help in the immediate. I’m sure Sidney Crosby can bank some pucks off him and into the net, but the sad part is that Bunting might be the best piece in the trade. The prospects the Penguins got aren’t any of Carolina’s top prospects, and the 1st round pick is only a 1st rounder if Carolina makes it to the Stanley Cup Final. There’s just no guarantee that happens, and if they do, it’s a late pick either way. On the flip side, this is a slam-dunk deal for Carolina, who were in desperate need of a scorer. I’ve picked them to go to the Final quite a few times over the last four years, but held off this year. Maybe they do finally get it done? They gave up nothing from their roster and added a point-per-game player. Guetnzel with Aho should be fun.

• Washington Capitals trade Evgeny Kuznetsov (50% retained) to the Carolina Hurricanes for a 2025 3rd round pick.

Genuinely surprised that Washington got out of half of this deal. Kuznetsov is a shell of what he once was, but I guess Carolina is hoping that they can get lucky here. For my money, Kuznetsov SHOULD have won the Conn Smythe back in 2018, but that was a long time ago. He’s not that player anymore. Really interested to see how long until Rod Brind’Amour snaps from dealing with Kuznetsov’s unwillingness to play in all three zones.

• New Jersey Devils trade Tyler Toffoli to the Winnipeg Jets for a 3rd round pick in 2024 and a 2nd round pick in 2025.

That’s another good player to Winnipeg without a roster player being given up. Toffoli was arguably the best player left to be moved before the NHL Trade Deadline, as he’s got 26 goals on the year already. He’s been a pretty consistent goal scorer his entire career but can’t seem to find a home, for whatever reason. Winnipeg can defend, and a move like this will only make them more difficult to eliminate.

• Buffalo Sabres trade Kyle Okposo to the Florida Panthers for a Conditional 7th Round pick in 2024 and Calle Sjalin

Uh, sure. Depth never hurts, and he’s a solid veteran. Not sure how much more he has left in the tank, but he’s a nice leader to have around your room.

• Arizona Coyotes trade Jason Zucker to the Nashville Predators for a 2026 6th round pick

This seems awfully cheap, but the Coyotes aren’t retaining anything, and Zucker’s game has slipped a bit this season. Still, if you’re Nashville, it sends a message to your players that you still do care about winning, even after trading away Yakov Trenin.

• Boston Bruins acquire Pat Maroon for a conditional 2026 6th round pick

Pat Maroon and Jack Edwards in the same building. That should be fun.

• Philadelphia Flyers acquire Erik Johnson for a 2024 4th round pick

I guess this is the Flyers way of adding a defenseman to replace Sean Walker and show that they still want to make the playoffs this year. Johnson simply isn’t that good anymore, but I’m guessing John Tortorella will love him and how he’ll put his body on the line. We know he’ll be a popular guy in that locker room.

• New Jersey Devils acquire Jake Allen (50% retained) for a conditional 3rd round pick

The Devils simply need a goaltender, and the Jacob Markstrom move wasn’t going to happen before the NHL Trade Deadline. This gives them one for the rest of the year, and with the Canadiens retaining 50%, he can still be their backup next year if they go out and get Markstrom this summer. Not sure it’s going to put them over the edge to make a playoff run, but they had to do something.

• Vegas acquires Tomas Hertl (17% retained) and two 3rd round picks for a 2025 1st round pick and David Edstrom

I’m sorry, what?!?!?!?

Holy cow. Vegas just doesn’t know when to stop. Hertl hasn’t quite been the same player he once was, and he’s 31, so he’s starting to get a little old, but this is still a massive move, and a big surprise. From San Jose’s end, I love David Edstrom. I really do. I wanted the Avalanche to draft him, so I think the Sharks got a good one there. Another 1st is fine, but it’ll be late.

As for the retention, Hertl is signed for a long time. Those aren’t easy contracts to get rid of, and the Sharks are going to be really bad for a while, so I guess they just don’t care.

The West is just going to be a nightmare to get through.

• Tampa Bay acquires Matt Dumba and a 7th round pick from Arizona for a 5th round pick

Remember when Arizona was asking for a 1st rounder for Dumba? Yeah….

• New Jersey trades Vitek Vanecek to San Jose for Kaapo Kahkonen

Not one, but two new goalies for New Jersey, and I actually like Kahkonen more than Allen, so I like this for them.

As for San Jose…why? Wouldn’t you just want a draft pick? I get you have to ice a team, but this one doesn’t make a ton of sense to me.