Three Things To Look Out For During NHL Trade Deadline Week

For a few reasons, it’s going to be a notable week ahead in the NHL. Not only are we down to the final 20-or-so games for each team, but the trade deadline is less than a week away.

Sergei Bobrovsky makes a save behind Seth Jones. (Jasen Vinlove-Imagn Images)

Let’s break down three things to look forward to in the next seven days:

1. The Pre-Trade-Deadline Deadline

We know the NHL’s 2025 trade deadline will arrive this Friday at 3 p.m. ET, but we should also know that there will be more deals made in the days before the deadline. To wit: last year, at the March 8 trade deadline, there were 23 deals made on deadline day. But in the two days prior, there were 16 trades made, including Colorado trading defenseman Bowen Byram to Buffalo for center Casey Mittelstadt, Vegas landing star defenseman Noah Hanifin from Calgary, Carolina acquiring winger Jake Guentzel from Pittsburgh and Ottawa sending winger Vladimir Tarasenko to Florida.

This year, we’re going to be watching the Toronto Maple Leafs, Boston Bruins, Vancouver Canucks and Winnipeg Jets as teams that could be making big moves by Friday’s deadline. That said, many teams didn’t want to wait until deadline day to make their moves last season, and we anticipate there will be another ‘pre-trade-deadine deadline’ that more or less has already begun this weekend with the blockbuster dealing of defenseman Seth Jones to the Panthers, and the Avalanche bringing over former Rangers blueliner Ryan Lindgren. If you’re a real estate agent for NHL players, you’d better have your phone available right now, because deals could be happening any moment between now and Friday.

2. The Battle Of Florida – Seth Jones Debut Edition

The latest showdown of the NHL’s two Florida teams goes down Monday, when the Panthers host the Tampa Bay Lightning. The two teams have split their season series thus far, but Monday’s game will be particularly intriguing because it will be the Panthers debut of Seth Jones. The veteran defenseman will be introduced to the media before Monday’s pre-game skate, but he’ll be thrown into the fire right away and be expected to contribute meaningful minutes against the Bolts, who are only three standings points behind the Panthers with two games in hand on Florida.

Each of the two Florida teams have been especially hot of late, and they’ll battle one last time in their final regular-season game on April 15. But we could see the Panthers and Lightning squaring off in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs, and if not, a second-round battle could be looming. In any case, Jones’ challenge is to adapt quickly as he plays meaningful hockey after so many meaningless years in Chicago. And the way he adapts will help determine how well the Panthers finish up the final third of the regular season.

3.  Calgary vs. Dallas, Pre-Trade-Deadline Edition

Just about every game the Flames play will be crucial from this point through the end of the regular-season, as Calgary is trying to get ahead of Pacific Division rival Vancouver for one of the two Western Conference wild-card berths. But the Stars need wins of their own as they attempt to fend off Minnesota and Colorado for second place in the Central Division. So Thursday night’s battle between Calgary and host Dallas – the night before the trade deadline – could prove to be the last time we see the current version of both the Stars and Flames.

That’s because many expect both teams to be active at the deadline. Stars GM Jim Nill and Flames counterpart Craig Conroy will likely be buyers, so the teams that show up after Thursday’s game could look significantly different than the teams we see Thursday night. In any case, it’s shaping up to be a big-time tilt between Dallas and Calgary, as these are two teams that also could be facing each other at some point in the post-season.

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