Winners and losers from NHL trade deadline

Pencils down.

Now that the dust has settled on the 2025 NHL trade deadline, it's time to decipher winners and losers. Moves made in the week leading up to the deadline were factored in, to a degree.

Winners

Dallas Stars

The Stars are the big winners of the day, reeling in Mikko Rantanen - the best player moved on deadline day - for a package including Logan Stankoven and a pair of first-round picks. The key? Dallas inked Rantanen, a pending unrestricted free agent, to an eight-year, $96-million extension.

Getting Rantanen at a $12-million cap hit is a huge victory, and likely only possible in a state like Texas, which doesn't have income tax. The Hurricanes reportedly offered Rantanen an extension worth at least $100 million. The Avalanche apparently wouldn't give Rantanen as much as Nathan MacKinnon ($12.6 million), but their offer surely wasn't far off. However, $12 million per year goes a lot further in Texas than it does in Colorado or North Carolina.

But back to the ice. Rantanen gives the Stars that true, game-breaking forward they were lacking. Many now see them as favorites to come out of the Western Conference, assuming both Tyler Seguin and Miro Heiskanen return for the start of the postseason. There's a reason Jim Nill has been named the league's top general manager for two consecutive years.

Florida Panthers

The Eastern Conference runs through the defending Stanley Cup champions.

Yes, the Tampa Bay Lightning got a lot deeper up front with the additions of Yanni Gourde and Oliver Bjorkstrand. The Toronto Maple Leafs also had a strong deadline, filling their top two needs with third-line center Scott Laughton and shutdown defenseman Brandon Carlo. The Atlantic Division is a gauntlet, but the Panthers' moves put them a notch above.

The Seth Jones trade from Saturday filled Florida's biggest hole - a right-shot defenseman to play in the top four. A top-six winger wasn't a pressing need, but landing an X-factor like Brad Marchand right at the buzzer in stunning fashion should make the Panthers the favorites in the East, assuming the injured forward is ready for Game 1. That Marchand and Sam Bennett already displayed chemistry with Canada at the 4 Nations Face-Off is a bonus. If Matthew Tkachuk joins them at right wing for the postseason, they'd form the most annoying line to play against - maybe ever.

The Panthers truly have no holes. A third straight trip to the Stanley Cup Final is well within reach.

Colorado Avalanche

The Avalanche's brass, led by president of hockey operations Joe Sakic and GM Chris MacFarland, saw things they didn't like about their team from the start of the season and weren't afraid to make big moves. Mackenzie Blackwood and Scott Wedgewood have solidified Colorado's crease. Martin Necas has thrived since he was acquired as part of the Rantanen trade. Ryan Lindgren proved in just one game with the Avs that he's willing to sacrifice his body for his new club.

But their effort to shake up the center position behind Nathan MacKinnon in the last 24 hours, adding Brock Nelson and Charlie Coyle, was impressive. The costs - Casey Mittelstadt, top prospect Calum Ritchie, and several picks - were steep but well worth it. Nelson is a huge upgrade for the second line with an impressive playoff resume. Coyle isn't nearly as skilled as Mittelstadt, but he's bigger, stronger, better defensively, and a better overall fit for the third line.

A potential Avalanche-Stars Round 1 matchup would be pure cinema. A top-five team in the league will be gone before Round 2.

Sellers

This was clearly a sellers market, relative to past years. Prices were through the roof, and several GMs reaped the benefits.

Let's start with both California rebuilders, San Jose and Anaheim. The Sharks got a first-rounder for Jake Walman, who they acquired along with the second-round pick in the offseason, in exchange for future considerations. A first- and a second-rounder for nothing? That's some tidy work by GM Mike Grier. The Ducks also impressively netted a second-rounder and a prospect from the New Jersey Devils for third-pairing defenseman Brian Dumoulin.

The Islanders also did well, netting Colorado's top prospect in Ritchie and a first-round pick for a rental in Nelson. It was a true win-win trade.

But perhaps the greatest example of inflation was the Penguins netting second and fourth-rounders from the Jets for Luke Schenn. He was dealt at the deadline for a third-rounder just two years ago. Schenn has an additional year of term on his contract now, but he also makes three times as much money and is two years older. Pittsburgh, for what it's worth, also did well getting a second-round pick from the Capitals for depth winger Anthony Beauvillier.

Losers

Carolina Hurricanes

It was amateur hour in the Hurricanes front office, led by rookie GM Eric Tulsky. Why trade for Rantanen if you weren't willing to use him as a rental? If you were set on re-signing him, why not do what the Stars ultimately did and try to negotiate an extension before making the deal?

The return itself isn't bad. Stankoven, a pair of first-rounders, and two third-rounders is a decent haul if the Canes were a rebuilder. But they're not. They're a contender. This has to be pretty demoralizing to the players in that dressing room.

Tulsky could've salvaged this entire situation by flipping the picks received in the Rantanen trade for more immediate help. But he didn't. He even admitted that they missed out on acquiring other players because the Rantanen trade took so long to close. That's inexcusable.

Winnipeg Jets

The Jets have to be walking away from the deadline feeling disappointed. Luke Schenn and Brandon Tanev are solid depth adds, but they didn't address their biggest need: a second-line center. Can they win a Stanley Cup with Vladislav Namestnikov in that role? Probably not.

It's hard to fully blame GM Kevin Cheveldayoff. There weren't a lot of centers out there, the prices were high, and it's possible that players with no-trade protection, like Nelson, might've been unwilling to accept a move to wintery Winnipeg.

To make matters worse, their two Central Division counterparts, the Stars and Avalanche, got significantly better. The Jets are primed to face one of those teams in Round 2 - if they get there.

Vancouver Canucks

It's difficult to understand why the Canucks didn't trade Brock Boeser when they couldn't ink him to an extension before the deadline. Sure, Vancouver enters Friday only one point out of a playoff spot, but the Canucks have been trending in the wrong direction for a while. Even if they make the playoffs, they likely won't get far.

Meanwhile, the prospect of losing Boeser for nothing at the end of the year would be disastrous. GM Patrik Allvin claims the offers weren't strong enough, but that's hard to believe in this market.

Additionally, the Canucks also might've been able to get a surprisingly good return for pending UFA Pius Suter if they opted to move him. As a center with 16 goals and a $1.6-million cap hit, Vancouver could've gotten at least a second-round pick.

David Pastrnak

To be clear, we're not calling this former Maurice "Rocket" Richard Trophy winner a loser, but this had to be a tough day for Pastrnak. Marchand was one of his best friends. Carlo and Coyle were longtime teammates. Pastrnak's gotta be feeling like Will Smith in the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air finale right now. It's the end of an era in Boston.