NHL Trades
National Hockey League (NHL) trades allow teams to improve their current rosters by exchanging players, prospects, or draft picks with other teams. The rules governing trades are outlined in the NHL/NHLPA Collective Bargaining Agreement.
The NHL Trade Deadline
The NHL's trade deadline generally means a lot of movement among NHL hockey players. The NHL trade deadline is a much-anticipated event among hockey teams, as teams are no longer allowed to exchange players after the trade deadline has passed. This leads to many transactions. Playoff teams are loading up for what they hope is a long playoff run, and playoff hopefuls are trying to get a piece to push them over the playoff hump. At the other end of the standings, teams that will be clearly missing the playoffs want to trade older players for younger prospects or draft picks. This is especially true for players that are about to become Unrestricted Free Agents (UFA's). For smart asset management, teams need to trade pending UFA's for draft picks, prospects, or players with term left on contracts before they lose them for nothing on July 1. Teams that are firmly in the playoff picture or on the bubble have difficult decisions to make on their pending free agents; keep them for the rest of the season and playoffs and risk losing them for nothing afterwards, or trade them for some assets by the deadline.
This is a very exciting time for both hockey fans and analysts, who are eagerly anticipating and predicting which players will get traded and which teams they will be moving to. The Trade Deadline day usually falls within the last week of February or the first week of March, and will be on Friday March 7, 2025 for the 2024-2025 season. All the buzz about NHL trade and player movements gets much more intense as the trade deadline draws near. Make sure you checkout PuckGM to model out the moves your team should or might make.
For the most up-to-date news and information on your favourite NHL teams, including the Salary Cap, stay tuned to PuckPedia.
