Welcome to the final push before the NHL Trade Deadline! As we sit just a week before the NHL’s March 8th deadline, there is no shortage of rumors and deals floating around the league. This week we saw a few contenders make moves, one contender make progress with a player of their own, and a whole lot more. Let’s get to the latest NHL trade rumors.
NHL Trade Rumors
Elias Pettersson & Canucks Resume Negotiations
Restricted free agent to be Elias Pettersson’s contract negotiations hadn’t been going well with the Canucks this season. Until now, it appears. NHL Insider Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff reported this week that for the first time in months, it seems the Canucks and Pettersson are making progress toward a new deal.
This news follows a report from Sportsnet’s Elliott Friedman that the Canucks and Carolina Hurricanes were deep in trade discussions regarding a deal surrounding Pettersson. Friedman did confirm that he then heard the same report as Seravalli, however. When asked about the rumored trade discussions, Hurricanes GM Don Waddell essentially hit reporters with a ‘no comment’ response.
So essentially this reads like the Canucks were going to call Pettersson’s bluff and ship him to wherever they could get a great deal. Carolina is a team with no shortage of young assets, and when news of that deal being close made its way to Pettersson’s camp, the winger decided to come back to the table with Vancouver.
Restricted free agency in the NHL, similar to other pro sports, means that the team you’re on can match any deal you sign with another team if you hit restricted free agency. So, if Pettersson were traded to Carolina, hit free agency, and signed a 7-year deal with the Flyers, the Hurricanes could match the deal and bring him back. There’s no confirmation of whether or not Pettersson would or would not have wanted to play in Carolina, but his coming back to the table shortly after the trade rumors surfaced reads like he’d rather play in Vancouver.
Selfishly, I’m still holding out hope he can hit free agency. Unrestricted free agents are often players you don’t want to break the bank for, but restricted free agents can be worth the squeeze sometimes. It’s somewhat of an unwritten rule in the NHL that other teams don’t sign RFAs to offer sheets, but had Pettersson hit free agency he’d have been a PERFECT fit in Chicago alongside Connor Bedard.
The Hawks would have to overpay, and then due to the size of the contract fork over some big-time draft compensation. But two things Chicago has in spades are draft picks and cap space. No matter what happens, it’s unlikely Pettersson will be a Blackhawk next season. But if no deal gets done prior to the offseason, he’s an option I’d love Kyle Davidson to explore for Chicago whether it be an offer sheet or an attempt to trade for rights.
Flames Trade Chris Tanev to Stars
One of the bigger trade deadline names is off the board! The Dallas Stars added veteran defenseman Chris Tanev from the Calgary Flames in a three-team deal involving the New Jersey Devils this week. In return, Calgary picked up defenseman prospect Artem Grushnikov and the Stars’ second-round pick in the 2024 NHL Draft and a conditional third-round pick in the 2026 NHL Draft. In order for Calgary to get the conditional pick, Dallas would have to advance to the Stanley Cup Final.
The Devils received a 2026 4th-round pick from Dallas in exchange for taking on a portion of Tanev’s salary for the rest of the season in order to make the cap hit work.
Currently, the Stars lead the Central Division and are just two points behind Vancouver for the top seed in the Western Conference. Dallas has been a playoff mainstay the past few seasons but has struggled to get over the hump. Adding a solid defenseman like Tanev makes all the sense in the world, and it’s the type of move you tend to see contenders make at this time of year. Blueline depth come playoff time is as important to have as just about anything.
While the Blackhawks might not directly fit into t♛his equation, the move does impact them slightly. The Ha🌌wks and Stars have a history of making deadline moves, most recently involving Max Domi last season. The Hawks are sellers again, and there was a slight chance these two could have been a match for a deadline deal surrounding a defense this time around.
While I’m sure the Hawks ideally would like to add a pick or two at the deadline, they don’t really have a ton of moveable pieces. Nick Foligno, Jason Dickinson, and Petr Mrazek have already been extended. Connor Murphy and Andreas Athanasiou are on IR. So yes the Hawks aren’t making the playoffs this year, but it might be a more quiet deadline than some expected it could be at one point.
Where the Hawks could get themselves involved, however, is in the same way New Jersey got involved in the Tanev deal. Chicago has boatloads of salary cap space, and they showed last year they’re not afraid to use it if someone will fork over some picks. So keep an eye on the Hawks as a third-party facilitator to help get some deals done in exchange for draft capital or prospects as we near the deadline.
NHL Trade Deadline Coverage
As I’ve mentioned, we’re just a week out from the NHL’s March 8th trade deadline. That means at just about any point over the next week the deals can start coming through fast and furious. While we’ll churn out posts and analysis for the bigger deals that get done, we’ve also started an NHL Trade Deadline Tracker to cover all the moves that go down.
The latest of which involved the Maple Leafs picking up defenseman Ilya Lyubushkin from Anaheim. Lyubushkin isn’t quite the name as Tanev, but as I said before there’s nothing wrong with adding defensive depth come deadline time and this move just gives Toronto yet another option on the blueline.
The Leafs also will take on just 25% of Lyubushkin’s cap hit. The Ducks are receiving back a 3rd-round pick and retaining 50% of the cap hit. Then the Hurricanes jumped in as a third-party facilitator and are taking on 50% of the remaining cap hit in exchange for a 2024 6th-round pick.
Around the NHL
Let’s get to a few stories and quick-hitting trade rumors around the National Hockey League.
