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6 Players Who Could Be Under-the-Radar 2025 NHL Trade-Deadline Options
A.Wilson29 min ago
- Jeanine Leech/Icon Sportswire via The 2024-25 NHL season has only just begun! The trade deadline is hardly what's on anyone's mind at the moment. Still, the start of the season lays the foundation for what will happen on March 8. By the time the flurry of trades rolls around, most of the names are already under immense scrutiny, the buyers and sellers are pretty well defined and the internet has triangulated the dozens of players who are up for grabs. At the last trade deadline, it seemed obvious the Pittsburgh Penguins would trade Jake Guentzel and the New Jersey Devils would move Tyler Toffoli for futures. But who would have predicted either move last October? That's what we're trying to do here. Nobody gets any points for predicting that the San Jose Sharks will sell their pending UFAs, and it's hardly clever to list long-rumored trade fodder such as John Gibson or Kaapo Kakko as deadline targets. This is about trying to find players who could become main characters at the deadline well before their inclusion becomes obvious. What players aren't necessarily destined for the hot stove but could end up there depending on developing circumstances? Here are six players who could sneakily become 2025 NHL trade deadline targets.
- Gerry Thomas/NHLI via The Calgary Flames dismantled most of their core last season and then moved star goaltender Jacob Markstrom and top-six winger Andrew Mangiapane over the summer in return for future assets. They are unlikely to be a playoff team this season. This does not have to be a full-blown rebuild effort a la San Jose or Chicago, but the Flames have given up their ambition of competing now amid a reset period. That makes Nazem Kadri and his $7M cap hit through 2029 something of a mismatch. The 34-year-old is still a very good player but will become something of a financial burden by the time Calgary expects to be on the upswing in a few years. In fact, such a contract that takes him to age 38 brings risk even for a team in win-now mode. Kadri was signed by a different management group when the team had different intentions. The trade deadline market for centers, at least as far as one can perceive in October, does not look great. The likes of Yanni Gourde and Mikael Granlund are the only standouts among pending free agents on likely non-playoff teams. A contending team in need of a top-six center will have to go a more unorthodox route. Kadri collected 75 points last season in a chaotic environment. The former Stanley Cup champion still can play like a high-end, second-line center. If a team is eager enough to fill a void that it will take on most or all of his contract and give up assets, then Calgary may have to make the move and further slide into a rebuild.
- Bill Wippert/NHLI via The Sabres don't want to go down this road. This franchise has been shedding quality players for years, insisting that is the time a rebuild will work. Tuch himself was the main piece Buffalo acquired in the Jack Eichel trade. Moving the Upstate New York native as part of a selling spree would be yet another humiliation for a franchise that is full of them. The Sabres have also missed the playoffs all three years since acquiring Tuch and have started this NHL season 0-2. Yet another failed season will require heads to roll. Tuch's contract expires in 2026, and it's fair to wonder if—hometown team or not—the 28-year-old wants to hang around for more uncertainty. And while Buffalo would be reluctant to move Tuch, he's more suited as a sacrifice to needed roster upheaval than young franchise players such as Rasmus Dahlin, Owen Power, and Tage Thompson. What's more, the Sabres have a number of internal options at wing. JJ Peterka, Zach Benson, Jiri Kulich, and Isak Rosen are just some of the options who project as top-six NHL wingers in their primes.
- Andrew Mordzynski/Icon Sportswire via A healthy and productive Ryan Lindgren is one of the better shutdown defensemen in the NHL. He's a smart player who works within his limitations offensively and plays one of the most fearless games of anyone in the league. He has often been the perfect complement to Adam Fox on the top pairing. There have been two problems recently, though. One, Lindgren was not productive last season, playing the worst hockey of his career. Two, he has been unable to stay healthy. His zeal in sacrificing his body to make plays defensively comes at a cost. He's missed many games the past few seasons and has played even more while physically limited. If that's impeding his career in his mid-20s, then it doesn't bode well for his long-term trajectory. That's likely why the Rangers only committed a one-year contract to the restricted free agent this past summer. If the team feels he comes with too much baked-in risk on a long-term contract, then Lindgren, who becomes an unrestricted free agent in July, may not be long for New York. The Rangers expect to be contender and wouldn't sell Lindgren purely out of principle. However, he would garner a quality return if traded to a team that either wanted to rent him for a playoff run or re-sign him for a culture shift. If, and only if, the Rangers were able to swing a trade for a high-end left-handed defenseman at the deadline, they could consider moving Lindgren out to create the space.
- Jeanine Leech/Icon Sportswire via The Penguins are immersed in an unconvincing plan that simultaneously sticks one foot in a rebuild while keeping the other foot firmly entrenched in a desire to compete for the Stanley Cup in the final years of the Sidney Crosby era. They remain where they have been the past few seasons; a strong maybe to make the playoffs and exit in Round 1—and that's if they're fortunate. Are they good enough to make noise in the playoffs now? No. Have they rejuvenated the ranks enough to set the scene for a resurgence in the next couple of years? No. If the Penguins are indeed on the outside of the playoff picture for a third straight season, then GM Kyle Dubas may finally commit more firmly to rebuilding. Erik Karlsson turns 35 in May, and his once-problematic contract is now more manageable. Pittsburgh has him at a $10M cap hit through 2027. The Penguins need to get younger and build a more complete roster. Moving the aging Karlsson for prospects and picks and opening up cap space that could fit two or three very good players next season may be the route Pittsburgh has to go.
- Peter Joneleit/Icon Sportswire via One can see why Cam Fowler may be ready move on from Anaheim, where he has played his entire NHL career since 2010. The veteran defenseman has not played playoff hockey since 2017, and the Ducks are unlikely to do so in 2025. The 32-year-old may only have a few years left in his career, and one imagines he'd like to spend that time playing competitive hockey. Meanwhile, Anaheim might reciprocate those feelings. Once a borderline top-pairing defenseman and one of the better offensive generators in the league. Fowler's game has declined in recent years. The point totals are still there—he had 39 in 81 games last season—but Fowler's lack defensive's game is a major detriment, and he no longer can dictate play for 24 minutes. What's more, Anaheim has one of the best groups of young defensemen in the NHL. It's time to pass the reins to the likes of Pavel Mintyukov and Ollen Zellweger, with others soon to follow. No hard feelings are necessary on either side. It's just time for a changing of the guard in Anaheim. Though Fowler struggled immensely last season, he could bring value to a playoff team in a reduced role. The only impediment to a trade this season will be working around his $6.5M cap hit through 2026.
- Ben Jackson/NHLI via The Blue Jackets don't want to be sellers. They don't want to lose valued veterans and sell fans on the arrival of prospects and draft picks yet again. That's been the story of the franchise for virtually all of its existence, and recently jettisoned GM Jarmo Kekäläinen made some big, if not desperate, moves in an attempt to facilitate a competitive 203-24 season. It didn't work, and now the Blue Jackets have to face the music. Like it or not, this is a rebuilding team again. The good news? The team may already have two franchise centers in Adam Fantilli and Cayden Lindstrom. It may take a few years, but those two are likely to be the spine of Columbus for the next decade. All of those considerations leave inevitable questions about captain Boone Jenner. The 11-year veteran has spent his entire career in Columbus, and he's been a solid player and valuable presence. He's also 31 years old and become a free agent in 2026. The rental market for centers projects to be weak at the trade deadline, and teams in need of a center would salivate at the opportunity to add Jenner. On most contending teams, Jenner would either be a competent second-line center or an overpowering third-line option. Add in a generous $3.75M cap hit and the ability to add him for two playoff runs, and teams will be willing to send a considerable package to Columbus for his services. Columbus will be in no rush to shop Jenner around the league, and there may be mutual interest in keeping him beyond his next contract. Still, Jenner may only serve to transition the Blue Jackets to a new era, and another team could make an offer to new GM Don Waddell that is too rich to turn down.
Read the full article:https://bleacherreport.com/articles/10137778-6-players-who-could-be-under-the-radar-2025-nhl-trade-deadline-options
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