2026 NHL Trade Deadline Pressure Gauge: Which teams are all-in?
One of the most fascinating elements of the 2026 NHL Trade Deadline season is simply trying to understand the directions in which teams lean. The season is three quarters complete, yet we still have 25 franchises, or 78 percent of the league, within six points of playoff positions. It’s thus quite difficult to predict which posture every GM will adopt in the week leading up to March 6 at 3:00 p.m. ET.
Who are the buyers? Who are the sellers? Who are the desperate all-in operations? Who are the scorched-earth tankers? It’s time to plot every team on Daily Faceoff’s annual NHL Trade Deadline Pressure Gauge.
Tier 1: ALL-IN
1A — Already made moves
Minnesota Wild
Vegas Golden Knights
The Wild established themselves as all-in the moment they extended superstar left winger Kirill Kaprizov for eight years at $17 million per, the highest AAV in NHL history. Their blockbuster acquisition of defenseman Quinn Hughes in December marked a continuation of their philosophical shift. Next up, GM Bill Guerin must find a viable scoring-line center to play with Kaprizov and Mats Zuccarello. The revolving door of Ryan Hartman and Danila Yurov doesn’t cut it for a team intending to push the Colorado Avalanche for Western Conference alpha-dog status. We can never count the Golden Knights out of the action until pencils-down time on Friday of Deadline Day, but they already made a significant splash by adding Rasmus Andersson to their D-corps in January.
1B — Soon to make moves?
Carolina Hurricanes
Colorado Avalanche
Dallas Stars
Tampa Bay Lightning
This is the arms race tier. It will be a mild upset if we don’t see big-ticket acquisitions from each of these clubs. The Canes, Avs and Stars could each use a center for their top nine, while the Stars and Lightning would be wise to add top-four defensemen. These elite Cup contenders may be competing for some of the same players in trade talks. (And no, I don’t count the Girard-Kulak swap as Colorado’s big move; I doubt GM Chris MacFarland is done.)
Tier 2: BUYER MODE
Anaheim Ducks
Buffalo Sabres
Detroit Red Wings
Edmonton Oilers
Montreal Canadiens
Utah Mammoth
This tier primarily consists of emerging young groups freshly breaking through as contenders but also new enough to playoff races in their respective eras that they don’t have to push in every last chip at the deadline. The Canadiens could make a run if they add another top-nine forward and perhaps chase a veteran goaltender upgrade, for instance, but their contention run is only beginning with the likes of Lane Hutson and Ivan Demidov just beginning their careers. There’s plenty of time. There is perhaps a bit more urgency for the Sabres and Red Wings because they have the NHL’s two longest playoff droughts at 14 and nine seasons, respectively, but when simply reaching the dance is the goal, you can’t really be all-in. There’s also some wiggle room to stand pat for teams like the Ducks and Mammoth, who look ready to contend but aren’t locks to make the playoffs. The Oilers are a difficult team to classify; they should be all-in but, with their lack of forward depth, struggling penalty kill, tight cap situation and volatile goaltending, it doesn’t feel like 2025-26 is a push year. They could make a modest buy but don’t seem likely to big-game hunt. That has never been GM Stan Bowman’s deadline M.O. anyway.
Tier 3: LAST GASP
Los Angeles Kings
Pittsburgh Penguins
Washington Capitals
One could argue the Kings are all-in, having acquired Artemi Panarin, but Kevin Fiala’s season-ending injury at the Olympics set them back catastrophically. The Kings aren’t even in a playoff spot right now, they cleaned out an already-barren farm system by trading Liam Greentree in the Panarin deal, and they’re the NHL’s oldest team by average age. They’re crawling to the finish line hoping to get Anze Kopitar one more playoff berth before he retires. The Penguins and Capitals are also trying to craft postseason runs for their aging future Hall of Famers, from Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin to Alex Ovechkin, but both those franchises have also restocked their farm systems in recent years. While it does feel like “Do it for ____” this season for those two clubs, there’s a less desperate vibe than there is in L.A. given there’s renewed hope for the coming seasons in Pittsburgh and D.C.
Tier 4: SWING TEAMS
Boston Bruins
Columbus Blue Jackets
Florida Panthers
Nashville Predators
New York Islanders
Ottawa Senators
San Jose Sharks
Seattle Kraken
Toronto Maple Leafs
For perspective on this season’s wild parity: last season the Swing Team tier was six deep, and it’s nine now. Will the Blue Jackets’ second-half hot streak turn them into a soft buyer? Will the Panthers decide to take a year off and reload for next season since the playoffs look like a long shot? Will the ahead-of-schedule Islanders and Sharks reward their young idols Matthew Schaefer and Macklin Celebrini by keeping their groups together and pushing for the playoffs even though the berths are far from guaranteed? And what happens to the Predators with Barry Trotz planning to step down as GM? Meanwhile, the Leafs and Senators fashioned themselves contenders entering the season but might each be a loss or two away from accepting reality and selling off some pieces.
Tier 5: SELLERS
Chicago Blackhawks
Philadelphia Flyers
New Jersey Devils
New York Rangers
St. Louis Blues
Winnipeg Jets
The difference between sellers and tankers: sellers haven’t fully embraced the posture and don’t necessarily intend to stay down for long but will begrudgingly move some expiring pieces knowing the team won’t make the playoffs. The Blackhawks and Flyers haven’t progressed as they hoped in their rebuilds; the Rangers and Blues have major assets to move – New York already dealt Panarin and Carson Soucy – but still have cores they like and hope to rebound as contenders in relatively short order. The Devils and Jets are shell shocked, surprised to be in their positions relative to their lofty preseason expectations, and have no choice but to cash out a few assets rather than lose them for nothing in a non-playoff year.
Tier 6: TANKERS
Calgary Flames
Vancouver Canucks
Calgary’s 96-point campaign last year was a mirage produced by goaltender Dustin Wolf’s great rookie year. We still understand who the Flames are; they’ve traded Tyler Toffoli, Nikita Zadorov, Elias Lindholm, Chris Tanev, Noah Hanifin, Jacob Markstrom and Andersson during Craig Conroy’s systematic teardown since he took over as GM in 2023. He may as well finish the job and move Nazem Kadri and Blake Coleman. Will the Flames secure their first top-three NHL Draft slot in franchise history? They have the fourth-best odds right now. The best belong to the Canucks, who kicked off their franchise reset with the Hughes trade. They’re in an awkward spot with so many of their veterans signed for many more years, but they’re closer to a tanker than not given their position in the standings. We can expect them to at least move their expiring pieces in the next week, from Evander Kane to Teddy Blueger, but might we also see more of a foundation-shifting move in the form of an Elias Pettersson deal?
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The 2026 Trade Deadline Special is going LIVE March 6th. Join the Daily Faceoff crew on Friday, March 6th, from 11 AM-3:30 PM ET for wall-to-wall coverage of every single move as it happens. Get instant reaction, expert analysis, and exclusive insights from special guests throughout the day. Tune in LIVE on the Daily Faceoff YouTube channel and don’t miss a second of deadline day chaos.
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