The NHL Trade Deadline Is a Sellers’ Paradise

In a world where virtually every playoff team is buying at the deadline, sellers rule.

The trade deadline is an exciting time every season when we get to see contenders strive to improve their roster as best as possible to win the Stanley Cup, while the teams outside the playoff race try to accumulate as many draft picks and young players as they can to help themselves be one of those contenders in the future. Spoiler alert: the latter tends to win these trades—almost all of the time.

Kent Hughes of the Canadiens and Jim Nill of the Stars (The Hockey Writers)

Let’s look at the last 10 trade deadlines (2015-2024) for some of our data. For the trades that we’ll use, deals made no more than one month outside of the official trade deadline date for that season will be included.