NHL Power Rankings: Buying Teams At NHL Trade Deadline

Even if it seems like the 2026 Milan Cortina Olympics finished 15 minutes ago, we’re already on the doorstep of the trade deadline. The March 6 trading deadline for the 2025-26 NHL season is just two days away, and teams have had only a week or so to evaluate their rosters after the Olympics break. 

Regardless of how we or the NHL front offices feel about it, at 3 p.m. Eastern time on Friday, the rosters will be more or less locked for the rest of the season. 

Here’s a final look at what teams are still in need of a few things before the deadline, with their odds to win the Stanley Cup as of March 4. 

1. Montreal Canadiens (+3000)

Montreal needs to decide whether they’re comfortable being a ‘year away from contending’ team or a contender. 

As it stands, the Canadiens have the top Wild Card spot in the Eastern Conference with a two-point lead over the Bruins. At the same time, they’re one point behind the Red Wings for the final Atlantic Division playoff spot. 

Montreal has a 33-18-9 record. Since the Olympics ended, they have registered a notch in every category of the standings with an overtime loss, a win, and a blowout loss to the Sharks on Tuesday. 

The Canadiens certainly have the assets — both in prospects and draft capital — to get a deal done. But Montreal’s GM, Kent Hughes, has previously expressed some desire for a restrained deadline. The thinking being that the Canadiens could hold on to those assets a little longer and see if the Demidovs on their roster develop into something more before they move on. 

In my opinion, with a weakened Eastern Conference assuming the absence of the Panthers, Montreal should be all-in on this year’s playoffs. 

If I were Hughes, I’d be checking in with the brass in Nashville about a deal to acquire any of their vet forwards like Ryan O’Reilly or Steven Stamkos. A move like that wouldn’t necessitate giving up the farm, but could provide the Canadiens with some more playoff experience. 

2. Colorado Avalanche (+300)

Colorado has been able to silence some of the doubters and haters. 

They’ve won four out of their first five games since the Olympic break ended. And they still stand atop their division, conference, and the league overall with a 41-10-9 record and 91 team points.

So, then why should they be at the top of the buyers’ list?

The Avalanche have a big game problem, and they need some deadline reinforcements to solve that. 

Their one loss in the last five games underscores that. They fell 5-2 to Minnesota, a divisional foe that’s currently nine points behind them. 

Colorado began the year with an impeccable record and an almost certain path to a Presidents’ Trophy. They’re still likely to get the one-seed, but their odds of becoming another of the trophy’s cursed teams have gone up significantly since then. 

The Avalanche need some reinforcements or, at least, a shakeup at the deadline to become a better playoff team. 

3. Boston Bruins (+15000)

After being a major seller at the deadline last year, Boston’s right back in it in the 2025-26 season. 

They’re currently clinging to the second Wild Card spot in the Eastern Conference with a 34-21-5 record and 73 team points. The Bruins are 6-1-3 in their last ten games and have gone 2-1 since the Olympic break ended. 

Boston’s general manager Don Sweeney told reporters last week that he would like to add at the deadline, saying, “we’d like to give [the team] a bump, because they’ve earned that.”

While the Bruins will probably make a move of some kind, they’re also balancing this season’s priorities with their overall priorities as a franchise. Boston is a better team this year, but they hope to become a real contender or a favorite over the next few years as they wait for their center of the future, James Hagens, to leave Boston College. 

Expect something out of the Bruins to add some forward depth or just general depth. But maybe count them out of discussions about players like St. Louis center Robert Thomas. 

4. Edmonton Oilers (+1100)

Edmonton has, for the last few seasons, been a team that we expect to emerge from its chrysalis as a contending butterfly come playoff time.

The regular season for the Oilers is very much secondary to their ultimate goals in the playoffs. They’re a ‘getting in is all that matters’ team. 

But this year, Edmonton has taken a noticeable step back. Through 62 games this season, they have a 30-24-8 record, compared to a 36-22-4 record at the same point last season.

Now, the management up there in the Great North can probably sleep through the deadline and still get a contender in the spring, but I wouldn’t be so sure this season.

With a vulnerable top-seed in the Western Conference and nothing truly scary in the Eastern Conference, if the Oilers could make a move at the deadline. There’s a lot of buzz out there among league insiders that Edmonton could become a player at the deadline. 

The Athletic’s Pierre LeBrun linked them to St. Louis’ forward Brayden Schenn. While ESPN had a somewhat outlandish trade idea earlier this week, suggesting that the Oilers should make a move for Florida goalie Sergei Bobrovsky. A father-son reunion could be a cool thing to see in Edmonton. 

5. San Jose Sharks (+25000)

In my mind, regardless of what league it is, when you have one of the best players in the sport and a shot to make the playoffs, you go for it. 

That’s what San Jose has as they sit three points out of the final Wild Card spot behind Seattle and have a Hart Trophy contender, Macklin Celebrini, in his second year in the league. 

The Sharks, who shared the worst odds to win the Stanley Cup with the Blackhawks at the start of the season, have a 30-25-4 record and 64 points overall. They’re 5-4-1 in their last ten games and have won three of their four games since the Olympics break ended. 

San Jose definitely has the assets to get a deal done to add some veteran depth to their team. They probably won’t blow the doors off and get a major target at the deadline, but a modest upgrade could go a long way to ensuring they get a playoff berth.