The best Win-Win NHL Trade Deadline deals of the salary cap era
We’re a little under two months away from the 2025 NHL Trade Deadline, and Daily Faceoff has you covered for everything leading up to the unofficial hockey holiday.
Don’t forget to follow Daily Faceoff’s Trade Deadline hub to read all of our coverage leading up to March 7.
2025 NHL Trade Deadline Countdown: 47 days
Today, instead of looking at which teams are buyers and sellers and which players may be available, let’s look back in modern hockey history at some of the best win-win trades-deadline deals of the cap era. We’re only factoring in deals made within two months of the deadline each season.
February 2011: Bruins acquire Rich Peverley and Boris Valabik from Thrashers for Blake Wheeler and Mark Stuart
After blowing a 3-0 series lead to the Philadelphia Flyers in 2010, the Boston Bruins went into the 2010-11 season with expectations of Stanley Cup or bust. They traded for Nathan Horton and Greg Campbell in the summer, then acquired Chris Kelly and Tomas Kaberle during the season.
But the deal that makes this list is the one with the Atlanta Thrashers-turned-Winnipeg Jets, which saw Rich Peverley come to the Bruins, along with Boris Valabik, in exchange for Mark Stuart and Blake Wheeler.
Peverley played every game in the playoffs, scoring four goals and eight assists for 12 points, and was a reliable depth option for a Bruins squad that won the franchise’s first Stanley Cup in 39 years.
As for the Thrashers-Jets, Stuart was a reliable stay-at-home defender for seven seasons, and Wheeler went on to be one of the greatest players in franchise history, scoring 262 goals and 550 assists for 812 points in 897 career regular-season games. He is currently their all-time leader in games played, assists and points.
February 2011: Avalanche acquire Erik Johnson, Jay McClement and 2011 first-round pick from Blues for Kevin Shattenkirk, Chris Stewart and 2011 second-round pick
Both the Colorado Avalanche and St. Louis Blues were struggling and hoped that a major trade would shake things up enough that results would follow. Erik Johnson, the Blues’ No. 1 overall pick in the 2006 NHL Draft, had only played two-and-a-half NHL seasons due to injury, but St. Louis thought they had a better defensive prospect in Kevin Shattenkirk, who had made his NHL debut earlier that season.
Shattenkirk would spend seven seasons with the Blues, scoring 59 goals and 258 points in 425 games, including four 40-point campaigns. As for Johnson, he would play 13 seasons in Colorado, skating in more than 700 games for a club that went through some rough years. It paid off in the end, as in 2022 he was a reliable depth piece for the Avalanche when they won the Stanley Cup.
Jay McClement only had a cup of coffee in Colorado before moving on. Chris Stewart’s production fell off after 2010-11. In fact, after scoring 28 goals twice and recording more than 53 points twice in his first three NHL seasons, Stewart never hit the 20-goal or 40-point mark again.
What’s unique about this deal is that, despite each team hoping the trade would help them make the playoffs, neither team did that spring. The Blues would make it the following year, being swept in the second round by the eventual Stanley Cup champions in the Kings, and it wouldn’t be until 2014 that Colorado would make the playoffs.
February 2012: Kings acquire Jeff Carter from Blue Jackets for Jack Johnson and 2013 first-round pick
After being traded to the Blue Jackets ahead of the 2011-12 season, Jeff Carter was soon dealt again, this time to the Kings in exchange for Jack Johnson and a conditional first-round pick.
Carter remained one of the game’s most productive players, producing three 60-point campaigns and scoring 201 goals and 188 assists for 389 points in 10 seasons with the Kings.
But his best production came in the playoffs, as Carter was a major factor in both of L.A.’s two Stanley Cups in 2012 and 2014. He was tied for the most playoff goals in 2012 with eight, then finished the 2014 run with 25 points in 26 games.
Meanwhile, Johnson spent eight seasons in Columbus, scoring 156 points and averaging 22:46 of ice time. While he was never considered a true top-pairing defender, Johnson provided leadership for a team that went through a difficult stretch of time.
March 2014: Rangers acquire Martin St. Louis, 2015 second-round pick from Lightning for Ryan Callahan, 2015 first-round pick, 2014 second-round pick and 2015 seventh-round pick
After Steve Yzerman, who was the general manager of both the Tampa Bay Lightning and Canada’s 2014 Winter Olympic squad, originally left Martin St. Louis off the Canadian team’s roster, the Tampa Bay captain requested a trade to the New York Rangers. St. Louis would end up replacing an injured Steven Stamkos on Team Canada, but the damage was done, and St. Louis wanted out.
The Lightning sent St. Louis to the Rangers in exchange for New York captain Ryan Callahan, a 2015 first-round pick and a conditional 2014 pick which became a first rounder.
St. Louis wound up leading the Rangers to their first Stanley Cup Final appearance since 1994, scoring eight goals and seven assists for 15 points in 25 playoff games. They would lose to the Los Angeles Kings in five games.
The following season, both players recorded 20-goal and 50-point seasons. The Rangers again reached the Eastern Conference Final, this time facing the Lightning, and Tampa Bay would win in seven games before losing to the Chicago Blackhawks in the Stanley Cup Final.
St. Louis would retire after the series, and Callahan would play four more seasons with the Lightning, again reaching the Eastern Conference Final in 2018.
January 2016: Blue Jackets acquire Seth Jones from Predators for Ryan Johansen
In the cap era, one of the biggest hiccups in making major trades is trying to match every dollar and make the money work. Each deal comes with caveats, whether it’s a team eating a chunk of salary or one of the teams taking on a bad contract in order to stay under the cap.
But sometimes, you just get a good ol’ fashioned hockey trade: “You have a young forward, we have a young defenseman, let’s make a deal.” That’s what we saw during the 2015-16 season, when the Nashville Predators traded defenseman Seth Jones to the Columbus Blue Jackets in exchange for forward Ryan Johansen.
Jones would make the All-Star Game three times with the Blue Jackets, scoring 50 goals and 173 assists for 223 points in 381 regular-season games. He was also a major factor in Columbus reaching the playoffs in four consecutive seasons between 2017 and 2020.
As for Johansen, he would spend eight seasons in Nashville, posting five 50-point seasons and recording 110 goals and 252 assists for 362 points in 533 games. He was also a major contributor in the Predators’ 2017 Stanley Cup Final run before getting hurt, scoring 13 points in 14 games.
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