Six players who could be cap dump fodder for buying teams before the Trade Deadline

Credit: Brian Bradshaw Sevald-Imagn Imag

With just more than four weeks until the 2025 NHL Trade Deadline on March 7, we’re delivering at least one deadline-focused story every day at Daily Faceoff.

Today, we explore some roster players who may find themselves on the wrong side of a Trade Deadline deal: going from the buyer to the seller just to make the money work.

2025 NHL Trade Deadline Countdown: 29 Days

In a salary cap world, one of the most important parts of getting a trade across the line is making the money work. That is significantly harder when dealing with Trade Deadline deals, as a team that is already tight to the salary cap is hoping to add to their roster and has a very slim margin to make it work. And the better the piece, the more money that will likely need to be squeezed in.

The role of the third party broker has made these problems easier to solve, but before that method was popular, teams often got those deals done by sending a player back the other way on a pricier contract who was seen as more expendable. Whether that’s the Tampa Bay Lightning sending Vladislav Namestnikov to the New York Rangers so that they could bring in Ryan McDonagh and J.T. Miller or, more recently, the Calgary Flames sending Andrei Kuzmenko to the Philadelphia Flyers in the deal that got them Morgan Frost and Joel Farabee, it’s one way to get the job done, although sometimes it costs the dumping team some picks or prospects.

So, as the trade deadline approaches, let’s look at a few players who may find themselves in this unfortunate position this season. It’s a tough list to put together because (a) we don’t truly know where players stand in their organizations and how willing teams are to move on from them and (b) we don’t have nearly as many bad contracts handed out to players not wanted by their respective teams as we used to. At worst, they’re still viewed as effective players on overpriced deals. But, here are a few that stand out right now as potential candidates – purely speculative, of course.

Erik Gustafsson/Justin Holl, Detroit Red Wings

$2 million AAV w/ one year remaining | $3.4 million AAV w/ one year remaining

It doesn’t take an expert to recognize that the Detroit Red Wings have an issue with their defense. This season, they have the 10th-worst 5v5 expected goals against per 60 minutes on the year with 2.62. That hasn’t exactly improved under Todd McLellan either, as that number has increased to 2.79, the 7th-worst in the league, since he took over. But, that isn’t all on the coach, as the Red Wings blueline isn’t built to be a playoff contender’s.

The biggest issue with the Red Wings D-corps is how many bodies they have to work around. Beyond their younger options in Moritz Seider, Simon Edvinsson and Albert Johansson, they also have Ben Chiarot, Justin Holl Jeff Petry, Erik Gustafsson and William Lagesson, and that’s after already moving on from Shayne Gostisbehere, Jake Walman and Olli Maatta in the last calendar year. If the Red Wings were to make a much-needed addition to their blueline, at least one body will have to go the other way for roster space alone, never mind the fact that Detroit is working with less than $2 million in cap space right now.

The most likely candidates for that appear to be Gustafsson and Holl. Both were already struggling to get ice time under Derek Lalonde, and that’s only gotten worse since McLellan took over. Both also come at cap hits of $2 million or more, with Holl’s being at a whopping $3.4 million. Considering the money involved, Gustafsson would be the more appealing option to other teams as a reclamation project and likely wouldn’t cost the Red Wings any assets. But if Detroit really needs to get money out the door, they’ll probably have to add a sweetener to encourage a rebuilding team to take on Holl’s contract. Holl also has a 10-team no-trade list.

Jeff Skinner, Edmonton Oilers

$3 million AAV, pending UFA

After the Buffalo Sabres bought out Jeff Skinner, he looked like he was going to be one of the best signings of the 2024 offseason when he agreed to a one-year, $3 million contract with the Edmonton Oilers. It was a match made in heaven. Skinner had three-straight seasons with 20+ goals, and in his final few seasons with Buffalo, he had shown signs of being the point producer that he once was. That, matched alongside Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, would finally give them some more winger depth, and for Skinner, he’d finally get that elusive playoff appearance.

At this rate, he still may not get a playoff game. Skinner has only played 81 minutes with Draisaitl, 57:48 with McDavid, has spent more time in the bottom six than the top six this season, and he’s even been a healthy scratch. With just 10 goals and 19 points in 48 games, the Oilers haven’t gotten the production that they’d hoped to get from him.

With Evander Kane’s status up in the air, even roughly $4.5 million in cap space might not be enough for the Oilers to make the moves that they want, and Skinner stands out as a player that they could move on from if they need to make salary cap space in a deal. Every other player either has too much importance with the team or isn’t making enough to work well as a cap dump, and since Skinner was brought in to produce, but hasn’t done so, it makes him the odd man out here. The problem: Skinner has a full no-movement clause and would have to approve a deal.

Max Domi/David Kampf – Toronto Maple Leafs

$3.75 million AAV w/ three years remaining | $2.4 million AAV w/ two years remaining

Much like the Red Wings, the Toronto Maple Leafs have a couple of players who may fit the bill as cap dumps in deadline deals. Both are players who play their respective team’s biggest positional need, but they’re not performing like their team would have hoped. In the Leafs case, the problem is their center depth beyond Auston Matthews and John Tavares. Despite GM Brad Treliving locking up David Kampf and Max Domi to four-year contracts in consecutive summers, it hasn’t been enough to plug that gap.

Domi lacks the defensive ability to drive a line as a center unless that line is sheltered, and those are minutes that the Leafs would rather their top six play from time to time to get their best scoring opportunities. Since Domi has just three goals and 19 points in 45 games and really only produces when he plays in the top six, he’s not providing the offense to compensate for his defensive inefficiencies.

For Kampf, it’s the complete opposite. He’s a steady defensive presence for the Leafs, and one of their most-used penalty killers, but he lacks the offensive upside you would hope for out of a true shutdown center. That’s forced him into a fourth-line role, and with how many bottom six forwards the Leafs have in their depths, Kampf’s contract makes him expendable. You’d imagine that if the Leafs were upgrading their third-line center, they’d rather Pontus Holmberg be their fourth-line center at his more reasonable $800,000 cap hit.

While it doesn’t appear that either player is fully out of favor in Toronto, it doesn’t seem like either of them is the solution at the third-line center position. The Leafs will be tight for cap space once Anthony Stolarz returns, and even more so if Calle Jarnkrok or Jani Hakanpaa play any substantial minutes this season, and if you look at their salary cap sheet, Domi and Kampf stand out as the most egregious contracts on the books. It’ll probably cost the Leafs something to move on from those deals, but it might be necessary if they want to find a third-line center. Domi has a 13-team no-trade list, and Kampf has a 10-teamer.

Nils Hoglander, Vancouver Canucks

$1 million AAV, final year + $3 million AAV, three-year extension

Nils Hoglander had a breakout season for the Vancouver Canucks in 2023-24, scoring 24 goals and 36 points on Elias Pettersson’s wing. After that performance, it looked like he was blossoming into a middle-six, if not a top-six option for the Canucks. As a reward, the Canucks gave him a three-year extension with a $3 million cap hit near the start of the regular season, one that will kick in next season.

But Hoglander has not found the same success this season. It’s gone under the radar since there have been plenty of bigger stories in Vancouver, but Hoglander has just four goals and 12 points in 49 games this year and has seen his role diminish to a fourth liner. After he shot 20 percent in 2023-24, the Canucks probably should have seen this coming, and now they need to figure out what to do with Hoglander with the winger seemingly landing in head coach Rick Tocchet’s dog house.

What makes this situation a bit more unique compared to the others on this list is that the Canucks would likely not be moving on from this contract for this season, but for the years beyond that. They have more than $4 million in cap space at this point in time, so moving on from Hoglander’s current $1 million cap hit won’t do much this season. But if Vancouver doesn’t see a future with him, they will probably want to move on from the tripled cap hit that will take effect next season to give them more space to make some much-needed improvements.

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