Which Western Conference seller teams should blow it up at the 2025 Trade Deadline?

Chicago Blackhawks left winger Taylor Hall

Credit: Nov 21, 2024; Chicago, Illinois, USA; Chicago Blackhawks left wing Taylor Hall (71) warms up against the Florida Panthers before the game at the United Center. Mandatory Credit: Daniel Bartel-Imagn Images

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: 44 days

Today we’ll be looking at all the teams who may potentially be sellers at this year’s trade deadline, and figure out just how much they should be selling at the deadline. The key to a good retool or rebuild is knowing just how much you need to move to give you the assets you need for the long-term, while also still making sure there is a solid team for the young guys to join. Otherwise, you just end up being the Buffalo Sabres.

(Players appearing on Frank Seravalli’s Trade Targets board are indicated below)

Anaheim Ducks

Trade Targets: N/A
What’s the Game Plan?: Sell off the veterans, keep playing the kids

It feels like forever ago when the Trevor Zegras-led Anaheim Ducks looked like they had taken the next step and were flirting with a playoff spot midway through the 2021-22 season. We’re now three years removed from then, and the Ducks are somehow in a worse spot. They haven’t shown any signs of life in the past three seasons, and this season has seen some concerning performances from a lot of the Ducks’ future core.

And yet, the pieces are still there and will probably bounce back. A core with Leo Carlsson, Cutter Gauthier, Mason McTavish, Beckett Sennecke, Olen Zellweger, Pavel Mintyukov, Jackson LaCombe, and Lukas Dostal is just too good to not be good at some point, so it makes the most sense for the Ducks to just stay the course for now.

Sell off Brian Dumoulin, Robby Fabbri and possibly Isac Lundestrom to the highest bidder, maybe explore the market for Zegras and John Gibson, retain as many assets as you can, and then try again next year by finding the ideal balance with veterans and youth. The Ducks still have plenty of veterans signed beyond this season to prevent them from throwing the young guys to the wolves next season.

Calgary Flames

Trade Targets: Dan Vladar (G), Andrei Kuzmenko (LW)
What’s the Game Plan?: Delay, delay, delay

The Calgary Flames currently find themselves in the same spot that the Philadelphia Flyers did last season: they’re too good. They had a roster that many expected to contend for the top pick, and yet after more than three months, they’re contending for the playoffs instead. It’s not all bad news for the rebuild, considering how much of this success has been driven by their younger players like Matt Coronato, Connor Zary, and especially Dustin Wolf, but I bet general manager Craig Conroy was hoping that they’d be able to set up shop by now.

Which is why this isn’t a decision to be made today. The Flames still have a month and a half to figure out where they are, which is more than enough time for them to stick around in the playoff hunt, or go on a cold streak and find themselves in seller territory. That said, there’s still some moves that could be made. Wolf’s play this season has certainly made Vladar expendable regardless of where Calgary is in the standings come March 7, especially with Devin Cooley waiting in the wings, so they can probably make a move with him and give Wolf a taste of a true starter’s role.

Beyond that, maybe following the Flyers’ blueprint from last season isn’t the worst-case scenario. They dealt Sean Walker, were a third-party broker for the Noah Hanifin trade, and even rewarded the players by adding a veteran in Erik Johnson. The Flames may not be able to commit to another fire sale like last season, but if they’re smart and pick the right battles, they can still bring in some long-terms assets without completely discouraging the team’s playoff run. Just make sure the Flyers comparison ends there – missing out on the playoffs by four points and landing outside of the top 10 in the draft is a rebuilding team’s worst nightmare.

Chicago Blackhawks

Trade Targets: Taylor Hall (LW), Ryan Donato (C)
What’s the Game Plan?: They’re already this deep, so nothing to lose

The Chicago Blackhawks are a very good example of why you shouldn’t sell too much. Yes, moving on from veterans like Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews and Duncan Keith was a smart move, but people forget how many solid pieces the Blackhawks just let go for nothing. Moving on from Dylan Strome has aged poorly in particularly, especially when he’d be the perfect second-line center behind Connor Bedard right now, but moving on from Pius Suter and Dominik Kubalik without at least retaining assets was also an interesting choice.

Those decisions have basically set the tone for this year’s Blackhawks team. No matter how many veterans they add and keep around, they just can’t seem to take that next step, even with Bedard. Admittedly, they got Bedard too early in the process, as they still need some more young talent to round out the edges. But there certainly seems to be a stink already in the organization. Even Bedard has a “dead inside” vibe to him in recent quotes and interviews.

All that said, the Blackhawks are already past the point of choosing if they want to go all in on selling, so they may as well keep selling while they’re here. You could probably get a nice return for a player like Hall, Donato’s played enough with Bedard to boost his trade value, and maybe you can find something for Pat Maroon, Craig Smith and Alec Martinez. Outside of Hall, none of these players is going to help Chicago take that next step, and it’s not like they can get worse than this, so you may as well sell those players, get the assets you can, and keep working towards making the team better.

Nashville Predators

Trade Targets: N/A
What’s the Game Plan?: Punt the season, try again next year

Nobody expected the Nashville Predators to be this bad this season after all the money that they spent in the summer. Some may have been a bit wary about them being significantly better than past teams, but most at least expected this team to make the playoffs. Instead, they’re flirting with a lottery pick, along with the existential crisis of not knowing where to go from here.

The good news is that the Predators aren’t actually this bad. While a 50.91% 5v5 expected goal share isn’t one to write home about, it at least indicates that they should be closer to a playoff spot than they are. So unless they can find takers for some of their secondary core players in an attempt to reboot the surrounding pieces to Filip Forsberg, Roman Josi and Juuse Saros, the only solution is to take the loss on this season and try again next season.

That likely means moving on from Gustav Nyquist, and maybe even jumping the gun on the trade market for Ryan O’Reilly, Colton Sissons and Luke Schenn while they have the extra year on their contracts. It’s basically all that the Predators can do at this point. Their prospect pool is not very strong, and they’ve also been moving on from quite a few younger impact pieces on their roster that still had some potential, like Dante Fabbro, Alex Carrier, Jusso Parssinen and Philip Tomasino, so they don’t really have a backup plan that doesn’t involve completely tearing it down. And with how much term their big salary contracts still have, they’re probably a few years away before being able to do that, much like the situation the San Jose Sharks found themselves in five or so years ago.

San Jose Sharks

Trade Targets: N/A
What’s the Game Plan?: Just keep building momentum

Speaking of the Sharks, they’ve only finally recovered from a situation that seemed so bleak when their championship window slammed shut. They were lucky enough that their ineptitude with handing out expensive, long-term contracts to the old guard basically kept a solid amount of veteran talent around to avoid going too far down the rebuild hole, while at the same time, all those players were so bad that it didn’t stop them from getting top draft picks. Now, those young guys are starting to make their mark on this team, and while they’re still bad, they’re fun and that seems to have had an impact on the culture of the team.

It does leave the question of how much selling should the Sharks do at this deadline. If the vibes are good, do you want to disrupt that so much that a losing culture seeps in? Or do you want to capitalize on the trade value of a player like Mikael Granlund while they’re doing well? The Blackhawks are a cautionary tale of hanging onto the veterans for too long though, re-signing a lot of their top trade targets in Nick Foligno, Jason Dickinson and Petr Mrazek last season, and that hasn’t done much for them this season, so there isn’t exactly a safe answer.

At the very least, I think you look at what you can get in return for players who are a bit more replaceable like Alexandar Georgiev, Vitek Vanecek, Cody Ceci and Jan Rutta, if there is a market. Granlund is more of an interesting case, but he can probably go for a decent haul at the deadline if he was moved, so it might be for the betterment of the team long-term to do so. And he’d likely be the only player of that caliber to be moved with Tyler Toffoli, Alex Wennberg and Jake Walman all still around, so it wouldn’t completely suck away the vibes of the team.

Seattle Kraken

Trade Targets: Yanni Gourde (C), Brandon Tanev (LW)
What’s the Game Plan?: Identify your core, and then begin a fire sale

The Seattle Kraken really tried to make the “success by depth” strategy work. It did in 2022-23, giving them their first playoff berth and even their first playoff series win. But it hasn’t since then. 2023-24 saw them fall into the NHL’s no-man’s land, and this season, they’ve looked nearly as bad as they did in their inaugural season, and that’s after handing out big money contracts to Brandon Montour and Chandler Stephenson.

I wrote a piece before the start of the season talking about teams without Stanley Cups and their chances of being the next to win one, and in it I was very low on the Kraken. This season has done nothing to instill any confidence in this group for me, and has actually made me even more pessimistic. So the only path forward with this team that makes any sense is blowing it up and committing to a full rebuild. You have some younger pieces that could be the makings of a core in Matty Beniers, Shane Wright and possibly Ryker Evans, along with a slightly older group of Jared McCann, Vince Dunn and Joey Daccord, and they’ve even taken some smart gambles on players like Kaapo Kakko and Eeli Tolvanen. But Seattle needs more, especially in terms of game-breaking talent, if they want to really contend with this group.

Luckily for the Kraken, Gourde and Tanev are two of the more sought-after pieces on the trade market this season, so that will certainly fetch them a good return on their own. Beyond that, they need to figure out whom they see helping them down the road and listen to any offers on the rest. There’s enough term on some contracts for them to avoid completely gutting out the team right away and doing more harm than good, but they certainly can’t keep going forward with this group and hope to win a Cup.

St. Louis Blues

Trade Targets: N/A
What’s the Game Plan?: Just give up already

The St. Louis Blues are in their sixth season since their Stanley Cup win in 2019. In that time frame, they’ve only won one playoff series and haven’t even made the playoffs in the past two seasons. They’re just too mediocre for their own good at this point. Even with some talented players like Robert Thomas, Jordan Kyrou and Pavel Buchnevich, and a few younger players on the cusp like Jake Neighbours, Dylan Holloway and Philip Broberg, they aren’t good enough to be a Cup contender. But they also aren’t bad enough to get the draft pick and prospect capital that they need to actually turn things around.

It seems like Doug Armstrong has no intention of committing to a true rebuild, even though most signs point to that being the better option in the long run. In his defense, he’s a season and a half away from stepping away from the role, so he’d rather go down swinging. But that won’t change the fact that the team exists as it is, and needs significant changes if they want to reach those heights again.

That said, this overhaul likely doesn’t happen overnight either. One look at their salary cap sheet, and you’re reminded of the Sharks and all the overpriced, long-term contracts they were hampered with for years. With the Blues, that’s Brayden Schenn, Justin Faulk, Torey Krug, and to a lesser extent, Colton Parayko. Even Buchnevich’s six-year extension with an $8 million AAV feels a bit steep for a player who will be 30 when it starts. So, St. Louis just has to sell off their pending UFAs (Radek Faksa and Ryan Suter) and try to entertain any audience for those lengthy deals to at least get started on the right path.

But they just traded for Cam Fowler, so they probably won’t do that.

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