The 2025-26 NHL trade deadline brought its winners, but it also saw teams fail to improve their rosters during the frenzy of transactions.
Having already discussed the teams that won big at the deadline, here are the four clubs that didn't neccessarily run a successful ship on March 6th.
Though not exactly a lost deadline, the Toronto Maple Leafs had the chance to do more
Though the Leafs weren't exactly expected to start a rebuild, whatever Brad Treliving just attempted to classify as a roster revamp is a shaky definition at best.
At worst? The Leafs' trade deadline (and, to some, the deadline as a whole) is easily seen as being quieter than the Scotiabank Arena crowd when the Leafs are down bad after the second period.
The Leafs managed to pull off three trades prior to the deadline. The first saw Nicholas Roy, who was the lone player acquired in last summer's Mitch Marner trade, dealt to the Colorado Avalanche for a 2026 conditional fifth-round pick and a 2027 conditional first-round pick. The Leafs would then kick off their Friday business quite late in the day, dealing Bobby McMann to the Seattle Kraken for a 2027 second-round pick and a 2026 fourth-round pick. That trade was followed up with a deal that sent Scott Laughton to the Los Angeles Kings for a conditional third-round pick.
Despite rumours claiming that he would be traded at the deadline, defenceman Oliver Ekman-Larsson was not traded and will remain with the Maple Leafs through to the end of the season. The same goes for Matthew Knies, who was briefly rumoured to be on the market and was even connected to the Montreal Canadiens at one point.
Though the Leafs did get some much-needed draft capital back for three solid contributors, they could've done a lot better at the deadline had they brought back a depth piece or two. That shortcoming hits hard especially when considering that key pieces like Calle Jarnkrok and Troy Stetcher, the former of which is enjoying an exceptional season after being claimed off the waiver wire, are both set to become free agents this offseason.
Others like Simon Benoit will be coming off the books the following offseason, but the elephant in the room is that of Auston Matthews and his looming contract extension. Though Matthews isn't eligible to negotiate a new deal until the end of next season, it is rumoured that him and the Leafs organization may sit down and have a discussion once the 2025-26 season is completed. It's unknown what such a discussion could entail, but it's possible that it could serve as a signal that the team needs to make a case to be a true Cup contender or else risk losing Matthews for nothing.
The Leafs' failure to bring back talent as part of their trade deadline activity isn't exactly a disaster (just yet), but it's indicative of future problems, especially if the Leafs are going to (eventually) contend for a cup with the Core Four's remnants.
The Washington Capitals' deadline business may have had a sellers mindset, but they also sold a strong chance at a playoff berth
Did General Manager Chris Patrick and whoever else he had on hand for the past few days forget that the Capitals were in striking distance of a playoff spot? And that there was a game against the Boston Bruins on Saturday?
For the Washington Capitals and their fans, that trade deadline was just brutal.
Though they didn't exactly go through a fire sale, Washington did send one of the last remaining cornerstones from the 2018 Cup winning team packing. Late Thursday evening, the Washington Capitals announced that they were sending veteran defenceman John Carlson to the Anaheim Ducks for a seventh-round pick in the 2027 NHL Draft.
Alongside the surprise move, the Capitals also sent forward Nic Dowd to the Vegas Golden Knights for goaltender Jesper Vikman, a second-round pick in the 2029 draft, and a third-round selection in next year's draft. They would add Sharks defenceman Timothy Liljegren and Canucks forward David Kämpf, but those moves don't even begin to fill the space left by Carlson and Dowd.
Though the Capitals were always going to be seen as a team that was retooling while being extremely competitive, they are also in a playoff race. But with the Bruins in a vulnerable position, the Capitals' deadline moves might just have ended any chance at a third-consecutive playoff berth.
Though it's been a long season, the Los Angeles Kings' deadline changes nothing
At this point, I don't even know how to classify the Kings' 2025-26 season.
Is it a tragedy? The downfall of a kingdom (of goaltending and not much else)?
I don't even know at this point.
But what I do know is that the last week of transactions doesn't exactly bode well for the Kings' considerable-but-fading playoff chances.
The week started with the firing of Jim Hiller as head coach and the promotion of a certain D.J. Smith to that same role. Yes, the same D.J. Smith that oversaw slow start after slow start in Ottawa and failed to adjust his tactics for a team that was clearly capable of contending for a playoff spot. Okay, I'll give him two seasons of slack due to a certain pandemic but he did still drop the ball.
D.J. Smith aside, the Kings brought in Artemi Panarin prior to the Olympic trade freeze. That in itself should be seen as a win, but everything that happened since? Not so much. Sure, you can leave the Kings alone when it comes to the Kevin Fiala injury.
But in terms of the trade deadline? It's open sesame. Though the Kings' victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets puts them just one point back of the final playoff spot, the moves they made only take them further away from a coveted postseason berth. Not only did the team trade Warren Foegele, a solid depth forward, to the Ottawa Senators, but they also sent veteran Corey Perry to the Tampa Bay Lightning; both forwards would bring draft picks back to the Kings.
The Kings did acquire forward Scott Laughton from the Leafs, but their deadline business still can be seen as one step forward, two steps back. That's not what the Kings need to be doing with so little runway left in the playoff race.
With options galore, the Montreal Canadiens had the chance to make a splash. Instead, they missed the pond entirely.
I will say that General Manager Kent Hughes has done well to make calculated moves that improve his team. They may not all be for the biggest names on the market, but Hughes does know how to stay away from a bad deal.
The Canadiens' deadline business didn't see them take on any bad contracts or give up anything in the way of depth. And that should be a win for them.
They did it using the classic strategy of "let's try to make some moves but ultimately do nothing and risk upsetting our fan base." That's basically the trade deadline equivalent of listening to The Magic Conch Shell.
The result? A trade deadline that saw the Habs lose the chance of securing Nazem Kadri, who instead went to the Avalanche for a relatively-good price, and Matthew Knies.
Though Hughes did indicate that moves were close to being made and that they could very well be revisited in the offseason, the fact that nothing was pushed over the finish line is a bad omen in a season where the Habs have to achieve something in the playoffs.
The team's goaltending is nowhere close to stellar, and one doesn't necessarily win in the playoffs while giving up well over three goals per game (I do admit that the Edmonton Oilers specialize in that department in any postseason round not named the Stanley Cup Final). Goaltenders like Jordan Binnington and Sergei Bobrovsky were on the market heading into the deadline and it's worth noting that the Pittsburgh Penguins were willing to listen to offers for Stuart Skinner (yes, the same Stuart Skinner that prompted the Oilers joke that I wrote into the last sentence).
This isn't to say that the Habs lost their status as a playoff contender because of a bad deadline. But they've lost three of their four games coming out of the Olympic break while once again losing control of a top-three spot in the Atlantic Division. Add on the fact that the Buffalo Sabres and (to an extent) the Detroit Red Wings both improved their rosters and you have the recipe for a miserable trade deadline.