5 intriguing players under 24 who should be traded at the NHL trade deadline

It’s one of the most intriguing times of the season, as the 2024 NHL trade deadline is just one week away. Throughout the first week of March, expect plenty of big-name players to be on the move, but they won’t be the only ones to look out for. 

This is also a great time for teams slated to stand idle or even ‘sell’ at the deadline to strongly consider adding younger players from contenders and non-contenders alike. Prospects will be on the move, especially as contending teams seek to entice projected ‘sellers’ into trading away productive players even if they figure to be ‘rentals’ for the last few weeks of the season and the postseason. 

There are other players who may have either moved on from the prospects label or have spent time with the big club of their respective organization, but for one reason or another, they just haven’t stuck and are playing in the AHL.

Several teams should look to move younger players at the NHL trade deadline

One player who could see their name called at some point this week is Nick Robertson, should the Toronto Maple Leafs be interested in making another trade before the deadline. Toronto already traded for blueliner Ilya Lyubushkin, but he didn’t come at a steep price, so there is still room for Toronto to make a bigger splash by offering a player like Robertson. 

He’s a young talent who any ‘seller’ looking to acquire him could get and easily extend, given his RFA status. In return, that team could sell an older but more established player to the Maple Leafs and even offer to retain some of the contract until the end of the year.  

Toronto would win by finally putting themselves in perhaps their best position yet to make a deep playoff run, while the ‘seller’ also wins by landing a potential-laden 22-year-old. But Robertson isn’t the only player who could find themselves playing in another city in the days leading to the March 8th deadline.