It was Vancouver Canucks GM Patrik Allvin who presciently said on Wednesday: "The market is interesting. I don't even know if there is a market."
The story of the NHL's 2026 Trade Deadline isn't the hand wringing around 'no-trade' clauses being thrust into the spotlight on deals consummated before players could sign off. That happens sometimes, and yes, it does induce pressure on the player to waive - which is maybe not an accident.
The story is that there has been no rhythm or flow, trades have happened on a catch-as-catch-can basis. Will that change over the final 24 hours?
Perhaps. Maybe one market trend is developing. As we await an answer on Colton Parayko, the winner in all of this may be the Philadelphia Flyers with Rasmus Ristolainen, who is up to No. 8 on our latest Trade Targets board.
Edmonton snagged Connor Murphy. Seattle took Jamie Oleksiak off the market. Utah moved on Mackenzie Weegar. If Parayko says no - and the price was reportedly high to begin with - that may mean the next team with a sizable right-shooting defenseman available could cash in. The others available: St. Louis could turn their attention to Justin Faulk. Washington has Trevor van Riemsdyk on the market, ditto Oliver Ekman-Larsson in Toronto and New Jersey has been trying to move Dougie Hamilton for a calendar year now. But none of those blueliners play a style similar to Ristolainen, which has clearly been en vogue this deadline.
We can sort out the 'no-trade' clause controversy after the carousel stops spinning on Friday afternoon. For now, it's full steam ahead.
Here is our latest Trade Targets board, which always seeks to blend a player's prominence with his likelihood of a trade.
Trade Targets 🎯
as of March 5, 2026
| Rk | Name | Team | Pos | Age | GP | G | Pts | Contract |
| 1 | Vincent Trocheck | NYR | C | 32 | 46 | 12 | 39 | 3x$5.63M |
| 2 | Justin Faulk | STL | RD | 33 | 60 | 11 | 32 | 1x$6.5M |
| 3 | Blake Coleman | CGY | LW | 34 | 48 | 13 | 22 | 1x$4.9M |
| 4 | Erik Haula | NSH | C | 34 | 61 | 9 | 30 | UFA |
| 5 | Colton Parayko | STL | RD | 32 | 58 | 1 | 14 | 4x$6.5M |
| 6 | Trevor van Riemsdyk | WSH | RD | 34 | 49 | 2 | 8 | UFA |
| 7 | Scott Laughton | TOR | C | 31 | 43 | 8 | 12 | UFA |
| 8 | Rasmus Ristolainen | PHI | RD | 31 | 23 | 1 | 6 | 1x$5.1M |
| 9 | Oliver Ekman-Larsson | TOR | RD | 34 | 61 | 8 | 35 | 2x$3.5M |
| 10 | Stuart Skinner | PIT | G | 27 | 38 | 2.74 | .892 | UFA |
| 11 | Bobby McMann | TOR | LW | 29 | 60 | 19 | 32 | UFA |
| 12 | Teddy Blueger | VAN | C | 31 | 13 | 5 | 8 | UFA |
| 13 | Dougie Hamilton | NJD | RD | 32 | 56 | 9 | 25 | 2x$9M |
| 14 | Ilya Mikheyev | CHI | RW | 31 | 56 | 11 | 23 | UFA |
| 15 | Conor Garland | VAN | RW | 29 | 49 | 7 | 26 | 6x$6M |
| 16 | Nicolas Roy | TOR | C | 29 | 59 | 5 | 20 | 1x$3M |
| 17 | Evander Kane | VAN | LW | 34 | 59 | 11 | 27 | UFA |
| 18 | Jesperi Kotkaniemi | CAR | C | 25 | 36 | 2 | 9 | 4x$4.82M |
| 19 | Nazem Kadri | CGY | C | 35 | 60 | 12 | 41 | 3x$7M |
| 20 | Robert Thomas | STL | C | 26 | 43 | 12 | 35 | 5x$8.13M |
| 21 | Michael Bunting | NSH | LW | 30 | 61 | 13 | 31 | UFA |
| 22 | A.J. Greer | FLA | LW | 29 | 61 | 11 | 22 | UFA |
| 23 | Oskar Sundqvist | STL | C | 31 | 44 | 4 | 14 | UFA |
| 24 | Jonathan Kovacevic | NJD | RD | 28 | 13 | 0 | 2 | 4x$4M |
| 25 | Jonas Siegenthaler | NJD | LD | 28 | 61 | 0 | 7 | 2x$3.4M |
| 26 | Sergei Bobrovsky | FLA | G | 37 | 43 | .313 | .873 | UFA |
| 27 | Mavrik Bourque | DAL | RW | 24 | 61 | 12 | 25 | RFA |
| 28 | Gustav Nyquist | WPG | RW | 36 | 39 | 0 | 9 | UFA |
| 29 | Corey Perry | LAK | RW | 40 | 49 | 11 | 28 | UFA |
| 30 | Brennan Othmann | NYR | LW | 23 | 17 | 1 | 1 | RFA |
| 31 | Troy Stecher | TOR | RD | 31 | 48 | 3 | 12 | UFA |
| 32 | Jon. Marchessault | NSH | RW | 35 | 42 | 11 | 18 | 3x$5.5M |
| 33 | Mario Ferraro | SJS | LD | 27 | 59 | 4 | 13 | UFA |
| 34 | Brayden Schenn | STL | C | 34 | 60 | 12 | 25 | 2x$6.5M |
| 35 | Brad Lambert | WPG | RW | 22 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1x$867K |
| 36 | Kirby Dach | MTL | C | 25 | 26 | 8 | 13 | RFA |
| 37 | Nicolas Deslauriers | PHI | LW | 35 | 23 | 0 | 1 | UFA |
| 38 | Patrik Laine | MTL | RW | 27 | 5 | 0 | 1 | UFA |
| 39 | Ryan Strome | ANA | C | 32 | 32 | 3 | 8 | 1x$5M |
| 40 | Tomas Nosek | FLA | LW | 33 | 1 | 0 | 0 | UFA |
| 41 | Logan Stanley | WPG | LD | 27 | 59 | 9 | 21 | UFA |
| 42 | Shane Wright | SEA | C | 22 | 60 | 11 | 23 | 1x$867K |
| 43 | Ryan O'Reilly | NSH | C | 35 | 61 | 22 | 59 | 1x$4.5M |
| 44 | Jordan Kyrou | STL | RW | 27 | 50 | 14 | 33 | 5x$8.13M |
| 45 | Jordan Binnington | STL | G | 32 | 33 | 3.60 | .867 | 1x$6M |
| 46 | Sam Montembeault | MTL | G | 29 | 24 | 3.37 | .874 | 1x$3.15M |
| 47 | Steven Stamkos | NSH | RW | 36 | 61 | 30 | 47 | 2x$8M |
| 48 | Elias Pettersson | VAN | C | 27 | 52 | 13 | 35 | 6x$11.6M |
| 49 | Alex Tuch | BUF | RW | 29 | 60 | 24 | 52 | UFA |
| 50 | Jesper Wallstedt | MIN | G | 23 | 25 | 2.85 | .910 | 1x$2.2M |
Traded: No. 3 Andrew Mangiapane; No. 5 Tyler Myers; No. 8 Connor Murphy; No. 17 Jason Dickinson; No. 18 Michael McCarron; No. 25 Mackenzie Weegar.