The NHL trade deadline is Friday at 3 p.m. ET. Starting Thursday, we’ll be following all the latest news, rumors and notes with our trade deadline live blog and tracker that you can follow all day.
If you want to get in on the fun, leave your comment below where we’ll answer any questions or fend off any criticism you might have.
11:38 p.m.: TSN’s Pierre LeBrun revealed the full trade between the Carolina Hurricanes and Pittsburgh Penguins involving Jake Guentzel. The Hurricanes received Guentzel and Ty Smith while sending Michael Bunting, Ville Koivunen, Vasili Ponomarev, Cruz Lucius, a 2024 first-round pick and a 2024 fifth-round pick.
9:12 p.m.: The Tampa Bay Lightning picked up a forward by acquiring Anthony Duclair and a 2025 seventh-round pick from the San Jose Sharks for Jack Thompson and a 2024 third-round pick, according to Frank Seravalli.
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7:54 p.m.: ESPN’s Greg Wyshynski reported the Hurricanes are expected to complete a deal with the Pittsburgh Penguins to acquire Jake Guentzel by the end of the night. Wyshynski added that Bunting will be a part of the deal.
6:29 p.m.: Hurricanes announced forward Michael Bunting won’t play Thursday night due to trade-related reasons and Elliotte Friedman reported it’s expected that Bunting will be part of deal for Jake Guentzel.
4:18 p.m.: There will probably be a handful of players sitting out Thursday night to protect them ahead of Friday’s deadline. New Jersey winger Tyler Toffoli is one of those players.
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3:40 p.m.: Suffice to say, Thursday has been quieter than Wednesday thus far. A big reason for that, it seems, is everyone is waiting for the Jake Guentzel domino to fall. We might be getting close to that happening, according to The Fourth Period’s David Pagnotta.
Guentzel is really good and would be a major get for a Cup contender like New York. He’s been better than a point-per-game player this season, but that would be a tremendous return for the Penguins, especially for a rental. Kakko is still really young (23) and has some undeniable offensive skill. He just hasn’t been able to put it together. Perhaps skating on a line with Sidney Crosby would help.
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11:33 a.m.: As expected, Joel Edmundson will be a very interested observer in Thursday night’s Bruins-Leafs game … because he’s about to join Toronto, not Boston.
While the Bruins were among the teams reportedly interested in the veteran defenseman, and even had the “inside track” as one report noted, the Capitals are instead sending the 30-year-old to the Toronto Maple Leafs, per multiple reports.
Certainly, it’s a reminder of how a team like the Bruins — that doesn’t have a pick in the first three rounds of the 2024 draft — might have to get creative to get something done at the deadline.
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11:10 a.m.: It sounds like Phil Kessel is about to have a new job.
10 a.m.: Jake Guentzel remains at or near the top of every “best players available” list ahead of the NHL trade deadline, and what the Penguins do with him could dictate the direction of a lot of teams.
According to Pierre LeBrun, it remains a wildly active market for the Penguins forward.
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8:25 a.m.: The big question locally, of course, is what will Don Sweeney and the Bruins do before the deadline, if they do anything at all? They had been reportedly connected to a pair of Flyers defensemen, and it sounds like there’s an emphasis on shoring up that blue line with Darren Dreger reporting the B’s are among the teams looking at Washington’s Joel Edmundson.
8 a.m.: Apparently, no one told NHL teams the trade deadline is Friday afternoon. Judging by the flurry of activity Wednesday into Thursday, teams are operating on a different schedule.
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NHL clubs have until 3 p.m. ET on Friday to complete deals, but the activity started in earnest Wednesday afternoon when a handful of major deals went down in a span of just a few hours.
The biggest move came Wednesday night when Noah Hanifin, one of the biggest names available, came off the board as the Calgary Flames sent him to the defending Stanley Cup champion Vegas Golden Knights. That comes a week after Calgary dealt Chris Tanev to Dallas, and the Flames might not be done with the recently acquired Elias Lindholm popping up in trade rumors throughout the last couple of days.
Edmonton was another busy team Wednesday, acquiring Adam Henrique and Sam Carrick from Anaheim in a blockbuster of its own. The move cost the Oilers a first-round pick in a deal that also got the Lightning involved as a facilitator to help make the money work. Another Western Conference contender, Colorado, made its own splash, plucking defenseman Sean Walker from the Flyers and landing Casey Mittelstadt from Buffalo. The Walker acquisition gives the Avalanche an embarrassment of riches on the blue line, a potentially tantalizing addition to a group led by Cale Makar, who then recorded his first career hat trick Wednesday night.
Then, in the Eastern Conference, the Rangers and Panthers — arguably the two best teams in the conference — each got better by acquiring Alex Wennberg (from Seattle) and Vladimir Tarasenko (from Ottawa), respectively.
Deep exhale.
Hopefully, from an entertainment standpoint, that’s just the beginning of the fireworks.
We’ll be following it all, though, so keep it locked here for the latest news, rumors and analysis as the day unfolds.
Featured image via Charles LeClaire/USA TODAY Sports Images
