Leafs join trade deadline party as Oilers, Avalanche make moves
With one sleep left before the NHL trade deadline, the Toronto Maple Leafs joined the party by bulking up on defense and two Western Conference Stanley Cup contenders made more moves to improve in crucial areas.
The Colorado Avalanche acquired a pair of versatile forwards from Central Division rivals, Brandon Duhaime from Minnesota for a third-round pick in 2026 and Yakov Trenin from Nashville for a 2025 third and defense prospect Jeremy Hanzel. The Edmonton Oilers got defenseman Troy Stecher from Arizona for a fourth-rounder in 2027, and the Leafs received Joel Edmundson from Washington for a thirdrounder in this year’s draft and a 2025 fifth.
Colorado and Edmonton stayed active, after the Avalanche added center Casey Mittelstadt and defenseman Sean Walker in separate deals and the Oilers giving themselves serious depth down the middle by trading with Anaheim for Adam Henrique and Sam Carrick.
Toronto’s trade for Edmundson started the action Thursday, adding some much needed toughness on the blue line. He’s a left shot, which the Leafs have plenty of, but his playoff experience alone makes Edmundson a potentially important acquisition for a team dreaming of an extended run this spring.
The Capitals are retaining half of what’s left of Edmundson’s salary after Montreal already has 50% from a trade last offseason and getting a third-rounder that originally belonged to the New York Islanders. Salary retention makes the him quite the bargain for the Leafs at a cap hit of $875,000, just above the league minimum.
Edmundson, 30, helped the St. Louis Blues win the Stanley Cup in 2019 and is a pending free agent. He has skated over 16 minutes a game this season with Washington.
Earlier in the week, Edmundson seemed content with the possibility of being traded to a contender, though his focus at the time was on helping the Capitals.
“Everyone wants to win,” he said. “I want to win every year, so I think once you get that feeling once, you just want it to happen every year and when you see other teams win it, you just kind of get jealous and frustrated. So yeah, we all want to win it every year.”
But it’s not just the championship contenders getting in on the action.
The Predators, who hold one of the two wild-card playoff spots in the West, also picked up unsigned draft pick Graham Sward from Colorado and claimed forward Jaret Anderson-Dolan off waivers from the Los Angeles Kings.
And they may not be done, with buzz emerging Thursday about Nashville moving closer to getting winger Anthony Beauvillier from Chicago. Beauvillier has already been traded twice in the past 15 months.
Still also likely to be moved before 3 p.m. EST on Friday are Pittsburgh wingers Jake Guentzel and Reilly Smith, Washington center Nic Dowd and a couple of more Arizona pending free agents: defenseman Matthew Dumba and ex-Penguins forward Jason Zucker.