Five Big-Name NHL Stars Who Could Get Moved Before Friday’s Trade Deadline

The 2026 NHL Trade Deadline is rapidly approaching, with it officially slamming shut on Friday, 3 p.m. ET. While there’s been only one blockbuster move thus far, deadlines make deals, and several big names have been floated around in potential moves.

In the Western Conference, there’s a clear hierarchy, with the Colorado Avalanche leading the pack as the favorites to reach the Stanley Cup Finals while the Dallas Stars and Minnesota Wild attempt to chase them down.

However, the Eastern Conference is wide open, with seven teams within seven points of the conference-leading Carolina Hurricanes and no clear favorite emerging.

Meanwhile, teams like the Toronto Maple Leafs and Florida Panthers toil at the bottom of the conference after years of dominance and competing in the playoffs.

That dynamic has opened things up to a number of departures that nobody would’ve predicted prior to the start of the season, and we’re counting some of those potential moves down.

5) Robert Thomas – St. Louis Blues

Nobody had any illusions of the St. Louis Blues winning the Stanley Cup in 2026. However, the Blues did reach the playoffs a year ago and took top-seeded Winnipeg to seven games in the opening round.

They also returned a good chunk of that team, which isn’t exactly all that old. So it’s surprising to look at the standings and see St. Louis second from bottom in the Western Conference and well out of the playoff race.

If the Blues decide to pivot to a rebuild, the most-enticing trade chip have on their roster is 26-year-old center Robert Thomas, but it would take a pretty smooth move to pry him out of St. Louis.

Thomas has scored at more than a point per game rate each of the last two seasons, and while he’s a tick below that level this year, he’s also still driving play at a high rate.

He’s also still under contract until 2031, and a full no-movement clause kicked in earlier this season. So Thomas would have to consent to any potential move. Still, if St. Louis looks to move him, you can imagine the market for his service will be significant.

4) Jordan Binnington – St. Louis Blues

What if St. Louis decides it wants to pivot toward a rebuild while keeping its medium-term future intact?

In that case, trying to trade Stanley Cup-winning goaltender Jordan Binnington might well be the move. Since winning the Cup in 2019, Binnington has struggled to replicate his high level of play on a regular basis. However, he’s shown a penchant for stepping up in the playoffs and was great in goal for Team Canada at the 2026 Winter Olympics.

Binnington becomes a free agent after next season and carries a $6 million cap hit, so St. Louis might need to retain salary in order to get the turn they’d hope for in a move for the star goalie. But like Thomas, if he comes available, there will be suitors.

3) Elias Pettersson – Vancouver Canucks

When the Vancouver Canucks signed Elias Pettersson to an eight-year, $92.8 million contract at the end of the 2023-24 season, they did so believe they’d found their franchise centerpiece for years to come.

Pettersson and defenseman Quinn Hughes were supposed to be the anchors of a decade-long Cup contender. Instead, Hughes requested and was granted a trade to the Wild earlier this season, and Pettersson’s production has fallen off a cliff.

The 27-year-old scored 102 points in 2022-23 and then backed it up with 89 in 23-24. But since the big contract, he’s been a shell of that player, scoring just 45 points in 64 games last season.

Many believed a new coach, after the Canucks parted ways with Rick Tocchett, could get Pettersson back on track. But he’s continued to struggle this season with just 35 points in 52 games.

That means that trading Pettersson and his gigantic contract has gone from unthinkable to potentially impossible. But if Vancouver is willing to retain salary, it might just find a team willing to gamble on the Swede refinding his best form.

2) Sergei Bobrovsky – Florida Panthers

Finding Sergei Bobrovsky’s name on this list would have been unimaginable before the season started. After all, the two-time Vezina Trophy winner as the NHL’s best goaltender has led the Florida Panthers to back-to-back Stanley Cup victories.

But the Panthers have been plagued by injuries all season and currently sit third from the bottom in the Eastern Conference, well out of playoff contention even if superstar center Aleksander Barkov opted to return after missing the entire season,  thus far, due to injury.

That makes Bobrovsky, who doesn’t have a contract with the team beyond this season, a prime trade candidate for a team hoping that strong goaltending could put it over the hump in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

He does, however, carry a massive $10M cap hit and a 16-team no-trade list, making a potential move a little more difficult.

1) Auston Matthews – Toronto Maple Leafs

Hear me out for a second.

Is it likely that Auston Matthews, with 2.5 years remaining on his contract and a $13.25M cap hit that is the second-highest in the NHL, leaves the Toronto Maple Leafs prior to the trade deadline? Probably not.

But I wouldn’t call it impossible!

Everyone knew Toronto would take a step back after letting superstar winger Mitch Marner walk in free agency. But what people didn’t know is just how bad the Leafs would be. They currently sit just above Florida with the fourth-worst points total in the Eastern Conference and lost to the lowly Philadelphia Flyers on Monday night.

Matthews, though unlikely to replicate the 100+ point seasons he had in 2021-22 and 2023-24, is still an elite two-way center and undeniably one of the best in the league. Several teams would be overjoyed to have him.

However, his cap hit and a full no-movement clause make a deal difficult. If a trade is going to happen, it seems far more likely to occur in the offseason when teams have far more time to work out details and adjust their rosters accordingly.

But Matthews sure seems to be tiring of his time in Toronto, like Marner before he left, and a change of scenery could be in order.