Why NHL Draft weekend was a dud for major trades 

The NHL Draft is typically one of the big points on the league calendar where trade activity picks up. Teams use draft picks as trade capital, and in prior years, it was the one time all 32 general managers were in one place and could easily get together and do business with one another.

But despite a ton of rumors in the days and weeks leading up to the 2025 NHL Draft, the weekend went by with only a handful of trades (most of them involving draft picks) and only a couple that really registered as significant player movement.

The Montreal Canadiens acquired defenseman Noah Dobson from the New York Islanders for two first-round draft picks.

The Columbus Blue Jackets landed forward Charlie Coyle from the Colorado Avalanche.

The Detroit Red Wings got goalie John Gibson from the Anaheim Ducks.

The only one of those moves that really counts as a major blockbuster is the Dobson trade. 

And that was pretty much it for the weekend.

So what happened this weekend to shut down trade activity?

Well, there were three primary causes.

The first was the decentralized draft process that kept the 32 general managers and their front offices back in their home cities. That cut down on the number of face-to-face conversations and negotiations that take place on the draft floor, and made it slightly more difficult to get deals done.

The second reason is more financial. With the league's salary cap finally taking a major jump this season — and in future seasons — there were fewer teams in desperate need of shedding salary. There were not many teams dealing with a significant salary cap crunch, which cut down on the number of teams that desperately needed to shed salary. The salary cap has been one of the biggest drivers of trade activity in recent years, and with teams having more space to work with this season, there just hasn't been as much pressure. 

Then there is a third issue that was mentioned by Hurricanes general manager Eric Tulsky — there are not many teams selling, and everybody is looking to add to their roster.