3 Teams Who Could Make The Most Trades in 2025-26

The 2025-26 NHL season is right around the corner, and naturally, we like to ponder about trades. From buyers to sellers, it doesn't take long for the standings to take shape before the holiday break, and expect to see a flurry of moves around American Thanksgiving, and again before the Olympic break. 

As far as which teams will be busy, here's the three teams to watch on the trade market this season:

Nashville Predators

The Preds are a very mid team and if they struggle out of the gate this season, expect to see GM Barry Trotz have an absolute fire sale. He almost pulled the trigger last season, and after a very expensive summer, chose not to, and gave his veteran group another shot together. If Trotz hits the 'reset' button, look for Ryan O'Reilly, Steven Stamkos, Jonathan Marchessault, Michael Bunting, and Erik Haula to all be dealt before the deadline.

Vancouver Canucks

The Canucks surprised a lot of people when they re-signed Brock Boeser, and now they appear to be trying to do whatever they can to keep captain Quinn Hughes in town. Hughes wants to eventually play with his brothers in New Jersey, and has two seasons left on his current contract to keep him in Vancouver. If this season doesn't go as planned, he's likely getting moved to the Devils next summer. For now, expect to see the Canucks as 'buyers', and if their goaltender can get back to being a big strength of their game, they could do some damage in the Western Conference.

Pittsburgh Penguins

The wild card of the league. The Penguins are a team everyone's going to keep an eye on because of the future of Sidney Crosby. He's been very vocal this past offseason stating how much he wants to win again, and his agent Pat Brisson hasn't been shy to let everyone know a trade is more of a possibility than ever. Yes, it would take the Penguins being completely out of the playoff picture for Dubas to have a fire sale, but if he does, Crosby, Malkin, Rust, Karlsson, Rakell, Graves, and Jarry could all be moved.

Photo credit: Rob Gray-Imagn Images