Insider: No Trades Coming With The Standings So Tight

Thursday, November 27, 2025 , , , ,
NHL game puck.

Look at the standings and you can see why the phones are active but actual trades are not. 

In the Atlantic, first and eighth are separated by only seven points, with the Buffalo Sabres sitting last yet just a couple wins from the pack, and the Toronto Maple Leafs only just ahead. The Metropolitan is just as crowded through the middle, and even out West there is almost no daylight between the wild-card hopefuls. 

On SiriusXM NHL Network Radio, David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period summed it up by saying that because the East is so tight, “nobody feels like they’re out of it,” which makes general managers far less eager to sell this early.

Pagnotta: Tight Eastern Race Means Nobody Feels “Out of It”

Buffalo is the perfect example. Pagnotta noted all the noise around Alex Tuch’s future but stressed that the Sabres are only at the quarter mark and still want to see if they can string together a run behind Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen and Tage Thompson before even thinking about moving core pieces. 

One night the sky is falling, the next night a win has everyone talking playoffs again, and that emotional swing is exactly what keeps GMs cautious. As Pagnotta put it, teams are asking questions, pricing out the market and checking on who might be available later, but they are not ready to pull the trigger while a good week can still change the entire picture.

Predators Have Cap Space, But “Hockey Trades” Are Hard To Make

Pagnotta has also pointed to the Nashville Predators as a club that looks ripe for a shake-up on paper but is still more in listening mode than dealing mode. 

Barry Trotz has been open about his team’s struggles, yet Nashville’s real advantage right now is cap space rather than a burning desire to dump players. With more than seven million in room, they could absolutely chase a true 2C upgrade, but Pagnotta stressed that nobody around the league is going to “help you out” just to fix your slow start. 

In a year where the standings are jammed and the cap finally rising, any trade requires serious assets, and contenders are reluctant to sacrifice futures before they know where they really sit.

So for now, Pagnotta expects more tire-kicking than blockbuster action. Teams like the Sabres will keep evaluating, clubs like the Predators will keep scouting and talking, and potential sellers such as the Calgary Flames and St. Louis Blues will wait to see if the table finally stretches out. 

Until there is real separation in the standings and a few franchises admit they are done, the message from one of the league’s plugged-in insiders is to not expect many big trades while everyone can still convince themselves they are one hot streak away from climbing back into the race.

Photo Credit: Eric Bolte-Imagn Images

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