The Dallas Stars will be a contending team for many years after their work at the NHL Trade Deadline. Dallas was the benefactor of the Mikko Rantanen drama, as they ended up being the team to ink him to an eight-year contract extension.

No one will argue that the Stars walked away from the trade deadline as one of the league’s biggest winners, but Nill’s wizardry to bring in one of the NHL’s top scorers still doesn’t address the team’s biggest need of defensive depth.

The Los Angeles Kings were relatively quiet at the 2025 NHL trade deadline, with the team’s lone addition being depth forward Andrei Kuzmenko. Despite the small upgrade, the Kings are perfect since the deadline,