The Western Conference is littered with teams who have legitimate Stanley Cup aspirations.
The Edmonton Oilers are the reigning Conference Champions and currently sit atop the betting markets as the Stanley Cup favourites and it’s hard to argue against that point. Their path to the Stanley Cup Final though will feature some combination of matchups against teams like the Vegas Golden Knights, Dallas Stars, or Colorado Avalanche, all three of which are also sitting squarely in their competitive windows
Even a team like Winnipeg Jets is continuing to look like they belong in that group and we probably shouldn’t sleep too hard on the Minnesota Wild either. The point is that the Oilers are sitting in a group of four to six teams that all believe they have a legitimate shot at winning it all this spring and that could make for a very interesting trade deadline.
Usually, when there’s this big of a clump of legit contenders in one conference and they’re all facing some amount of pressure the way that this group is, it leads to some sort of an arms race. One team makes a big splash and then a domino effect ensues as the other contenders try to prove that they’re just as serious about winning as the others.
While on the surface it looks like we could be heading towards that sort of a situation, the market may actually not allow that to happen. As it sits right now, there are very few teams who appear to be ready to hold a fire sale ahead of the March 7th deadline. In the West, the teams who are sitting near the bottom of the conference all have different complicating their deadline plans.
For the San Jose Sharks, while they have some nice pieces, like Mikael Granlund for example, they don’t have any more retained salary spots and that makes dealing with legit contenders difficult. The Nashville Predators have some good players, but they almost all have trade protection and come with a lot of term. Anaheim and Chicago could sell off if they wanted to, but neither of them has the kind of impact rentals available that teams would be willing to give up a first-round pick for.
There are teams sitting in the mushy middle like Seattle, Utah, and St. Louis but none of them have given the indication that they’d be willing to move out significant pieces. If one of them do flip the switch and decide to sell, they could change things.
Calgary could really shift the market as well but at the time of writing this, they’re sitting in a playoff spot and GM Craig Conroy has been pretty consistent with his messaging: they aren’t going to be sellers.
It’s a story similar to the Eastern Conference.
Earlier this week on Oilersnation Everyday, we asked NHL Insider Frank Seravalli whether or not the market could significantly change in the next few weeks.
“I’m not sold that that’s going to be the case, particularly in the Eastern Conference. Look at some of the teams outside of the Islanders, who I think are the only true seller,” said Seravalli.
There are a handful of teams that while they have pieces that they could sell off, might value keeping some good veterans around down the stretch, even if the playoffs appear unlikely. Montreal is a good example of this according to Seravalli.
“We had this conversation about David Savard. A fourth-round pick. Is that enough for you to move him if that’s what the price is? I’m keeping that guy. That doesn’t really help us and we have enough draft picks as it is. I’m going to protect my team.”
Even the teams that should be pure sellers, might not be willing to waive the white flag.
“The Sabres are likely to be on the outside looking in but they’re not a true seller in the traditional sense of that they’re looking for futures. Same with the Red Wings. A lot of these teams are neutral and considering more outside-the-box things,” added Seravalli.
The Sabres might want to do something more along the lines of the Byram for Mittlestadt swap we saw last year versus straight-up selling players in exchange for draft picks.
That could complicate things for a team like the Oilers.
They don’t have very many high-end prospects and they don’t have a surplus of young players already at the NHL level. If any team is going to do business with them, they’ll have to be willing to accept a package of draft picks or lower-end prospects and as it sits right now, there aren’t very many of those teams out there.
Of course, every year is an all-in year when you have Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, but if you’re an Oilers fan hoping the team trades their 2026 first-round pick and a big-name prospect to make a trade similar to the Mattias Ekholm deal from a few years ago… I wouldn’t hold your breath.
The market might simply not be there.
That’s not a problem that just the Oilers are facing either. I think the lack of true sellers will prevent the big dogs in the Western Conference from truly loading up.
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