Photo: David Kirouac-Imagn Images
With the 2024-25 NHL season in the books, there were lots of trades throughout the campaign that shaped this year in particular as the Florida Panthers acquired two stars in trade deadline deals in route to their second straight Stanley Cup victory and Washington Capitals made over a third of their roster to go from squeaking in as the second wild-card in the East just a season prior to finishing first in the Eastern Conference during the regular season. NoVa Caps ranks the top five trade acquisitions of the season:
The ranking was determined by impact of the acquisition(s) on the team, whether the player was signed short- or long-term, age of the player, and the cost the acquiring team gave up to get these players.
5. RW Mikko Rantanen, Dallas Stars
Trade: acquired by Dallas from Carolina Hurricanes for RW Logan Stankoven, 2026 first-round pick (top-10 protected, would convey to an unprotected 2027 first-round pick), 2026 third-round pick, 2027 third-round pick, 2028 first-round pick (top 10 protected, would convey to an unprotected 2029 first-round pick) on March 7
After Carolina acquired the 28-year-old then pending unrestricted free agent from the Colorado Avalanche, they failed to sign Rantanen and tested the trade market for him before the trade deadline. Rantanen agreed to an eight-year contract that carries a $12 million cap hit with Dallas and the two teams executed a trade.
Rantanen ended the regular season with five goals and 18 points in 20 games with Dallas. He started the postseason with just an assist through his first four games but finished with nine goals (sixth in the NHL) and 22 points (tied for seventh) in 18 postseason outings. It included a seven-game stretch where Rantanen posted all of his goals and 17 of those points, which was highlighted with back-to-back hat-tricks in an epic Game 7 of the first round against his former team (where Dallas trailed 0-2 with under 12 minutes left in regulation) in one of the best revenge games ever and Game 1 of the second round against the Winnipeg Jets.
4. D Jakob Chychrun, Washington
Trade: acquired from Ottawa Senators for D Nick Jensen, 2026 third-round pick on July 1
Chychrun, 27, recorded 20 goals (third among NHL defensemen), 47 points (tied with MacKenzie Weegar of the Calgary Flames for 16th), a +17 rating, .522 five-on-five Corsi-for percentage, .4872 five-on-five expected goals-for percentage, and .5249 five-on-five scoring chances-for percentage in 74 games, where he averaged 21:04 per game, including 2:15 on the power play (both second among Washington defensemen). Chychrun added three goals and five points in the postseason.
He gave the Capitals the much-needed offensive boost from the blueline, which finished 31st in goals by defensemen during the 2023-24 season and took a lot of pressure off of John Carlson.
Chychrun, who could have become an unrestricted free agent after the season, signed an eight-year contract extension that comes with a $9 million cap hit with Washington on March 25.
3. C Pierre-Luc Dubois/G Darcy Kuemper, Washington/Los Angeles Kings
Trade: one-for-one on June 19, 2024
With Nicklas Backstrom’s future in doubt after he last played on October 29, 2023, the Capitals parting with Evgeny Kuznetsov just over three months prior, and Charlie Lindgren taking Kuemper’s job as the Capitals’ starting goalie, Washington and Los Angeles executed a mutually beneficial trade. Dubois, who came off of a disappointing season, signed an eight-year contract that carries an $8.5 million cap hit with the Kings the previous summer.
The change of scenery worked out beautifully for everyone as Washington took a forward step forward while Los Angeles had a six-point improvement from the 2023-24 campaign.
Dubois, 26, set career-highs with 46 assists, 66 points, a +27 rating, and .547 five-on-five expected goals-for percentage in 82 regular-season games. He was regularly deployed against the other teams’ top lines and ultimately got one second- and fifth-place vote in the Selke Trophy polls as the NHL’s best defensive forward. Although, his production faded in the postseason with just three helpers, Dubois did his job in shutting down Nick Suzuki’s line against the Montreal Canadiens in the first round.
Meanwhile, Kuemper, 35, ended the season third Vezina Trophy voting as the NHL’s top goaltender after going 31-11-7 with a .922 save percentage (third in league), 2.02 goals-against average (second), five shutouts (tied for fourth), and 22.93 five-on-five goals-saved above expected (third among goalies to play at least 34 games). Although, Kuemper’s save percentage went down to .889 and goals-against average increased to 3.74 as the Kings blew a 2-0 lead en route to a six-game first round exit against the Edmonton Oilers in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
2. LW Brad Marchand, Florida
Trade: acquired from Boston Bruins for 2027 or 2028 first-round pick on March 7
With Boston needing to start over and opting to blow up their core, they declined to extend their 37-year-old captain and pending unrestricted free agent, who expressed Florida as one of the few alternatives he would go to with an eight-team no-trade clause.
Marchand played only 10 regular-season games as a Panther due to an upper-body injury, recording two goals and four points.
Marchand’s 10 goals in 23 postseason games, including six in six Stanley Cup Final appearances (two in Game 5 against the Edmonton Oilers to put the team on the verge of a championship coming home), were tied for fourth while his 20 points were tied for 10th to help Florida repeat as Stanley Cup Champions. He also scored one of the biggest goals of Florida’s championship run in overtime at the end of Game 3 of the second round against the Toronto Maple Leafs with the team already down 0-2 in the series. Marchand, who got seven out of a possible 18 first-place votes for the Conn Smythe Trophy as postseason MVP and finished second with 68 points (11 behind Florida center Sam Bennett) in that race, also posted a goal and three points in Game 7 against Toronto, a 6-1 win.
If the pick converts to 2027, and either Florida’s 2027 first transfers to the Chicago Blackhawks from the trade that sent defensemen Seth Jones to Sunrise or the pick is top-10, then it gets pushed to a 2028 first-rounder.
1. G Logan Thompson, Washington
Trade: acquired from Vegas Golden Knights for 2024 83rd overall pick (G Pavel Moysevich), 2025 third-round pick on June 29
After trading Kuemper and with Lindgren having started in just 110 career regular-season games entering the season, Washington got him a partner in Thompson without having to give up very much at all.
The 28-year-old tied for ninth league-wide with a .910 save percentage, finished seventh with a 2.49 goals-against average, and pitched two shutouts in 43 regular-season games, where he finished with a 9.46 five-on-five expected goals-save above average and career-best 31-6-6 record. Thompson, who signed a six-year contract extension that carries a $5.85 million cap hit on January 27 before being eligible to become an unrestricted free agent, finished fourth in the Vezina Trophy race, just behind Kuemper.
Thompson was also solid in the postseason with a .917 save percentage, 2.41 goals-against average, and 3.86 five-on-five expected goals-saved above average.
Application For Ranking
Ultimately, acquiring Thompson did not come with much risk as he is in the prime of his NHL career and the Capitals were able to lock him down for the long-term. Meanwhile, Florida and Dallas parted with high futures to acquire Marchand and Rantanen. Taking the risk may have been well worth it but there is also no guarantee that 37-year-old Marchand will return as a Panther in the fall as the team has some very tough decisions ahead with limited salary cap space.
The trade between Washington and Los Angeles may have been mutually beneficial but the sides also gave up a Vezina finalist and a Selke-level center, respectively.
There was also a cost to acquiring Chychrun for the Capitals as Jensen had a very strong year in a shutdown role for a young-and-upcoming Ottawa team that finally broke through as they qualified for the postseason for the first time since 2017.
By Harrison Brown
