NHL Trade Analysis: Gibson to Detroit, Dobson to Montreal, and More

The NHL Heats Up: Analysis of Key Moves in the Offseason

The NHL offseason is in full swing, and player trades have been piling up since the Florida Panthers won the Stanley Cup for the second consecutive season. Alofoke Deportes brings you a detailed analysis of the most important moves, with ratings for each team involved. Among the notable transfers, Chris Kreider joins the Anaheim Ducks, Trevor Zegras moves to the Philadelphia Flyers, and Noah Dobson is transferred to the Montreal Canadiens. In addition, John Gibson was sent to the Detroit Red Wings during the second day of the draft.

Analysis of Key Exchanges

Here are the reports of each major exchange, with the most recent agreements first:

June 28: Gibson to the Red Wings

After years of speculation, the Anaheim Ducks finally traded goaltender John Gibson. The Detroit Red Wings acquired Gibson, who was with the Ducks for over a decade, in exchange for goaltender Petr Mrazek, a 2027 second-round pick, and a 2026 fourth-round pick.

Detroit Red Wings

Grade: B+

The Red Wings’ general manager, Steve Yzerman, had many questions to answer this offseason after the club failed to make the postseason for nine seasons. One of them is what he and his front office staff would do regarding their goaltending situation. Acquiring Gibson now gives them the opportunity to have the stability that has eluded them. Injuries, along with the growth of Lukas Dostal, played a role in why Gibson was limited to 28 starts last season. But in that time, he won 11 games while recording a .912 save percentage, a strong figure compared to what the Red Wings experienced with their options in 2024-25. The Red Wings could use Gibson and Talbot as a tandem while letting Lyon go in free agency. The 31-year-old has two years left on his contract at $6.4 million annually, which also gives the Red Wings more time to develop Cossa in the AHL. According to PuckPedia, Detroit now has $18.411 million in cap space to address a roster that has decisions to make regarding UFAs like Patrick Kane and a three-player restricted free agent class that includes Jonatan Berggren.

Anaheim Ducks

Grade: A-

The Ducks’ general manager, Pat Verbeek, eventually had to deal with the dynamics surrounding Dostal and Gibson. Building through the draft has been a significant aspect of the Ducks’ rebuild, and Dostal is one of the players who has embodied that movement. In the last two seasons, Dostal went from a promising prospect to an NHL starting goaltender, and the 2024-25 season proved he could handle the demands of being the number 1. The 25-year-old finished the season with 23 wins, recording a .903 save percentage in 54 games playing behind a promising but mostly youthful defense that does include veterans Radko Gudas and Jacob Trouba. Dostal’s age, usage, and performances are factors that make him vital to the present and future of the Ducks. They will also play a role in what his next contract might look like, given that he is an RFA this summer. It’s not that the Ducks don’t have cap space. They certainly do, and a lot of it, which is why they seem to be in play for all the big names in free agency. But they also have three RFAs to sign in Drew Helleson, Mason McTavish, and Dostal. The same applies to the next offseason, when Leo Carlsson, Cutter Gauthier, Jackson LaCombe, Pavel Mintyukov, and Olen Zellweger will need to sign new contracts as RFAs still under team control. Even with the cap space the Ducks possessed at the start of the offseason, they had the opportunity to create more. That’s part of the reason they traded Trevor Zegras earlier this week. Trading Gibson, and the last two years of his contract, now pushes their cap space to $38.188 million, according to PuckPedia, which is the second highest in the league after the San Jose Sharks.

June 27: Coyle to the Blue Jackets

Needing cap space, the Colorado Avalanche created some on Friday by trading Charlie Coyle and Miles Wood to the Columbus Blue Jackets. In return, the Blue Jackets traded forward prospect Gavin Brindley, a 2025 third-round pick, and a conditional 2027 second-round pick to Colorado.

Colorado Avalanche

Grade: B+

The Avs secured a second-line center by signing Brock Nelson, added at the trade deadline, to a three-year contract extension worth $7.5 million annually. But that resulted in the Avs having only $1.2 million in salary cap space entering Friday, according to PuckPedia. Since the Avs have a class of six unrestricted free agents, led by Ryan Lindgren, and that meant they needed to do something. Coyle was one of the strongest candidates for a trade. His arrival at the trade deadline gave the Avs one of the best top-nine center dynamics in the NHL, behind Nathan MacKinnon and Nelson. But when a team faces a salary cap crisis, does it make sense to pay a third-line center $5.25 million average annual value when there are more favorable options for the team available? Wood was another possible candidate for a trade, given that he has four years left at $2.5 million AAV. Injuries and inconsistencies led to him scoring only 13 goals in the last two seasons with the Avs, the same amount he had in his last full season with the New Jersey Devils. But that also leaves the Avs needing to address their forwards from the bottom six, as well as possibly retaining Lindgren, along with anything else they’re looking to accomplish in free agency. It’s possible that Brindley could help with that at some point in the future. The 20-year-old player was one of the top prospects in the Blue Jackets’ farm system, which is one of the strongest in the NHL. A second-round pick in 2023, Brindley scored six goals and 17 points in 52 games while playing his first professional season in the AHL. Before that, Brindley starred at Michigan, where he scored 25 goals and 53 points as a sophomore during the 2023-24 season.

Columbus Blue Jackets

Grade: B+

At this point, the Blue Jackets have so much cap space that they can choose which deals make sense. Especially if it involves working with a team that needs to create cap space like the Avs. Coyle and Wood were a luxury in Colorado, but in Columbus they will strengthen the bottom six while allowing the front office to focus on other areas of free agency. Entering Friday, the Blue Jackets had six unrestricted free agent forwards, while Dmitri Voronkov is a restricted free agent. Adding Coyle gives them a third-line center with Sean Monahan and Adam Fantilli on the top two lines. Wood gives them a winger who can be used on the fourth line (or potentially higher); in total, the Jackets now have 13 forwards who are under contract or under team control as RFAs. They also have over $30 million in cap space, with the idea that some of that could be used on extensions for Dante Fabbro and Ivan Provorov. Brinkley was one of their best prospects, but the Blue Jackets still have promising forwards in their system, including Cayden Lindstrom, Jordan Dumais, and Luca Del Bel Belluz.

June 27: Dobson to the Canadiens

Defenseman Noah Dobson was the focus of a trade on Friday between the Montreal Canadiens and the New York Islanders with the idea that both franchises are heading in different directions. The Canadiens acquired Dobson after he signed an eight-year contract extension worth $9.5 million annually with the Islanders on Friday. New York obtained forward Emil Heineman and both of the Canadiens’ 2025 first-round picks, No. 16 and No. 17.

Montreal Canadiens

Rating: A

If there’s an opportunity to get a 25-year-old defenseman, right-handed shooter, who plays at the top, who can play in every scenario, who’s also packed into a 6-foot-4-inch frame, that’s a move a general manager should make. But, it is done with the full understanding that it will cost quite a bit, and that is what makes the decision of the Canadiens’ general manager, Kent Hughes, quite emphatic because of what it indicates about his team. Specifically, Montreal is serious about making its appearance in the 2025 playoffs a regular occurrence, with the goal of winning a Stanley Cup in the near future. Future. That is the word at the heart of what this exchange represented for the Canadiens. Having two first-round picks is a benefit. For rebuilding teams, it’s an opportunity to build towards what they believe is a stronger future, while playoff teams, or those on the cusp, use them as trade chips to acquire someone who can make them better now. Hughes took the last option with this agreement, and it provides Montreal with what appears to be one of the most attractive young defensive setups in the NHL. Dobson, who has scored 10 or more goals in four consecutive seasons, joins a group of young Canadiens defensemen that includes current Calder Trophy winner Lane Hutson, Kaiden Guhle, and Jayden Struble. The Habs also have recent first-round picks Logan Mailloux and David Reinbacher in their system. That’s six defensemen, all under 25 years old. Four of them are first-round picks, while the rest were second-round picks (including Hutson). This is what’s called a problem. Or rather, it has the potential to create a problem because of what that collection could achieve over time. But then there’s the real “problem” facing Hughes now that he has Dobson under contract, in the sense that the Habs are now $3.394 million over the salary cap (according to PuckPedia), while they have seven defensemen under contract or team control for 2025-26. It will force Hughes to decide which defense Montreal will shed to free up space under the salary cap, while having the necessary group to make the aforementioned playoff push. Veteran Mike Matheson has one year remaining on his contract at $4.88 million before becoming an unrestricted free agent, while Alexandre Carrier has two years remaining at $3.75 million annually before hitting the open market. Handling that situation as soon as possible allows the Habs to gain more financial flexibility in case they want to do more, although they also have a couple of RFAs in Struble and Jakub Dobes who need new deals.

New York Islanders

Rating: A

The new Islanders general manager, Mathieu Darche, spent six seasons in the Tampa Bay Lightning front office, which allowed him to appreciate the value of certain items. One of them is the value of building a long-term winner through the draft. General managers running lottery teams must have a level of honesty and understanding about the direction of their franchise. That’s what makes anything the Islanders do in Darche’s first offseason even more critical.

That doesn’t mean Dobson couldn’t have been part of those long-term plans on Long Island. But there’s also something to be said for identifying the strongest possible value a player has for your franchise, and determining that this value is greater with a return like the one Darche obtained here.

What Darche received in exchange for a top-line defenseman in Dobson will play an important role in shaping the Islanders for the next decade, if not more. Having the number 1 selection was a starting point towards that future, and it is likely that he will add talented defenseman Matthew Schaefer with that selection. But by adding two more first-round selections, he has even more options. Darche and his staff might decide they want to keep both picks they acquired from the Canadiens and select three players. After all, they would be adding more to a system that, despite having 2024 first-round pick Cole Eiserman, clearly needs talent. Part of the reason for this is that the Isles have had four draft classes since 2018 (2020, 2021, 2022, 2023) in which they did not have a first-round pick. ¿Will Darche seek to repackage one or both selections in another trade, hoping to do something more than he and his staff believe can prepare them for even greater long-term success? Although the future is in focus, there’s also something to be said about the present and what it means now that Dobson is gone. The Islanders now have five defensemen under contract and seven under team control, with a couple of pending RFAs in Scott Perunovich and Alexander Romanov. Tony DeAngelo and Mike Reilly are UFAs from the 2024-25 roster. The Islanders have $20.934 million in cap space (according to PuckPedia), which can be used to address their defensive needs along with anything else they need to handle this summer; that includes re-signing Heineman, who is an RFA after scoring 10 goals and 18 points in 62 games during his first full season in the NHL.

June 26: Peterka to the Mammoth

Two of the storylines to follow this NHL offseason were whether the Utah Mammoth could add at least one top-six forward to their roster, and whether the Buffalo Sabres would part ways with restricted free agent JJ Peterka. On Wednesday night or early Thursday, depending on the time zone, those narratives collided, with the Mammoth acquiring Peterka in a trade with the Sabres, with forward Josh Doan and defenseman Michael Kesselring heading west to New York. Let’s see how both main offices acted in this exchange, as well as what it means for each franchise in the future.

Utah Mammoth

Rating: A+

In 2024-25, the Utah Hockey Club was a top-10 team in terms of shot attempts, shots per 60 minutes, and scoring chances per 60, but finished 16th in goals per game. So there was a disconnect. With $20.357 million in salary cap space, a solution to that problem needed to be found.

And the last significant move for Mammoth general manager Bill Armstrong? Landing Peterka in a trade, then immediately signing him to a five-year extension worth $7.7 million annually.

Since Ryan and Ashley Smith bought the franchise and moved the team to Salt Lake City, the Mammoth have adopted a strategic but aggressive approach. It began last year when they traded for a legitimate number 1 defenseman in Mikhail Sergachev along with John Marino as part of a plan to revamp their blue line. Peterka is a continuation of that need to make another big splash. In doing so, the Mammoth add a proven 23-year-old goal scorer who not only addresses their need for more goals, but also fits into their long-term plans. After scoring 28 goals and what was then a career-high 50 points in 2023-24, Peterka responded with 27 goals and 68 points in 77 games in what would be his final season in Buffalo. Exchanges can often be about creating more options for a team, and Peterka gives the Mammoth plenty. They now have a top-six wing group that also includes Clayton Keller, Dylan Guenther, and Nick Schmaltz. That amounts to a quartet of 20-goal scorers to play with centers Logan Cooley and Barrett Hayton, who also scored more than 20 goals last season, anchoring those top two lines. Armed with what is considered one of the strongest farm systems in the NHL, the Mammoth didn’t have to part with any of their top prospects to get Peterka. They still have Matias Maccelli, who they could look to get rid of in another trade, and still have $14.982 million in cap space, according to PuckPedia. Nick Bjugstad and Michael Carcone are their most prominent unrestricted free agents, while Jack McBain remains their only restricted free agent. After landing a difference-making player at the No. 4 overall pick in the draft on Friday, or using that selection to acquire another NHL-ready player instead, they will be able to use most of that remaining cap space to be active in free agency on July 1st.

Buffalo Sabres

Grade: B-

The most appropriate word one could use to describe what Sabres general manager Kevyn Adams got in return for Peterka? Complicated.

Generally, a top-six forward under 23 years old who remains under team control will hypothetically attract a certain price. In a way, the Sabres were able to get that by receiving a pair of NHL players in Doan and Kesselring. But it can be argued that the Sabres didn’t receive enough. Missing the playoffs for the last 14 seasons has left the Sabres in the space between trying to end that drought, while keeping an eye on the future in case plans need to change (again). Although the Sabres have one of the strongest farm systems, the Peterka trade presented them with the opportunity to add more, either through draft capital or prospects. That’s especially true when the player at the center of the deal was so important to the Sabres, given that he was second on the team in points, third in goals, third in power-play points, and third in ice time among forwards with more than 70 games. It’s not that Adams left empty-handed. Doan could carve out a spot as a top-nine forward. Joining the Sabres is an opportunity for Doan to find the consistency that eluded him in Utah. He played 28 games in the AHL last season, in addition to the 51 games he played for the Hockey Club. Kesselring gives the Sabres a third right-shot defenseman on their roster. He finished with more than 20 points, while registering more than 70 games, in consecutive seasons. He was also sixth among Mammoth defensemen in average ice time; like Doan, he could see a more significant role in Buffalo. Doan and Kesselring give the Sabres depth. They will also cost the club a total of $2.325 million in cap space, and both players have one year remaining on their respective contracts before restricted free agency. The Sabres now have $20.881 million in cap space, according to PuckPedia. However, it still results in this question: Was a forward from the bottom six / middle six and a middle pairing defenseman (at best) enough for a top six forward? Or should Adams have gotten more for a player who is addressing one of the Mammoth’s biggest needs, while they are left with the need to fill a considerable hole in the roster?

June 23: Zegras to the Flyers

The rumor finally became reality on Monday with the Anaheim Ducks trading forward Trevor Zegras to the Philadelphia Flyers. The Ducks traded Zegras, who has long been discussed as a possible trade target, to the Flyers for forward Ryan Poehling, a 2025 second-round pick (originally belonging to the Columbus Blue Jackets) and a 2026 fourth-round pick. What does all this mean and how did both main offices do?

Philadelphia Flyers

Grade: B+

“Potential” is the word that will be used most to describe this exchange. It starts with the fact that Zegras gives the Flyers another top-nine center, in addition to what they already have with Sean Couturier and Noah Cates, with the idea that Zegras has the potential to become their first-line center. Zegras is a two-time 20-goal scorer who has also authored a pair of consecutive 60-point seasons. That could give the Flyers, who finished 24th in goals per game, another player who can score while creating opportunities for those around him. At 24 years old, he also potentially fits into the Flyers’ long-term plans. The Flyers were the youngest team in the NHL in 2024-25, with an average age of 26.09 years, according to Elite Prospects. Once again, the keyword here is potentially. Injuries and inconsistencies over the last two seasons created questions about whether Zegras could return to being the player who had those consecutive 60-point seasons in 2021-22 and 2022-23. Furthermore, they led to questions about whether he would return to or surpass those totals while remaining with the Ducks. Surrounding Zegras with wingers like Tyson Foerster, Travis Konecny, Matvei Michkov, and/or Owen Tippett could get him back on track. After all, at one point Zegras was among the league’s breakout stars and seemed poised to become one of the future faces of the NHL. He was chosen as the cover athlete for NHL 23. Then there’s the added incentive that Zegras is in the final season of a three-year contract worth $5.75 million annually. He will remain under team control as a restricted free agent for the next two seasons before becoming an unrestricted free agent at the end of the 2027-28 campaign. Even after assuming Zegras’ salary, the Flyers will still have $15.141 million in cap space, according to PuckPedia.