The 2027 NHL trade deadline
- The 2026-27 trade deadline is reported for Monday, March 1, 2027.
- After it, teams can't make trades again until their season is over.
- Contenders ("buyers") add for a playoff run; teams out of the race ("sellers") turn veterans into picks and prospects.
- With the salary cap now enforced in the playoffs, deadline deals have to fit the cap all the way through June.
When is the deadline?
The collective bargaining agreement puts the deadline about 40 days before the end of the regular season, moved when that would land on a weekend. For 2026-27, with the season now 84 games long, it's reported for Monday, March 1, 2027.
Buyers and sellers
By late February most teams know which side they're on. Buyers want a scoring winger, a depth defenceman or a backup goalie for the playoffs, and pay with draft picks and prospects. Sellers move players on expiring contracts, called "rentals", who would leave as free agents in the summer anyway.
How teams make the money work
- Retained salary: a seller keeps up to half of a player's cap hit so a capped-out contender can afford him. A third team sometimes joins to retain more, for a pick.
- Cap space as an asset: teams with room "rent" it out, taking a bad contract in exchange for a sweetener.
- No playoff loophole: the cap now applies to the players dressed in each playoff game, so teams can't stash a big contract on injured reserve all season and add it back for the playoffs.
What changes after the deadline
Trades stop until the season is over, so the roster a contender has after the deadline is, give or take injuries, the one it takes into the playoffs.
Deadline day in PuckBoss
In PuckBoss the sim stops on the morning of deadline day and you run it from the war room. AI general managers call with offers that expire within hours. Decide whether you're buying or selling, then beat the clock.
See every team's cap space · How the salary cap works