5 NHL Players Likely to Be Traded Next During the 2024-25 Season

With most teams having completed their roster-building for the 2024-25 season it is time to start looking ahead to some players that could be on the move once the season begins.

Specifically, players that could be rentals and are playing in the final year of their contracts.

So let's take a look at five players that could be on the move during this season and before the 2024-25 trade deadline.

It seems unlikely that the truly big names are going to get moved.

For example, if Toronto was going to trade Mitch Marner, it would have done so by now, and the Maple Leafs are going to be in too much contention during the season to move him.

While it is easy to speculate on Sidney Crosby's future given his lack of a contract extension this offseason, it still seems more likely than not that he gets a new contract with the Pittsburgh Penguins and finishes his career there.

The players most likely to get traded are the next tier down on the hierarchy of NHL players.

These are some of those potential options.

Ullmark may have just arrived In Ottawa earlier this offseason after coming over in a trade with the Boston Bruins.

There is a very good chance it is a short stay in Ottawa.

Not only is Ullmark entering the final year of his contract and set to become an unrestricted free agent after this season, there is a very real chance the Senators miss the playoffs again and fall out of serious playoff contention by the trade deadline.

If the Senators are not convinced they can re-sign Ullmark to be their long-term goalie, and if they are not in playoff contention for the eighth year in a row, it would only make sense for the Senators to put him on the market and try to get something back for him.

Ehlers' name has been involved in trade rumors for more than a year now, and it is a little surprising he has not already been traded by the Jets.

He is set to become an unrestricted free agent after the 2024-25 season and could be one of the skaters available at the trade deadline if the Jets are not in a playoff position.

Even though the Jets made the playoffs a year ago, there is no guarantee they do so again this season.

A lot of their success in 2023-24 was due to starting goalie Connor Hellebuyck playing out of his mind and at a Vezina Trophy level for the entire season.

That masked a lot of Winnipeg's very real flaws, especially on defense.

If Hellebuyck takes any sort of a step backwards this season, or simply gets overplayed and overworked, there is a very real chance the Jets also take a big step backwards.

Ehlers has remarkably consistent production and can usually be counted on to score 25 goals with 60 points over an 82-game season.

A lot of teams could use him in their top-six forward group.

The Flames acquired Kuzmenko as part of the Elias Lindholm trade during the 2023-24 season and it ended up being a great opportunity for him to get a fresh start and rediscover the goal-scoring touch he displayed during his debut season in the NHL.

He might not ever score 39 goals again, but he still has the ability to be a 25-30-goal scorer in the NHL and be a viable complementary player for a contender.

The Flames are not going to be that type of contender.

Given how many veteran players they have traded away over the past year (Lindholm, Chris Tanev, Noah Hanifin, Jacob Markstrom, Andrew Mangiapane) they are likely headed for another non-playoff season and just starting to re-tool their organization.

If not completely rebuild it.

As a pending free agent, Kuzmenko should be the next player to get moved this season.

Kakko is the type of player that is going to get perpetually underrated and underappreciated.

He was a No.

2 overall pick and entered the NHL with huge expectations for a big-market team.

But so far his traditional box score production has not really matched any of that.

Because of that, he is always going to be viewed as an underwhelming player, and perhaps even a bust.

But he's not.

He is a really good player that does a lot of important things for his line and is the type of player every coach and general manager would love to have.

If he was picked 24th instead of No.

2 overall the perception of him would be entirely different as a player.

Despite that, it still seems like a trade could be on the horizon.

For as useful as he is, the Rangers still do not seem to fully trust him to take on a bigger role, and he is one of several players that will be eligible for restricted free agency this offseason and due a significant raise.

Perhaps the Rangers do not want to pay that raise.

Maybe they do not want to risk an offer sheet situation.

Or perhaps he is just the type of player that could be dangled as an in-season trade chip to help them get better in other areas.

Good player.

It still seems like his time with the Rangers could be limited at this point.

Vatrano was mentioned in trade rumors for most of the 2023-24 season as he put together a career year for a rebuilding Ducks team.

If they were looking to get maximum value in moving him, they probably missed that chance.

But they should still be able to get a decent return for him as a rental this season, especially if he has another big year offensively.

In two years with the Ducks he has scored 59 goals in 163 games.

He is not the most complete player, and he can be a little one-dimensional at times, but that one dimension can be extremely productive and valuable.

A contender that needs a finisher should be extremely interested.

The Ducks are starting to build a promising team, but Vatrano does not figure to be a part of their long-term plans or a key player on the next contending Ducks team..

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