NHL teams are no longer afraid to trade multiple first-round picks, and it's probably smart business

In fact, they seem to be excited to do so. They have finally caught on to the real value of those picks.

There were some big moves across the NHL this past week, and it was one of the rare instances of the never-ending rumor mill actually delivering results.

In most years, the trade speculation that precedes the deadline and NHL Draft week produces an emphatic dud where almost nobody of consequence or interest gets moved.

But this week we saw some actual player movement with the likes of Brady Tkachuk, Jordan Kyrou, Pavel Dorofeyev, JJ Peterka, Bowen Byram, William Eklund, Mackie Samoskevich, Simon Nemec, Valeri Nichushkin, Ross Colton and Mason McTavish, among others, all get moved.

There could be more seismic moves on the horizon as the Detroit Red Wings deal with Dylan Larkin’s trade request, while the Columbus Blue Jackets (Zach Werenski and Kirill Marchenko) and Winnipeg Jets (Connor Hellebuyck) figure out what they are going to do with disgruntled stars that might want out sooner-rather-than-later.

And then there is potentially the biggest name of them all in Jason Robertson, and whether or not the Dallas Stars can figure out how to get him signed as a restricted free agent or if they move him out.

In other words:

The one thing that stands out about a lot of the trades that have already happened (and some that almost happened), is the ferocity with which teams are willing to trade multiple first-round picks. Or, in some cases, picks that would have previously never been put on the table in potential trade talks.

Just consider the picks and trades we have seen over the past few days:

• The Chicago Blackhawks traded the No. 4 overall pick to the Buffalo Sabres for defenseman Bowen Byram. That was the first time a top-five pick had been traded, when both teams involved in the trade knew a pick would be in the top-five, since the 2008 NHL Draft. And even in that instance it was a trade up/down situation, not a straight up trade of the pick. This was a pure “pick-for-player” trade. This never happens with picks that high.

• The No. 9 overall pick was traded two different times this past week, going from Florida to Ottawa in the Brady Tkachuk trade, and then going from Ottawa to San Jose for William Eklund.

• The No. 7 overall pick would have been traded from Seattle to Dallas had Robertson been willing to re-sign with the Kraken.

• The Utah Mammoth traded the No. 23 overall pick in the draft to the Detroit Red Wings for goalie Sebastian Cossa, a 23-year-old goalie that has played one NHL game. That is an almost unheard of trade for a completely unproven goalie.

• Tkachuk, Peterka, Nemec, McTavish and Dorofeyev were all traded in deals that included MULTIPLE first-round picks, including the Tkachuk deal that saw three first-round picks change hands.

All of these types of moves are, to some degree, relatively unheard of in recent years.

But I want to especially focus on the latter point as it relates to multiple picks moving for one player. And sometimes (as is the case with Nemec and McTavish) it is for one player that is still largely unproven and/or not actually that impactful.

Going back to the 2025 NHL Trade Deadline there have already been eight trades made where one team gave up multiple first-round picks as part of the deal.

The aforementioned five trades this offseason (Tkachuk, Peterka, Nemec, Dorofeyev and McTavish) as well as last year’s trades involving Oliver Bjorkstrand (Seattle to Tampa Bay), Noah Dobson (New York to Montreal) and Mikko Rantanen Carolina to Dallas).

That’s eight in a little over a year-and-a-half.

For perspective: As far as I can find (and if you think of any or find any that I may have missed, please let me know) between 2005 and the 2025 NHL Trade Deadline, a span of 20 years, there were only eight trades made that involved a team giving up multiple first-round picks in a single trade for a player.

The list of players acquired in those trades:

• Brandon Hagel (Chicago to Tampa Bay in 2022)

• Seth Jones (Columbus to Chicago in 2021)*

• Matt Duchene (Ottawa to Columbus in 2019)

• Erik Karlsson (Ottawa to San Jose in 2018)

• Brayden Schenn (Philadelphia to St. Louis in 2017)

• Phil Kessel (Boston to Toronto in 2010)

• Chris Pronger (Anaheim to Philadelphia in 2009)

• Chris Pronger (Edmonton to Anaheim in 2006)

*The Jones trade is also a little misleading on this list because it involved Chicago and Columbus swapping first-round picks in one year, with Columbus only actually gaining one first-round pick as a result of the trade.

Even so, it was not only nearly unheard of for a team to deal multiple first-round picks in a trade for one player, on the rare occasion that it DID happen prior to 2017 it was only happening for guys like Chris Pronger (two times), Phil Kessel and Erik Karlsson.

Not Simon Nemec and Mason McTavish.

The real line in the sand here was around 2017 with the Schenn trade. You saw a few similar moves in the years after that before the recent surge this past offseason.

So what’s with the sudden increase in teams being willing to move out multiple first-round picks for one player? And is it worth it?

When it comes to the first question, It might be the perfect storm of salary cap flexibility, knowledge, and smarter general managers taking advantage of that knowledge.

As for the second question? It probably is.

Let’s talk about it.

1. Salary cap flexibility means a lot for both sides of a trade