The 2025-26 NHL trade season has officially begun!
On Friday, the Pittsburgh Penguins sent goaltender Tristan Jarry and forward Sam Poulin to the Edmonton Oilers in exchange for goaltender Stuart Skinner, defenseman Brett Kulak and a 2029 second-round pick.
Throughout the season up until the March 6 deadline, ESPN reporters will be grading each side on all of the big swaps, with the latest deals highest up on this page.
Read on for more, and keep this page bookmarked as the trade volume rises throughout the campaign!
Dec. 12: Oilers land Jarry, send Skinner to Penguins in goalie swap
The Edmonton Oilers finally addressed their multiple-season problem in goal by acquiring Pittsburgh Penguins netminder Tristan Jarry.
The Oilers sent goalie Stuart Skinner, defenseman Brett Kulak and a 2029 second-round pick to Pittsburgh for Jarry and forward Sam Poulin.
How did both GMs do in this deal? Let's dive in.
Penguins grade: B+
This trade is primarily about Jarry, of course. But it's about someone else, too: Sergei Murashov.
The 21-year-old, who was a fourth-round pick by the Penguins in 2022, has grown into potentially their most promising prospect. He starred in the MHL, the premier Russian junior league, for two seasons after he was drafted. He also won four of his seven KHL games while posting a .928 save percentage in those stints.
Murashov came to North America last season where he posted a .922 save percentage over 26 ECHL games before a .913 mark in the AHL in 16 games. He has a .943 save percentage in 11 AHL games this season, while having a .912 save percentage and a 1.90 goals-against average in four games with the Penguins.
It's the sort of trajectory that makes it evident that the Penguins have found their goalie of the future -- who could be playing right now. Even more so given Murashov has a chance to be the latest Russian goalie to make an impact in what has been a golden age for Russian netminders.
Murashov has one more year left on his contract at a team-friendly $861,000. Arturs Silovs and Skinner, who are both on the NHL roster, are in the final years of their deals. Together, they cost the Pens a combined $3.45 million in cap space, with Silovs set to become a restricted free agent this coming offseason.
Skinner does provide them with an experienced option in net, given that Murashov is in just his second season of North American hockey while Silovs has only 32 games, with a career-high 13 of those performances coming this season.
It creates the sort of environment that allows the Penguins to continue developing Murashov with the idea that they can give him the necessary minutes, rather than trying to juggle his workload versus that of a goalie such as Jarry, who was a significant financial investment with two more years left on his contract at north of $5 million annually.
Getting Jarry's contract off the books means the Penguins can now pave the way for Murashov to receive more playing time. They are now also armed with the sort of cap space that will allow them make other moves in their bid to reach the playoffs for the first time in three years.
PuckPedia projects that the Penguins have $9.164 million in salary cap space after the trade, which could give the Penguins an advantage entering the trade deadline. They entered Friday in the second Eastern Conference wild-card spot in a race that has 10 teams separated by six points.
Adding Kulak in the deal gives the Penguins an experienced top-six defenseman and someone who could anchor their bottom pairing. The Penguins have a clearly established top four, but have shuffled through their bottom-pairing options; they've had five defensemen who have played more than nine games and who have logged close to or more than 15 minutes per game. Kulak is averaging 17:42 in ice time per game this season.
Kulak can also provide the Penguins with another option on their penalty kill, as he has logged more than 100 short-handed minutes in two of his three most recent seasons.
Oilers grade: B
Any personnel decision the Oilers make is going to be viewed through the prism of whether it can help them win the Stanley Cup now. Trading for Jarry -- or any goaltender -- while moving away from Skinner reflects that reality.
There had been more than enough evidence in place to suggest that the Oilers needed a change in net. Advancing to the Stanley Cup Final in consecutive seasons made it extremely clear that the Oilers are in a championship window. Constantly having to press the proverbial reset button on Skinner in both of those runs to the Cup Final, however, played a significant role in what made their chances of winning a title rather murky by comparison.
Skinner recovered the first time the Oilers pulled him and brought him back during the 2024 playoffs. He finished with a save percentage greater than .900 in eight combined Stanley Cup Final and Western Conference playoff games. Last postseason, Skinner had four games with a save percentage greater than .900 in the Cup Final and conference finals -- with three of those games coming in the conference finals.
It's an even more damning reality with the consideration that the Oilers have possessed one of the strongest defensive structures in the NHL since hiring Kris Knoblauch in November 2024. The last two years have seen the Oilers rank in the top eight in allowing the fewest shots per 60 minutes, the fewest scoring chances per 60 and the fewest high-danger scoring chances allowed per 60, according to Natural Stat Trick.
Only to then have the ninth-lowest team save percentage in 5-on-5 play over that same span.
This season has been no different. The Oilers are a top-10 team in terms of the fewest shots allowed per 60 and the fewest high-danger scoring chances allowed per 60. That's why they entered Friday in the first of the two Western Conference wild-card spots.
But despite that strong defensive structure, they are last in team save percentage in 5-on-5 play. That's also why they entered Friday in a wild-card spot instead of sitting atop the Pacific Division -- granted, they're just five points behind first place.
Another item that hinted that a change could be coming was the fact that Skinner and Calvin Pickard are in the final season of their respective contracts, at figures that could be moved. Skinner is earning $2.60 million this season, while Pickard is at $1 million.
Jarry provides the Oilers with a two-time All-Star goalie who they believe can give them the consistency that's been missing. Five of his six most recent campaigns have seen Jarry finish with a save percentage of more than .900.
He will also be under contract for two more years after this one, at $5.38 million annually. That means he'll come off the books after the 2027-28 season -- the same time that superstar captain Connor McDavid's two-year extension will be over and could potentially see him hit free agency for the first time.
Will the Oilers have won a Cup by then? Or will the next two years see them get close only to fall short again? -- Ryan S. Clark