NHL Trade Deadline affects players, talking point with coaches

The Coaches Room is a regular feature throughout the 2025-26 season by former NHL coaches and assistants who turn their critical gaze to the game and explain it through the lens of a teacher. In this edition, Drew Bannister, former coach of the St. Louis Blues and Sault Ste. Marie of the Ontario Hockey League, and defenseman with the Tampa Bay Lightning, Edmonton Oilers, Mighty Ducks of Anaheim and New York Rangers, provides some personal insight into what players and coaches might be thinking leading up to the NHL Trade Deadline on Friday at 3 p.m. ET. He also offered some thoughts on the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026.

I think as a player, the NHL Trade Deadline is certainly a distraction. I guess it depends on your organization and whether they're looking to buy or sell, but when families are involved it's tough. The first time I was traded before the Deadline from Tampa Bay to Edmonton (for Jeff Norton on March 18, 1997), my name was in the papers for quite a while.

It's actually a funny story because I got traded in the air and, ironically, I was with Tampa and we were flying to Edmonton because we were playing the Oilers. Back in those days, we didn't have Wi-Fi on the flight, but we had those old phones. I happened to be sitting behind one of our writers at the time and he was making a phone call to find out what was going on. I didn't hear his conversation, but I got a feeling of him being somewhat nervous or anxious to being around me. I asked him, "Hey, what happened?" He kind of buried his head, didn't really say and rightfully so. He didn't want to be the person to tell me.

It wasn't too much longer. We're landing and (Lightning coach) Terry Crisp called me to the front of the plane and let me know that I had been traded (for defenseman Jeff Norton). I think it was (Oilers vice president of hockey operations) Doug Risebrough who met me when I got off the plane and a day or two later, I was playing against my old team.

I think Tampa was trying to get older along their blue line and Edmonton was a younger team, but (the Oilers) had a great run in the Stanley Cup Playoffs that spring. It was a great experience to be a part of that and play a big role.

I think the second time I was traded from Edmonton to Anaheim (for defenseman Bobby Dollas on Jan. 9, 1998) was more of a shock because of the timing of it all. I skated in the morning with Edmonton and then was traded to Anaheim, which was our opponent that night. Me and Bobby just switched dressing rooms and played against each other.

At the time of my trades, I didn't have a wife or kids, but I think that certainly becomes a factor for married players and I noticed that more as a coach. Players are extremely uptight before the Deadline, and you can understand. It's a talking point with the coaches, too. You're just trying to focus on what you can control at the time, but it is something that affects players leading into it. I think a lot of the players, for the most part, want to stay with their organizations. There's not a lot of players looking to move on.

I think all players kind of feel that pressure and understand it and then try to work through it, but it is a distraction. Regardless, if you're new to it or have been around for 20 years, there's certainly a lot of tense moments in the dressing room.

Ahead of the Deadline, there's certainly a lot of these things that are out of players' control, so you just have to control what you can control. I find making a trade today is a lot different than a trade 20 years ago when I was playing. It's not easy to make hockey trades with the NHL salary cap and how it is and with players and picks moving, too.

When I was coaching in St Louis, we didn't make any trades before the Deadline. In the Ontario Hockey League, we loaded up so there were a lot of tough conversations to be made. When you're trading young players, there is some involvement with agents and parents at the time in notifying them and making sure they're kind of in the loop if something was going to happen. I think there's certainly a lot of conversations with general managers, together with the agents and the parents, when you know you're trading a 16-year-old kid who is leaving a city he thought he might play in for years. For the most part, I think the players understand when they get to that level in major junior that these are opportunities. I also think there's a little bit of a heads-up beforehand to kind of prepare them for the initial shot, too.

I wanted to also share a few words about the men's and women's ice hockey tournaments at the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026 because I thought the hockey was outstanding. Being Canadian and as much as you want to see the Canadian teams win, I think it was probably the best thing for men's and women's hockey moving forward. All Canadians were very proud of how both teams played.

I think Team USA's and Team Canada's Olympic men's and women's teams are very good. I'd be lying if I didn't say I thought the Canadian men's team was better, not because I'm Canadian, but I know as a coach, as a player, there's a lot of hockey games you win and you lose where you might be the better team or might not be the better team. Certainly, the U.S. men's team and women's team each had an outstanding performance by its goalies (Connor Hellebuyck, Aerin Frankel). They took advantage of the opportunities they had and Canada did not.

I think the Olympic Games were great for hockey. I really feel the NHL and PWHL should be proud with how their athletes represented the game and the positive effect it will have on both the men's and women's games at the amateur and professional levels. It was just incredible to watch.