The Three Top NHL Goalie Trade Candidates Following Hellebuyck Deal

Now that the New Jersey Devils have acquired star goaltender Connor Hellebuyck from the former Winnipeg Jets, attention is going to turn to the teams rumored to still be in the hunt for an experienced netminder – and the goalies who are believed to be available on the trade market.

Teams like the Carolina Hurricanes and Buffalo Sabres still could be searching for a goalie, and there are some veteran options out there if and when they decide to pony up and make a team an offer they can’t refuse. And given the mediocre package the Jets got for Hellebuyck – Dawson Mercer, Nico Daws, a couple of draft picks and promising prospect Alexander Command – you have to think the price tag for some of the goalies we’re going to mention below won’t be prohibitive.

With that said, here are three NHL goalies who could be next to be traded, in alphabetical order.

The odds-on favorite to be the next goaltender dealt is the 33-year-old Jordan Binnington, someone who has a Stanley Cup championship and a 4 Nations Face-Off gold medal on his resume.

Binnington has gotten off to a subpar start to the 2026-27 season, posting a 1-2-0 record, an .831 save percentage and a 4.68 goals-against average. Those are numbers that will frighten off some potential suitors for Binnington, but it must be noted that he’s playing on a thoroughly mediocre St. Louis Blues team, and he’s only two seasons removed from putting up a .900 SP and 2.69 GAA.

Binnington has been a workhorse for St. Louis, appearing in 97 games combined in the last two seasons. So, if he’s acquired by a significantly better team that uses him more selectively, Binnington’s effectiveness could improve significantly.

He is in the final season of a contract paying him $6 million per year, so teams that have done well at managing their salary cap will be able to absorb Binnington’s contract without the Blues retaining any salary. 

But Binnington’s championship pedigree is a clear selling point for his services. And if the Blues continue going nowhere fast in the standings, Binnington could be one of the first goalies thrown overboard by their current team.

Filip Gustavsson isn’t available to play right now as he recovers from off-season hip surgery, and he’ll likely stay on the sidelines for at least another month. But young star Jesper Wallstedt has been outstanding out of the gate this season, and although Gustavsson is in the first year of a five-year contract extension paying him an average of $6.8 million per season, you can see that as a positive for an interested team. Albeit, he does have a no-move clause in the first two years of this agreement.

Gustavsson will be a cost-certain asset who is still only 28 years old, and if his opportunities to play with the Minnesota Wild are going to be limited thanks to Wallstedt making the starter’s job his own, Gustavsson may well decide to take his talents elsewhere, to a team that sees him as their No. 1 option between the pipes.

The Swede is also a workhorse, as he’s appeared in a combined 153 games in the past three seasons. So splitting games evenly in a tandem with Wallstedt – or playing 30 games while Wallstedt plays 50 – doesn’t seem an ideal solution for Gustavsson.

But Gustavsson has generated an SP of between .904 and .914 over the past two years, and if he’s moved to a team seeking stability in net, Gustavsson might be the best short-term and long-term solution out there. 

The Toronto Maple Leafs may not be in any rush to trade Anthony Stolarz, especially considering he’s in the first year of a four-year contract extension. The 32-year-old is coming off a dismal 2025-26 season in which his individual numbers (.893 SP, 3.28 GAA) were below average, and Toronto essentially shunted him to the understudy position behind starter Sergei Bobrovsky this year. 

Meanwhile, the Leafs have their goalie-of-the-future in youngster Artur Akhtyamov, who won the AHL’s Calder Cup last season with the Toronto Marlies and was named MVP of the playoff campaign.

Akhtyamov won’t be waiver-exempt next season, so the Leafs will be at a crossroads with him and Stolarz – and it's hard to see a world where the Buds choose Stolarz over Akhtyamov. 

The annual cap hit for Stolarz is a very reasonable $3.75 million, and his experience as a Cup-winner with the Florida Panthers will only enhance his attractiveness as a trade target.

The Leafs won’t be able to get the sun and moon in any Stolarz trade - the idea would be to free up more cap space with which to address other areas for the Buds. But if there’s a team out there that values Stolarz as a low-cost alternative in net, we can see Stolarz traded by or before this year’s NHL trade deadline.

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