NHL Playoff Race: Who's Hot and Not Since the 2024 Trade Deadline?

By the end of this week, we'll be at the midpoint between the 2024 NHL trade deadline and the end of the regular season. 

The deadline is a great separator between the teams that think they have a legitimate shot at chasing a championship and those that would prefer to cash in their chips.

Heading into the games on March 25, three teams have elevated their status as contenders by avoiding a regulation loss since the door slammed on player transactions at 3 p.m. ET on March 8. 

At the other end of the spectrum, two teams that were running hot ahead of the deadline have sagged dramatically after selling off some assets. Another stood pat but is not out of the race yet.

Here's a look at the hottest and coldest teams since they were in playoff contention at the deadline.

In mid-February, the Avalanche kicked off a 14-3-1 streak that has included a 7-0-0 record since the trade deadline. 

Home-ice advantage is intense in the Mile High City. Colorado is 28-6-0 at Ball Arena, and Nathan MacKinnon is pushing for his first-career scoring title with points in every single home game this season.

To augment their roster at the deadline, the Avalanche picked up forwards Casey Mittelstadt, Yakov Trenin and Brandon Duhaime, along with defenseman Sean Walker. They parted with Bowen Byram, Ryan Johansen and Kurtis MacDermid.

The Avs' killer instinct burns brightest when they come back from multi-goal deficits. Most recently, they erased a 4-0 hole to beat Pittsburgh in overtime on Sunday.

Meanwhile, in Music City, the Nashville Predators are on a record-setting run of 15-0-2, which dates back to Feb. 17 — two days after they dropped a 9-2 divisional game to the Dallas Stars on home ice and right before they were set to see U2 at The Sphere in Vegas during a western road swing.

During a transitional year for Nashville, captain Roman Josi deserves credit for keeping the train on the tracks. His 18 goals tie him with Cale Makar for tops among defensemen, and he's producing at better than a point per game.

Credit should also go to rookie GM Barry Trotz, who got it right with his savvy off-season signings of Ryan O'Reilly, Gustav Nyquist and Luke Schenn while bringing along homegrown players like Tommy Novak and William Carrier. 

At the deadline, Trotz elected to buy low on Jason Zucker, surrendering only a sixth-round pick. He also signed Novak, Dante Fabbro and Mark Jankowski to contract extensions while simultaneously dealing away impending UFA Trenin to his division rival in Colorado.

Then, there's the Lightning, who refuse to go away quietly no matter how many times it's declared that their Stanley Cup window has closed. 

Nikita Kucherov is back to his 2019 self, at the top of the scoring race and challenging for the Hart Trophy. And while Andrei Vasilevskiy's save percentage for the year is still below .900, he's carrying most of the workload and getting wins.

Since the deadline, Tampa Bay is 6-0-1, despite having just finished a five-game road trip that started in Florida and ended in Anaheim. Jon Cooper's group is now comfortably clear of the playoff cutline and only four points back of Toronto for third place in the Atlantic.

At the deadline, Lightning GM Julien Brisebois went bargain shopping — with good early returns. Anthony Duclair has five goals and nine points in seven games, and with Mikhail Sergachev and now Victor Hedman out injured, Matt Dumba is logging more than 20 minutes a night on the blueline.

At .850, their points percentage since the deadline is slightly lower than the three teams mentioned above. But with 10 games played, the Carolina Hurricanes have been one of the busiest squads in the NHL. And with a record of 8-1-1 since the deadline, they're looking like their deadline acquisitions of Jake Guentzel (12 pts in 8 games) and Evgeny Kuznetsov (5 pts in 10 games) have been terrific fits.

Having Freddie Andersen back in the fold doesn't hurt, either.

Let's take these first two teams together.

Before the deadline, the Kraken and the Flames were both six points out of a wild-card spot. What made their situations interesting was that they were both surging, despite being deadline sellers. Seattle had won four out of its last five games; for Calgary, it was six out of seven. 

The Kraken's only deadline deal was sending Alexander Wennberg to the New York Rangers. They also signed impending UFA Jordan Eberle to a two-year contract extension. 

But the bottom has fallen out at the subterranean Climate Pledge Arena. Seattle is a shocking 0-6-2 since the deadline and has scored just seven goals in its last six games. 

A finalist for the Jack Adams Award just one year ago, Dave Hakstol sounded like a coach who realized he's suddenly on shaky ground when he called out his players following Sunday's 5-1 home loss to the Montreal Canadiens.

In Calgary, the rebuild writing has been on the wall since November, when the Flames shipped impending UFA Nikita Zadorov to Vancouver. But the Flames were also winning games leading up to the deadline, even as Elias Lindholm, Chris Tanev and Noah Hanifin were moved out the door. And Calgary got some roster players back with Andrei Kuzmenko and Daniil Minomanov.

Jacob Markstrom ultimately wasn't traded, but that may have caused the biggest issue of all after he said he wasn't happy with how management had handled his status. 

Markstrom has played just twice since the deadline, losing to his former teams, the Florida Panthers and Vancouver Canucks. And the Flames have collected just four of a possible 16 points since March 8, with a record of 2-6-0.

That could be a good thing in terms of NHL draft lottery positioning. But a big question mark hovers over this team's morale — and whether a Markstrom deal will be consummated this summer.

On Long Island, Patrick Roy helped his team to build a six-game winning streak that stretched through the deadline and put them in playoff position.

The New York Islanders elected not to make any roster changes — then fell into a booby trap that led them to lose six in a row and seven of their last eight.

But unlike the West, where Seattle and Calgary have kissed their playoff hopes goodbye, the Eastern Conference race is still remarkably tight. Heading into Tuesday's games, the Islanders sit just four points out of that second wild-card spot — and have just one team to pass to get there.

Despite a 2-6-1 record since the deadline and with no fresh blood to ignite a surge, the Islanders are still in the mix. Their quest will resume on Thursday with a three-game road trip that takes them through Florida, Tampa Bay and Philadelphia.