We\u2019re deep enough into the 2025-26 NHL season that it is\u00a0indeed\u00a0time to panic for several teams falling short of expectations. We\u2019ve reached the beginning of \u201cshakeup trade\u201d season.\u00a0Which NHL team needs to make a trade ASAP to try and turn its fate around?\u00a0<\/p>\n
MATT LARKIN:\u00a0I\u2019ll kick it off with the low-hanging fruit. The\u00a0Edmonton Oilers\u00a0<\/a>are so far beyond needing to trade for goaltending help that I\u2019ve already outlined a full shopping list for them<\/a>. And I did that when Stuart Skinner was at least alternating good starts with his bad ones. He\u2019s been sub-.900 in nine of his 13 appearances. No more excuses; the Oilers have to shake every tree in hopes a goaltending upgrade falls to them.<\/p>\n PAUL PIDUTTI:\u00a0Panic has been a 58-years-and-counting state of existence for\u00a0Toronto Maple Leafs<\/a>\u00a0fans.\u00a0But there a lot of reasons to be\u00a0legitimately\u00a0concerned about The Buds right now. Despite an early home-heavy schedule loaded with\u00a0soft opponents<\/a>, the Leafs have been mostly lousy. Excluding empty netters, they have won ONE game by more than a goal. They\u2019ve looked disorganized and lacking identity. Their underlying numbers are poor. Their power play is lost. Their defensive zone play and goaltending have regularly been ghastly. And yes, Mitch Marner\u2019s presence has been missed even more than most imagined. I\u2019m rarely an alarmist \u2014 and never so with the Leafs given the panicky nature of their market \u2014 but it\u2019s getting late early for Toronto to show some urgency. There\u2019s still time to turn things around, but both the eye test and the numbers have been scary so far for the defending Atlantic Division champs.<\/p>\n SCOTT MAXWELL:\u00a0I\u2019ve been on my soapbox all season saying that the missing piece for the\u00a0Tampa Bay Lightning<\/a>\u00a0right now is another puck-moving defenseman, particularly with some mobility. Victor Hedman is on an island in that regard, and considering he\u2019s going to be 35 in a month, he can\u2019t be relied on for mobility at this stage of his career. It\u2019s been an issue ever since they dealt Mikhail Sergachev, and it played a big role in their premature exit from the playoffs last season, as they were easy to expose on the rush. This season it\u2019s particularly taken its toll on the forwards, as quite a few of them are having down seasons due to the team\u2019s inability to move the puck up the ice on a consistent\u00a0basis. Jon Cooper, the mastermind that he is, has adjusted by keeping a forward back to help move the puck, but they need an upgrade on defense if they truly want to solve this problem. The market is slim right now (Rasmus Andersson, anybody?), but if Tampa wants to round out their team, that\u2019s the way to go.<\/p>\n