The 2025 NHL trade deadline has come and gone, as the NHL rolls on with 10 games tonight. Last night, the Jets put on a show in New Jersey with a dominating 6-1 win. Nikolaj Ehlers led the way with 1 goal and 2 assists, while Kyle Connor became the fastest Jets 2.0 player to reach 80 points in a season, in just 64 games. Connor Hellebuyck didn’t have to be too spectacular, but his 22 saves on 23 shots were still appreciated in helping get the victory. Before the Jets conclude their road trip tomorrow afternoon at 4 pm CT in Carolina, today is a day off for the team, and a perfect chance to reflect on what the team did (and didn’t do) during yesterday’s NHL trade deadline.

Looking at the league standings, the Jets continue to be 2 points ahead (with 1 more game played) of the 2nd place Washington Capitals. Despite being on pace to be the 1st team to clinch a playoff spot, the Jets took the more “cautious” approach at this trade deadline. Some fans wondered if this would be the year the team would go “all in” by trading picks and prospects to make a big improvement to the current roster, but instead GM Kevin Cheveldayoff settled for 2 moves that help with the team’s depth.

The Jets traded 3rd string goalie Kaapo Kahkonen to the Panthers for 3rd string goalie Chris Driedger on Thursday. Going into Friday morning, the Jets were linked to several players listed as prime trade candidates, but were unable to strike a deal with these teams. It was a slow start to deadline day, before the Jets made their 1st move. The Jets sent a 2nd round pick in 2026 and a 4th round pick in 2027 for defenceman Luke Schenn, a recent acquisition of the Pittsburgh Penguins. The move addressed the need for another “defensive” type blueliner that will help with the penalty kill. Several minutes later, the Jets traded another 2nd round pick (2027) for forward Brandon Tanev of the Kraken. Tanev spent the early part of his career with the Jets, and will be a useful bottom 6 forward who brings energy, grit, and some skill on the penalty kill.

I thought there would be one more “big” move coming from the Jets before the deadline, but as the clock hit 2:00 pm CT on Friday, that was it for the Jets. Despite having a sizable amount of salary cap space, all of their future 1st round picks, and several good prospects, GM Cheveldayoff settled with the current roster of this 1st place team. Post deadline, Cheveldayoff told media and reporters that he “tried” to trade some high draft picks, but it just didn’t end up working out. While this deadline was very underwhelming for the Jets, the real sting comes when you look at what other teams in the Central Division and Western Conference did to improve their rosters on deadline day.

Starting with the Colorado Avalanche, who swooped in and acquired the Jets “number 1” trade target in Brock Nelson. The 33 year old looked like a great match for the Jets and would have been a very solid addition as the 2nd line centre. The Avalanche weren’t done yet after acquiring Nelson, as later in the day they would acquire another centre in Charlie Coyle followed by a move that re-acquired a now depth defenceman in Erik Johnson. The Avalanche and Wild and battling for the 3rd place spot in the Central Division, and with these moves, the Avalanche are looking ready to try and make a push for 2nd place in the Division if all goes well.

Another Central Division team that got much better around the deadline was the Dallas Stars. The team from Texas made the biggest move of deadline day, acquiring star forward Mikko Rantanen from the Hurricanes in exchange for Logan Stankoven, 2 1st round picks and 2 3rd round picks. The Stars added to their team full of talented Finnish players, and prior to the deadline they also added some other solid new additions in Mikael Granlund and Cody Ceci.

The other Central Division team in a playoff position, the Minnesota Wild, made a few minor additions to their roster. Gustav Nyquist and Justin Brazeau will help the Wild now, but the real additions the Wild will be getting is when their current good injured players return to full health. Overall, the Western Conference playoffs just got much more interesting after the moves that were made at the deadline. After Brock Nelson, there didn’t really seem to be a “plan B” for the Jets at this deadline, and despite looking at several options, a move that made sense couldn’t get done in time.

Despite this poor, less than exciting deadline for the Jets, the focus now turns to continuing to find ways of winning hockey games. Winning the Central Division will be priority number 1 for the Jets, as they could avoid a 1st round matchup against the Dallas Stars or Colorado Avalanche. Finishing 1st in the Western Conference would be the next goal for the Jets, as it would give them a weaker round 1 opponent, that being one of the four teams battling currently for the 2nd wild card spot. This roster will have to continue to play like it has all season if it wants to have more than 1 playoff round. Even though they may have not done enough to stay “competitive” in the Western Conference this deadline, the team is still focused on the goal of setting themselves up for hopefully a long and successful playoffs.

*Below are the results (after 20+ hours) from the polls on X and Instagram where I asked Jets Nation what they would grade the Jets 2025 trade deadline!*