Own rental or trade bait: 10 UFAs forcing difficult decisions on playoff bubble teams

The 2026 NHL Trade Deadline shapes up as one of the most complicated in recent memory, for a litany of reasons.

For one: the Olympic break and corresponding roster freeze shorten the trading window by 18 days, with no deals allowed between 3:00 p.m ET Feb. 4 and 11:59 ET Feb. 22. Secondly: with double salary retention outlawed on trades as one of the new collective bargaining agreement rules fast-tracked to this season, star players with chunky cap hits will be more difficult to move. Thirdly: with no more playoff LTIR loophole and teams required to be salary-cap compliant by Game 1 of the postseason, GMs must be more cautious adding money in their pursuits of upgrades.

And lastly: the parity. As of press time, 29 of 32 teams are in playoff spots or within six points of playoff spots. For perspective: at this same juncture of the season a year ago it was 25 of 32, meaning seven teams were essentially out of the hunt.

With the standings packed so tightly in 2025-26, the many teams hovering around the playoff bubble will have extremely difficult decisions to make with their pending UFAs. If one good week can vault you from outside the playoffs to a top-three spot in your division, is it worth holding onto your best pending free agents as “own rentals”? Or is it foolish to risk losing those players for nothing?

Here are some UFAs whose futures will make their GMs lose sleep in the coming weeks, with contract info courtesy of PuckPedia.

Charle Coyle, C, Columbus Blue Jackets

Coyle is having one of the quietest Selke-Trophy-grade defensive seasons in recent memory, playing a ton of difficult minutes and manning Columbus’ penalty kill. He has a ton of playoff experience dating back to his six seasons as a Boston Bruin, with 126 games to his name. He’d be a perfect third-line center for pretty much any contender. His $5.25-million cap hit would need to be managed, but the Jackets have all their retention slots available and can swallow half that number. The Blue Jackets are dead last in the Eastern Conference, but even dead last only means seven points out of a Wildcard spot and seven points out of third in the Metro, so GM Don Waddell has a difficult decision to make with Coyle – and another player we’ll discuss later.

Mario Ferraro, D, San Jose Sharks

Ferraro has the kind of meat-and-potatoes game that makes him a serviceable middle-pair guy on a medicore team and an ideal third-pair banger playing more sheltered minutes on a stacked team. The Sharks refuse to lose ground in a topsy-turvy Pacific Division, and it could be wise to keep Ferraro around given he’s one of the team leaders, but GM Mike Grier remains early enough in his rebuild that he can sell off pending UFAs with a clean conscience should San Jose sag in the playoff race by early March.

Radko Gudas, D, Anaheim Ducks

I never would’ve even considered Gudas just a couple weeks ago. But his Ducks have lost nine straight games, their breakout narrative suddenly collapsing due to their continued struggles defending and the fact their goalies aren’t bailing them out this time. Would GM Pat Verbeek consider trading his captain if the Ducks don’t correct course? Gudas brings an important dressing-room presence, but he’ll be 36 next season and thus isn’t the long-term captain. In the short term: his menacing physical game and extensive postseason experience could command a premium price if he’s made available. I’m jumping the gun here in that I haven’t seen or heard Gudas’ name anywhere. Consider him a speculative idea given Anaheim’s sudden nosedive.

Boone Jenner, C, Columbus Blue Jackets

Everything I said about Coyle applies to Jenner. The latter brings a much more extensive injury history, but Jenner also has higher offensive ceiling and can play in a contender’s top six, ideally as a No. 2 center. He also brings the heart-and-soul leadership befitting a captain. He’s Columbus’ all-time games leader, he’s previously expressed a desire to stay with the team, and the decision will be easy if that team is competing for a playoff spot, but Jenner is also 32 and deserves a serious shot at a Stanley Cup. He would fetch a significant return given the eternal league-wide need for his blend of scoring and sandpaper.

Scott Laughton, C, Toronto Maple Leafs

It’s best to strike Laughton’s 2024-25 post-deadline play from the record. As an Oakville, Ont., boy joining his childhood team, Laughton was pressing or snakebitten or both. This season, particularly of late, he looks much more like the player Toronto overpaid to get a year ago. He’s scoring at an 82-game pace north of 15 goals, he’s absolutely owning the faceoff circle, and he’s flourishing on one of the NHL’s best penalty-killing units. Pretty much any contender could use what he brings, just as Toronto did a year ago. The Leafs have clawed their way back onto the playoff periphery and are so deep into win-now mode that GM Brad Treliving wouldn’t dare deal a key piece if his team remains competitive into late February. But if the Leafs suddenly slump? Other teams might start sniffing around on Laughton and UFA left winger Bobby McMann.

Jean-Gabriel Pageau, C, New York Islanders

Pageau looked like a pretty obvious trade candidate heading into the season given the Isles had missed the playoffs, won the 2025 NHL Draft lottery, picked first overall and traded top-pair defenseman Noah Dobson for two extra 2025 first-rounders. My read was that the franchise was willingly taking a step back for the sake of long-term gain and was unlikely to contend for a playoff spot. But here we are in mid-January and the Isles sit second in the Metropolitan Division, buoyed by a historic rookie year from 18-year-old defenseman Matthew Schaefer and Vezina-Trophy-worthy play from goaltender Ilya Sorokin. If New York keeps this up…it can’t trade its third-line center, right? But if the Isles slide back to the bubble, GM Mathieu Darche has to consider punting Pageau. He’s elite on draws and scores at a higher clip in the postseason, jumping from 16 to 21 goals per 82 games. He’d have plenty of suitors if available, and the same goes for captain Anders Lee, but if New York maintains its current position, those two make sense to retain as classic “own rentals.” For now, Darche seems perfectly comfortable sitting on the fence and waiting to make a decision.

Artemi Panarin, LW, New York Rangers

The Blueshirts have lost eight of 10 and are only a point up on Columbus for last in the East, so I debated excluding Panarin from this list on the grounds he’s a clear easy sell. But, again, even with star goaltender Igor Shesterkin out, the Rangers are a three-game winning streak from contending for a playoff spot again, so Panarin just makes the cut for this discussion. ‘The Bread Man’ would arguably be the top rental option available; even at 34, he’s an elite top-line scorer. He could net the Rangers a first-round pick, top prospect and maybe a decent younger NHLer depending on how many bids drive up the price. But the Rangers still have enough talent on their roster that cashing out Panarin would hurt if the team is back in a playoff position at any point in the next two months. Any team with Shesterkin is a threat to steal multiple playoff series, presuming he’s healthy by the spring, which isn’t yet guaranteed.

Nick Schmaltz, RW, Utah Mammoth

Schmaltz would make a fine consolation prize for teams unable to snag Panarin. Schmaltz is one of the league’s more reliable scoring-line distributors, and he’s scoring goals at a higher rate than normal because he’s shooting the puck more this season. The Mammoth, tied for the last Western Conference Wildcard spot, are itching to give their new fans playoff hockey for the first time. But he and the Mammoth were far apart in contract talks during the fall, so it seems the risk of him walking as a UFA is high. If the Mammoth fall out of the race, trading Schmaltz is an easy call, but even if the Mammoth sit in a playoff spot come March, does GM Bill Armstrong have to seek a hockey trade?

Alex Tuch, RW, Buffalo Sabres

What a rollercoaster. Late last season, Tuch asserted his desire to remain a Sabre. Then came the reports heading into 2025-26 suggesting he and the Sabres weren’t close on an extension, just as seemingly every major 2026 UFA re-signed, leaving Tuch and Panarin all alone as the top all-around forwards on the market. And then the Sabres won 13 of 15 games, leaping back into the Eastern Conference playoff race. It would be a shame for GM Jarmo Kekalainen to mess with his team’s momentum at all. Tuch could still be a major part of the Sabres’ first playoff run in 15 years. But the reality check is that the Sabres, despite their torrid play of late, haven’t gained that strong of a foothold because pretty much every Atlantic Division team got hot at the same time. The Tuch decision is oh-so pivotal. If Buffalo really has a chance to end its playoff drought, you can’t rip the team’s heart out. On the other hand, Tuch would command a gargantuan return, and Kekalainen has been burned before for sitting on his “own rentals.” In 2018-19, as Blue Jackets GM, he held onto Panarin and Sergei Bobrovsky only to watch both leave that summer. All Sabres fans can hope for is that Buffalo keeps winning enough to establish itself as a safe playoff team by March, or, better yet, re-signs Tuch between now and the Trade Deadline.

Jacob Trouba, D, Anaheim Ducks

Given Trouba’s open-ice hits are so game-changing, that he plays more minutes and that he’s several years younger, he’d command a larger return than teammate Gudas. That said, Trouba has been open about enjoying the lifestyle change to a calmer environment since the New York Rangers traded him last season and seems like a real candidate to re-sign in Orange County. He also has a 12-team no-trade list. A trade might require some aggressive suitors who tempt Trouba with a chance to chase a championship.

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