- The NHL’s 2026-27 trade deadline is set for Monday, March 1, 2027
- The date follows the CBA rule that puts the deadline 40 days before the regular season ends
- Read below for how it stacks up against last year’s March 6 deadline and the dates already circled
The NHL’s next trade deadline has a date, and it falls on a Monday.
That date is March 1, 2027. The mark comes courtesy of Daily Faceoff, citing The Athletic’s Michael Russo, and it drops one of the loudest days on the hockey calendar at the start of a week instead of the end of one.
This one was more math than bombshell. The collective bargaining agreement sets the deadline 40 days before the regular season ends, with the only wrinkle coming when that mark lands on a weekend.
Last season bent that rule. The league pushed the 2025-26 deadline back to March 6, 34 days out, to keep it off a weekend and give teams some runway coming out of the Olympic break.
March 1 now joins a 2026-27 calendar that already has plenty circled. We laid out the dates worth marking the day the schedule dropped, from the Heritage Classic in Winnipeg to a possible last Crosby-Ovechkin meeting on April 4:
The league released that full slate back in July, an 84-game schedule for all 32 teams and the biggest in NHL history at 1,344 total games.
Deadline day is the last chance for general managers to reshape a roster before the playoff push, whether that means buying for a Cup run or dumping salary for picks and prospects. Last season’s version produced 21 trades in a single day.
Now the date is locked. GMs have until Monday, March 1 to make their moves.
