Goalies haven’t typically been a big part of the NHL Trade Deadline for years.
Fair or not, it’s a trend that can be traced back to Ryan Miller being traded from the Buffalo Sabres to the St. Louis Blues at the 2014 NHL Trade Deadline, a blockbuster that centered around the 2010 Vezina Trophy winner, voted as the League’s best goalie, along with four other players and two draft picks.
It ended with the Blues out in six games in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, however, and a .897 playoff save percentage for Miller, well below his .923 save percentage in 40 games with the Sabres prior to the trade.
There haven’t been many moves for a clear-cut No. 1 at the trade deadline in the 11 years since, but revisiting the circumstances around that Miller trade, and talking to dozens of goalies that have switched teams since, provides a checklist of factors that might help determine if any goalies dealt ahead of the 2025 NHL Trade Deadline will be able to adjust quickly to a new team.
The biggest impediment to a goalie getting comfortable behind a new team after the deadline is time, or a distinct lack of it, before the playoffs start.
That adds pressure to an already pressure-packed position. Miller noticed the difference compared to the two times he switched teams in the offseason.
“When I switched teams and had training camp there’s less pressure with that long season ahead, almost like you can make some mistakes here and there,” Miller said one year after retiring from an 18-year NHL career in 2021. “When it’s the deadline, it does feel like quite a bit. You want to play your own game, you want to fit in, you want to get hot at the right time and there’s tremendous pressure to perform. Having a little time to sort that out is ideal, but at the deadline you’re immediately playing important games.”
Whether or not a goalie has been traded before is one factor to consider when it comes to how quickly they can adjust. Having gone through it already, even in the offseason, can make it easier, even if there is less time to get comfortable.
“It's a big change but that helps,” said Minnesota Wild goalie Marc-Andre Fleury, who was traded from the Chicago Blackhawks to the Minnesota Wild in 2022, the first in-season move of his three-move career. “New team, new guys, everything's new. You want to do well. You want show them that the trade was worth it, but it's also fun.”
Figuring out a new system is not as hard as it may seem, goalies say, but getting comfortable with the individual tendencies of new teammates within that system can sometimes take up to half a season. Being able to trust and read off those unique tendencies, especially when it comes to defending rush chances, is a big part of the anticipation goalies rely on to varying degrees.
Since most teams have about 20 games remaining after the deadline, most goalies are unlikely to start more than 15, and practice time is at a premium down the stretch.
“What a guy is consistently doing on the ice, his approach to the game and how he exists within the system, it’s important,” Miller said. “You have to be a well-oiled machine. You have to know what’s going on and make split-second decisions as a group, and it takes some familiarity, and it takes some time.”
Every goalie relies on making reads off opponents and teammates, but the degree varies, and that level of reliance can play a factor in how easily a goalie adjusts to a new team.
There are few absolutes but goalies who play more aggressively or come out further off the rush and try to match their retreats to the speed of an attack tend to be more reliant on those reads -- and rhythm and timing -- than a goalie who plays a more conservative positional game.
It’s one of several style-versus-system factors that need to be considered with an in-season goalie trade.
The number of chances a team surrenders off the rush versus in-zone play is a key factor, according to retired goalie Devan Dubnyk.
Every goalie is capable of defending both, but some prefer to play with more backward flow and may adjust more readily to an increase in rush chances. Others aren’t as comfortable with extra movement and prefer a more passive, inside-out approach better suited to end-zone play.
How busy a goalie is behind each team is another factor.
Some goalies thrive on seeing lots of shots and staying busy, and struggle when they’re not. There have been several examples through the years of goalies finding new ways to stay engaged when they’re not as busy, like Pekka Rinne handling the puck more when the shot volume dropped with the Nashville Predators.
But that can take time and goalies don’t have much after the trade deadline, making all these fit factors important.
“There’s a mindset from some that a good goalie should be able to handle all situations and be able to adjust but there are guys that have strengths and weaknesses, so maybe it is more about the fit,” Miller said. “I would be looking for a fit.”
