The Vancouver Canucks‘ work on NHL Trade Deadline day 2026 was rather underwhelming, but they did make some good rebuilding moves during the deadline week. While their work on Friday began and ended with a few last-second trades of David Kampf and Lukas Reichel to the Washington Capitals and Boston Bruins, respectively — with both players netting the Canucks sixth-round picks — the Canucks moved veterans Tyler Myers and Conor Garland in the days leading up to the deadline.

Myers, dealt to the Dallas Stars, fetched the Canucks a 2027 2nd-round pick and a 2029 4th-round pick; while Garland returned a 2028 2nd-round pick and a 2026 3rd-round pick in the Canucks’ trade with the Columbus Blue Jackets. There was also the AHL swap the Canucks made, sending Jett Woo to San Jose and bringing Jack Thompson back in return.

Earlier this season, the Canucks moved out Quinn Hughes and Kiefer Sherwood, but for the purposes of this article, we won’t be including teams’ moves from before deadline week.

All in all, the Canucks moved Myers, Garland, Kampf, Reichel, and Woo during deadline week. In return, they got:

2027 2nd-round pick
2028 2nd-round pick
2026 3rd-round pick
2029 4th-round pick
Two 2026 6th-round picks
Jack Thompson
Curtis Douglas (claimed off waivers)

But what did the teams around them in the NHL standings do? We’re going to examine the Calgary Flames, St. Louis Blues, New York Rangers, and Chicago Blackhawks. These teams, like the Canucks, are all in various stages of retools or rebuilds, and it’s interesting to keep an eye on how they’re behaving.

The Flames moved MacKenzie Weegar, Nazem Kadri, Jacob Battaglia, and a seventh-round pick during deadline week. In return, they got:

2028 1st-round pick (conditional)
2027 2nd-round pick (conditional)
2026 2nd-round pick
2026 2nd-round pick
2026 2nd-round pick
Olli Maatta
Victor Olofsson
Brennan Othmann
Ryan Strome
Max Curran
Jonathan Castagna
Gavin White

Of course, that doesn’t include what they returned in the Rasmus Andersson trade with the Vegas Golden Knights, where the Flames returned Zach Whitecloud, Abram Wiebe, a conditional 2027 1st-round pick, and a conditional 2028 2nd-round pick.

The Flames took on some “bad money” in the form of Ryan Strome, sending a 7th to the Anaheim Ducks for the 32-year-old. Calgary will now try to rehabilitate Strome’s value, and attempt to turn him into a larger asset by next year’s deadline. Through two games, Strome has put up a goal and two assists, so, so far, so good.

The Blues went with quality over quantity at this year’s deadline, trading Brayden Schenn to the Islanders and Justin Faulk to the Detroit Red Wings. For both players, the Blues received 1st and 3rd-round picks.

Their total haul for these two players at the deadline looks like this:

2026 1st-round pick
2026 1st-round pick
2026 3rd-round pick
2026 3rd-round pick
Jonathan Drouin
Dmitri Buchelnikov
Justin Holl
Marcus Gidlöf

For the Blues, they get a solid haul and still have the option of adding more quality future assets should they choose to move off of Robert Thomas and Jordan Kyrou this offseason. They kept their powder dry and still managed to add a couple of 1st-round picks to go along with two thirds, as well.

It was a relatively quiet deadline for the Rangers, who currently sit in 30th overall. They traded away Sam Carrick, Brennan Othmann, and — get this — Derrick Pouliot during deadline week. In return, they got:

2026 3rd-round pick
2026 6th-round pick
Aidan Thompson
Jacob Battaglia

Notably, the Rangers — who have been adamant that this is a retool, not a rebuild — did not move off of veteran centre Vincent Trocheck, who was in trade rumours leading up to the deadline.

The Blackhawks, who have a stable of young talent and a ton of draft capital in the years ahead, took back some bad money from the Edmonton Oilers in the form of Andrew Mangiapane, juicing their return in the Jason Dickinson trade as a result. All in all, their work on deadline week saw them move Connor Murphy, Jason Dickinson, Colton Dach, Nick Foligno, and Aidan Thompson. In return, they netted:

2027 1st-round pick (conditional)
2028 2nd-round pick
Future considerations
Andrew Mangiapane
Derrick Pouliot

As we look at the teams listed above, it’s hard not to select the Flames as the biggest winners on the deadline. As it stands, Calgary holds eight picks in the 1st three rounds of this year’s draft. They added three 2026 2nd-round picks in the Weegar trade and still hold the Vegas Golden Knights’ 1st-round pick as well. They also have the Canucks’ 3rd-round pick, which they acquired in the Nikita Zadorov trade. Here’s their total draft capital over the next three seasons, courtesy of Puck Pedia:

That’s an embarrassment of riches, and a good reminder for the Canucks that there are levels to this, and that a rebuild is likely going to take multiple years, multiple high picks, and a high volume of draft selections in order to be successful.