Player acquisitions before the trade deadline rarely, but significantly, change a team`s fate for years. Judging by Mikko Rantanen`s performance in the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs, he could well join the ranks of those who have achieved this.
After a slow start (just one assist in four games), Rantanen transformed, becoming a real beast for the Dallas Stars. In the last seven games, he has accumulated 18 points, leading the league in total points (19) and goals scored (9).
“Moose” (Rantanen`s nickname) has truly stormed into the playoffs.
Of course, Rantanen and the Stars are still far from their main goal (they need nine more wins), and it`s too early to place him alongside trade deadline legends. However, it`s worth recalling those players who, after such a trade, made a significant, long-lasting contribution to their new team`s success.
Butch Goring is a classic example of a player who, after a move, didn`t just strengthen a team but also helped them win a title. Moreover, the New York Islanders, where he landed, became a true dynasty after their first win thanks to his contribution.
Goring moved to the Islanders from the L.A. Kings on March 10, 1980, at the age of 30. That season, he (a two-way center) immediately fit into the team, which had a talented young core but had come close to or reached the final for 5 straight years without winning. Goring scored 19 points in 21 games and helped them win the Cup. The following year, his 20 points in 18 games led to a repeat victory and earned him the Conn Smythe Trophy. With Goring in the lineup, the Islanders won 4 consecutive Stanley Cups and set an astonishing record of 19 consecutive playoff series wins.
Challenging the magnitude of this contribution, both immediate and long-term, is practically impossible.
However, Ron Francis, like Rantanen, was a star player who moved at the deadline and influenced his new team`s results for nearly a decade. On March 4, 1991, three days after his 28th birthday, he went from Hartford to Pittsburgh. Four months later, the Penguins won the first of two consecutive Cups. Francis himself accumulated 100 points in 97 playoff games for Pittsburgh from 1991 to 1998.
In the early 2000s, the Colorado Avalanche, already holding one Cup (1996), sought another victory. A year after trading for Ray Bourque, on February 21, 2001, the Avs acquired 31-year-old Rob Blake from Los Angeles. In that playoff run, Blake was magnificent, leading defensemen in points (19 in 23 games) and logging an enormous amount of ice time for a defenseman – 29:26 per game, the most on the team. The Avs defeated New Jersey in seven games to clinch their second title and give Ray Bourque his long-awaited championship ring at the end of his career.
The following season, Blake finished third in Norris Trophy voting and helped Colorado reach the conference final again, where they lost to Detroit in Game 7. In his Avalanche playoff career, Blake played 68 games, recording 43 points with an average ice time of about 27 minutes per game.
It remains to be seen if the 28-year-old Rantanen (who signed a long-term extension and appears set to stay in Dallas for a while) can win the Cup in his first playoff run with his new team, as Goring, Francis, and Blake did. Notably, unlike all three, Rantanen already has championship experience – he won the Cup in 2022 with Colorado.
Given all this, it`s no surprise that Rantanen ranks first in our list of the best 2025 trade deadline acquisitions among players on teams still competing in the second round of the playoffs. But he`s not the only one showing strong play; a ranking of the eight most successful deadline trades follows.
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1. Mikko Rantanen, Dallas Stars
What more can be said? Rantanen has met all expectations for the Stars and even surpassed them. He recorded back-to-back hat tricks: in Game 7 of their series win against Colorado (Round 1) and in Game 1 against the Jets (Round 2). This powerful winger has registered three or more points in five of Dallas`s last seven games.
His team is one win away from the Western Conference Final, and his play in this playoff run is already historic.
Tristan Blackwood