New CBA rules and NHL parity contributed to fewer big trades at the deadline

There is an All-Star starting lineup that can be made from the NHL players who easily could have been traded at the deadline but were not.

In goal, Sergei Bobrovsky. On defense, Colton Parayko and Rasmus Ristolainen. At forward, Vincent Trocheck, Robert Thomas and Steven Stamkos.

A lot of trades, big and small, never materialized. A combination of factors from new CBA salary rules to no-trade clauses and leaguewide parity conspired to make this to a quieter-than-usual deadline.

The 20 trades completed Friday were the fewest in five years, dating to the pandemic-shortened 2021 season.

General managers were for the first time navigating an environment in which a third team cannot facilitate a trade by retaining salary, something that was eliminated in the new collective bargaining agreement. The so-called “double retention” solution that made so many past trades happen is now limited to 75 days apart, and fitting players in under the cap became more difficult.

“When you take that out, it’s probably why you saw, I don’t want to say as little trades, but not as many as the past,” New Jersey GM Tom Fitzgerald said. "Teams would’ve made more moves, I think, if prices were split in half twice. I do think that had something to do with it. I think it was obvious by looking at the past and how many double retentions there were and have been versus this year.”

Not that Florida was eager to trade Bobrovsky, who backstopped the Panthers to back-to-back Stanley Cup championships, but double retention would have allowed a team acquiring him to get him at a $2.5 million cap hit, rather than $5 million or his full $10 million salary.

New York Islanders GM Mathieu Darche, who had plenty of space to get Brayden Schenn from St. Louis, pointed out that the Tampa Bay Lightning — where he worked before — “used that double retention quite a few times over the years.” They won the Cup twice over that time.

The Lightning, Panthers and other recent champions also benefitted from no salary cap in the playoffs, which allowed them to keep players on long-term injured reserve through the regular season and dress them in the first round. That has also changed, because each team now has to make sure its 20-man roster for each game is cap compliant.

“With the new wrinkle of the playoff roster for calculations and things like that, you had to run the scenarios from a bunch of different viewpoints,” Colorado GM Chris MacFarland said after he and the Avalanche made the biggest move of deadline day by reacquiring Nazem Kadri from Calgary. “We’re on the phone with the different permutations and they got to be sharp in so many different ways, so there’s definitely different lenses this year.”

At least a few deals were consummated but did not get to the finish line because the player involved had a no-trade or a no-movement clause and control over his destination.

Tyler Myers was rumored to be going to Detroit, but then Vancouver traded him to Dallas later in the week. Colton Parayko declined to waive his no-trade clause to go from St. Louis to Buffalo.

“I’m not talking about Parayko alone, players negotiate their trade rights based on their status on the team and in the league and some players have full no-trade clauses, some have partial no-trade clauses,” Blues GM Doug Armstrong said. “To sign players, you have to provide those type of guarantees. And I respect when players, if they decide to invoke the right that they’ve earned, that’s great and that means they want to be here.”

At the time of the deadline, there were six teams within four points of a wild-card spot in either the Eastern or the Western Conference. Add that to the 16 teams in playoff position, and that leaves just 10 of 32 out of the mix.

“There’s still so many more teams that are still in it or have a chance, so they’re thinking, ‘Well, even if I’m not sure I’m going to make it, I’m not going to sell the farm,'” Darche said. “There was probably less teams selling this year. It was probably more of a seller’s market because of that. It’s supply and demand, so I think that plays a factor, too.”

With so much turnover of playoff teams from last season looking like they'll miss this year — and vice-versa — a lot of front offices can convince themselves the downfall is an aberration, chalked up to injuries and other issues.

“There are teams that are in playoff spots that probably they would admit that they didn’t think they’d get there this quick, Fitzgerald said. “Then there are other teams that unfortunately aren’t, like us, but still believe in this group and don’t want to blow the whole thing up.”

Part of the parity is the record year-over-year rise the salary cap is seeing. Most teams have plenty of room to keep the players they want to keep.

“It’s been really easy for teams to kind of go out there and re-sign their players, which doesn’t put anybody at the end of their contract and you saw that this year coming down the stretch,” Utah GM Bill Armstrong said. "Everybody got re-signed, and there wasn’t a lot of people and inventory into the market. It’s kind of what we’re going to see for the next few years.”

AP Hockey Writer John Wawrow, AP Sports Writers Dan Gelston, Pat Graham, Aaron Beard and Andrew Destin and AP freelance writer Denis Gorman contributed to this report.

AP NHL: https://apnews.com/NHL

Toronto Maple Leafs' Easton Cowan (53) catches a penalty for tripping Philadelphia Flyers' Rasmus Ristolainen (55) during first-period NHL hockey game action in Toronto, Monday, March 2, 2026. (Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press via AP)

Florida Panthers goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky hands his stick to a fan after being named the second star of the game after an NHL hockey game against the Toronto Maple Leafs, Thursday, Feb. 26, 2026, in Sunrise, Fla. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

St. Louis Blues goaltender Jordan Binnington warms up before an NHL hockey game against the Seattle Kraken, Wednesday, March 4, 2026, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Maddy Grassy)

New York Rangers' Vincent Trocheck (16) reacts after scoring a goal during the shootout of an NHL hockey game against the Pittsburgh Penguins Saturday, Feb. 28, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

Nashville Predators center Steven Stamkos (91) skates past the Dallas Stars bench after scoring a goal during the first period of an NHL hockey game Saturday, Feb. 28, 2026, in Dallas. (AP Photo/LM Otero)

EDINBURGH, Scotland (AP) — Scotland blew open the Six Nations title race after an astonishing 50-40 win against France at Murrayfield on Saturday.

An estimated 15,000 French supporters came to see their team retain the title with a game to spare but France was beaten up at the gainline and cut to pieces out wide by a fearless Scotland side whose every gamble appeared to pay off.

Instead of France marching to a Grand Slam, Scotland was in position to win the title for the first time since 1999, when it was the Five Nations.

France and Scotland were tied at the top of the table on points, two ahead of Ireland, which has also come back into contention.

France still has the advantage in the final round next Saturday. Scotland plays Ireland in Dublin and France follows knowing what it has to do against England in Paris in the last match of the championship.

An extraordinary day for Scotland started with a sunny afternoon in Edinburgh. Scotland dazzled in its highest ever score against a flattered France with seven of the game's 13 tries.

It should have been even better. Scotland led 47-14 but allowed France to score four tries in the last 14 minutes to secure a try bonus point and boost its points difference in the table, both important in the context of the title race.

France had been untested and unflappable but came to Murrayfield duly worried. Gregor Townsend's Scotland had won five of 13 games against France. Both teams like to roll the dice and France was behind inside five minutes.

The French buried Ireland, Wales and Italy early with dominant starts but, for the first time in the championship, they trailed when a break by Huw Jones was finished by Darcy Graham, his 36th try making him Scotland's sole record try-scorer.

France was sloppy until captain Antoine Dupont stripped opposite skipper Sione Tuipulotu in the Scottish 22 and the ball flashed wide for left winger Louis Bielle-Biarrey to touch down in a record-extending ninth consecutive Six Nations match.

Moments later, Bielle-Biarrey set up fellow winger Theo Attissogbe to score. With Thomas Ramos typically lethal off the tee, France was 14-7 ahead and seemingly back on track.

But four of Scotland’s tries came after waiving off kickable penalties, and the first was finished by winger Kyle Steyn from a classic scissors move. Then prop Pierre Schoeman crashed over to regain the lead in the 32nd at 19-14 and France trailed at halftime in the Six Nations for the first time since playing at Murrayfield two years ago.

Scrumhalf Ben White started the second half with Scotland's bonus-point fourth try from an unguarded ruck and Townsend punched the air.

White then jolted Dupont's pass into the hands of Steyn, who ran 55 meters untouched for his second try.

Murrayfield was ecstatic and France was disintegrating and on a second yellow card warning. The first warning put playmaker Matthieu Jalibert in the sin-bin before halftime and the second caught Lenni Nouchi collapsing a maul.

By then Graham scored his second try of the match and 37th for Scotland from an offload by Blair Kinghorn. Then Tom Jordan flew over between the posts and Russell's sixth conversion made it 47-14.

Desperation and embarrassment drove France to finish strong. Tries by Dupont, Ramos (twice) and Oscar Jegou gave the visitors an undeserved gloss to the scoreline. Jegou faced a potential post-match citing for a hand in the eye of Scotland's Ewan Ashman.

AP rugby: https://apnews.com/hub/rugby

France's Antoine Dupont and Scotland's Sione Tuipulotu, left, in action during the Six Nations rugby match between Scotland and France in Edinburgh, Scotland, Saturday March 7, 2026. (Jane Barlow/PA via AP)

Scotland's Kyle Steyn celebrates scoring a try during the Six Nations rugby match between Scotland and France in Edinburgh, Scotland, Saturday March 7, 2026. (Andrew Milligan/PA via AP)

Scotland's Darcy Graham scores a try during the Six Nations rugby match between Scotland and France in Edinburgh, Scotland, Saturday March 7, 2026. (Jane Barlow/PA via AP)

Scotland's Darcy Graham, left, celebrates scoring a try during the Six Nations rugby match between Scotland and France in Edinburgh, Scotland, Saturday March 7, 2026. (Jane Barlow/PA via AP)