The Red Wings will be making some moves at the 2025 trade deadline and we know this. But what about the rest of the Atlantic Division?

We can name a slew of moves the Red Wings should make at the 2025 trade deadline, but we haven’t discussed what the strategies of their division rivals should look like. If there’s one certainty, it’s that none of those in the Atlantic Division should sit around and do nothing when the deadline rolls around, or even in the days leading up to it.

Some of these organizations are down and out while others are at a crossroads. The Red Wings are in a league of their own, as a team that was expected to be on the up-and-up and contend for a playoff berth.

Right now, they’re fringe, but in contention. And it’s why buying at the trade deadline would be in their best interests. But buying isn’t what should be in the cards for everyone, so let’s explore at least one move each team in the Atlantic, minus the Wings, must make before March 7th.

Boston Bruins – Trade Brad Marchand

Bruins fans won’t want to read about this, but if this team’s serious about undergoing a retooling project, it’s required that they pawn off Brad Marchand. Yeah, this would be a tough trade for Bruins fans and really, many of us who spent most of the 2010s finding Marchand’s role as a pest entertaining.

But Marchand can still play and he’d likely end up putting a lot of Bruins fans at ease simply because he’d still warrant a solid return. Boston isn’t the team it once was, so letting Marchand continue and likely finish his career elsewhere could help turn this into more of a Calgary Flames situation, a team that got rid of a few stars via trade or free agency, only to see a fast turnaround.

Buffalo Sabres – Admit defeat with Dylan Cozens

There are a few teams the Sabres could realistically pawn Dylan Cozens to, and the Red Wings are one of them. While Cozens may have fooled all of us that he’s an adequate scorer, it doesn’t mean he’d be an underperformer should the Red Wings acquire him from Buffalo.

But it doesn’t mean the Sabres need to keep what’s becoming one of their bigger busts around, especially since he signed a long-term deal two years back worth an AAV of $7.1 million. That figure may scare some teams off, but others will look at how Cozens performed in 2022-23 when he scored 31 times and take a chance on the young center.

This means there’s a good chance the Sabres will get a sound deal for a player that’s put up just 27 points and 11 goals in 54 games. If there’s no resurgence, then whoever acquired Cozens got a physical player who can put up more goals than the average lower-liner should he resort to such a niche.