Every NHL season, once the Holiday Roster Freeze lifts and the calendar changes years, teams start to build up to the explosion of trading on deadline day.
Teams that are “selling” like to wait for the deadline to see if they can get a bidding war or a desperate buyer. Teams that are “buying” like to wait to see if the price comes down. They also want to limit the cap hit of the players they acquire so they don’t have cap troubles for the remainder of the regular season.
One other reason to wait for deadline day is that the roster limit is lifted at the deadline, so teams don’t have to risk a player on waivers to make room for the new guy unless they have to make cap space.