This week, we will continue looking at significant first and second round draft picks that were traded and see how the return worked out for each team from the West.

It was somewhat easier to conclude from the earlier draft years, but most of the trades for picks below will still be open to interpretation and a few more years will be needed to decide on a winner.

We won't be looking into 2023 or 2024 draft picks as not enough time has transpired to give a deep enough look at each of the trades. Part 1 is here and Part 2 is here.

2021 to 2022

2021 Entry Draft Picks Traded

Arizona sent Future Considerations to the NY Islanders for Andrew Ladd, a 2nd round pick in 2021 (#60 overall J.J. Moser), a 2nd round pick in 2022 (#45 overall Mattias Havelid) and a 3rd round pick in 2023 (#81 overall Tanner Ludtke)

This was a salary dump of two years at a $5.5 million cap hit and $4 million AAV in actual salary for Andrew Ladd to Arizona. The price was the three picks to the Coyotes. Ladd played 51 games for the Coyotes and had seven goals and five assists in 2021-22. He played 1,001 NHL games and had 256 goals and 294 assists.

Moser has already established himself as a top-four defender on the Coyotes (now Utah) and has averaged over 20 minutes per game in 205 NHL games already. He has 16 goals, 56 assists, 210 hits and 304 blocks. It's very rare for a 3rd round pick to play just 18 AHL games before hitting the ground running in the NHL, though he was drafted as a 21-year-old who had played 133 pro games in the Swiss League already.

The 45th overall pick in the 2022 draft was traded to San Jose as part of the Coyotes moving up for the 11th overall pick that year.

Tanner Ludtke completed his first year of US college hockey at the University of Nebraska-Omaha and had 11 goals and 17 assists in 40 games as a centre.

With just Moser alone, this was great value for Arizona to take on Ladd and his salary and cap hit.

The Dallas Stars traded a 1st round pick in 2021 (#15 overall Sebastian Cossa) to the Detroit Red Wings for a 1st round pick in 2021 (#23 overall Wyatt Johnston) a 2nd round pick in 2021 (#48 overall Artem Grushnikov) and a 5th round pick in 2021 (#138 overall Jack Bar)

Eight spots in the middle of the first round are a fairly significant jump and the price was two more picks for Detroit to move from 23 to 15.

In hindsight, the Stars look good here as they got Wyatt Johnston (who was probably the player they had their eye on). Johnston has been nothing but impressive since his rookie year in 2022-23 where he had 24 goals and 41 points in 82 games as he improved to 32 goals and 33 assists in 82 games in 2023-24 and has added seven goals and 13 points in 15 games in the playoffs this year. He's a future star if not already there.

The Red Wings knew who they wanted at #15 and targeted Sebastian Cossa who played 46 games in the ECHL in 2022-23 where he had 26 wins and a save percentage of 91.3 and then 40 games in the AHL in 2023-24 where he had 22 wins and a save percentage of 91.3. Cossa is projected as a number-one starter in the NHL and could see his first action with the Red Wings in 2024-25.

Artem Grushnikov was part of the trade to Calgary for Dallas to get Chris Tanev. He's a defensive defender who played his first AHL season with six points in 64 games.

Jack Bar finished his third season of US college hockey at Harvard and is a defensive defender who has had just 17 points in 92 games there.

This trade will more than likely be a win/win for both teams, but Dallas has benefitted the most so far.

The Chicago Blackhawks traded Adam Boqvist, a 1st round pick in 2021 (#12 overall Cole Sillinger), a 2nd round pick in 2021 (#44 overall Aleksi Heimosalmi) and a 1st round pick in 2022 (#6 overall David Jiricek) to the Columbus Blue Jackets for Seth Jones, a 1st round pick in 2021 (#32 overall Nolan Allen) and a 6th round pick in 2022 (#173 overall Dominic James)

This trade never made sense for Chicago as it was pretty evident that this team was at the end of their window and bringing in Seth Jones was an expensive price tag, both in terms of salary and what they needed to give up.

Jones can be a fantastic defender who would be number one on a lot of NHL teams, but he is 29 years old now and has wasted three years in Chicago on bad teams. He has played 217 games in Chicago with 25 goals, 94 assists, 280 hits and 412 blocks while averaging over 24 minutes per game. He has six years remaining under contract at $9.5 million AAV.

Adam Boqvist (8th overall pick in 2018) has had moments in Columbus but has struggled to stay in the lineup as a regular defender. In five NHL seasons, he hasn't played more than 52 games in a year and has a career-high of 23 points. I wouldn't be surprised if the Blue Jackets traded him sooner than later.

Cole Sillinger is coming off a career-high 32 points in 77 games and now has played 202 games for Columbus where he has 32 goals and 42 assists. He has the potential to be a second-line center.

The pick that turned into Aleksi Heimosalmi was traded for the right to sign Jake Bean. Bean has played 153 games for Columbus with 44 points, where he averaged just over 16 minutes per game last year.

David Jiricek is still only 20 years old, has played 84 AHL games over two years and has put up 13 goals and 44 assists. With Columbus, he has played 47 games with 10 points. He's a big offensive defender who isn't that physical and will need to produce some points at the NHL level to be effective.

2021 wasn't the deepest draft for forwards, so it would be tough to say that Chicago could have done better than Sillinger at 12th overall, but it would have been interesting to see what they would have done at 6th overall in 2022 (as they picked Kevin Korchinski 7th overall).

On the surface, this trade looked like a huge overpay for Jones, but I'm not sure how much further ahead Chicago would be if they hadn't made the trade. Jones will be their top defender for the next three or four years at the very least.

The Vancouver Canucks traded Antoine Roussel, Jay Beagle, Loui Eriksson, a 1st round pick in 2021 (#9 overall Dylan Guenther), a 2nd round pick in 2022 (#47 overall Hunter Haight) and a 7th round pick in 2023 (#203 overall Yegor Rimashevsky to the Arizona Coyotes for Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Conor Garland

I'm not going to dig too deep into this one, other than to focus on Guenther, Ekman-Larsson and Garland who were the keys to the deal. It was an awful trade for Vancouver then as it is now.

The Canucks had to buy out Ekman-Larsson after just 133 games and 51 points and now have salary cap hits between $2.1 million and $4.77 million until 2030-31. They were trying to get out from under the contracts of Roussel, Beagle and Eriksson and dug even further.

Garland has not been the offensive contributor the Canucks were hoping for, but as we saw in 2023-24, he brings the energy almost every shift. In 240 games with Vancouver, he has 56 goals and 89 assists. If the Canucks could have added just Garland for the 1st round pick, it would have been an overpay but at least manageable.

Dylan Guenther is going to be a name that Vancouver fans will bristle at in future years. He arrived in 2023-24 with 18 goals and 35 points in 45 games and now has 24 goals and 26 assists in his first 78 NHL games. He would be the secondary scoring the Canucks crave.

What a horrible, horrible trade for Vancouver.

2022

The Winnipeg Jets traded Andrew Copp and a 6th round pick in 2023 (#178 overall Dylan Roobroeck) to the NY Rangers for Morgan Barron, a 1st round pick in 2022 (#30 overall Brad Lambert) a 2nd round pick in 2022 (#55 overall Elias Salomonsson) and a 5th round pick in 2023 (#151 overall Thomas Milic)

Andrew Copp was an impending UFA when the trade was made and had 18 points in 16 games at the end of 2021-22 with the Rangers and added 14 points in 20 playoff games that year.

Barron has played 164 games with the Jets and had 21 goals, 22 assists and averaged just over 11 minutes per game. He has emerged as a third or fourth line forward with limited offense.

Lambert had 21 goals and 34 assists in 64 games in his first AHL campaign. He had an assist in his only NHL game and could see some more time with the Jets in 2024-25.

Salomonsson is a 19-year old defender who has now played 69 SHL games with Skelleftea AIK and has put up five goals and 11 assists. His team won the SHL championships in 2023-24 and he had six points in 16 playoff games. He now has 33 SHL playoff games under his belt.

Milic had his first professional season in 2023-24 and played 18 games in the ECHL where he went 11-3-2 with a save percentage of 90.8 and 33 AHL games with a record of 19-9-2 and a save percentage of 90.0.

The Jets got some pretty good value in return for Copp.

The Chicago Blackhawks traded Alex DeBrincat to the Ottawa Senators for a 1st round pick in 2022 (7th overall Kevin Korchinski), a 2nd round pick in 2022 (#39 overall Paul Ludwinski) and a 3rd round pick in 2024 (#72 overall)

The return for Chicago on DeBrincat is still questionable and only time will tell if Korchinski turns out better than Pavel Mintyukov (taken at 10th) or Denton Mateychuk (12th).

The Arizona Coyotes traded Christian Dvorak to the Montreal Canadiens for a 1st round pick in 2022 (#27 overall Filip Bystedt) and a 2nd round pick in 2024 (#37 overall)

An excellent trade for the Coyotes as they moved Dvorak who was and is a 30- to 40-point producer and has a tendency to get injured for two fairly high picks. Dvorak can be a second-line center but on most teams should have a ceiling on the third line.

Montreal was coming off a loss in the Finals in 2020-21 and missed the playoffs in 2021-22.

The Calgary Flames traded Tyler Pitlick, Emil Heineman, a 1st round pick in 2022 (#26 overall Filip Mesar), and a 5th-round pick in 2023 (#144 overall Yevgeni Volokhin) to the Montreal Canadiens for Tyler Toffoli

Toffoli had a very good 2020-21 campaign with Montreal where he had 28 goals and 44 points in 52 games and put up 14 points in 22 playoff games.

This trade tree ends up with being Toffoli and the #26th pick Mesar for Yegor Sharangovich as the significant pieces. The added value for Calgary was Toffoli playing 119 games and scoring 45 goals and 51 assists. He faltered a little in the 2021-22 playoffs with Calgary with just five points in 12 games.

The Minnesota Wild traded Kevin Fiala to the Los Angeles Kings for Brock Faber and a 1st round pick in 2022 (#19 overall Liam Ohgren)

Faber is a 21-year-old defenseman who had 47 points in 82 games in 2023-24 and will probably be the runner-up for the Calder Trophy. Faber was a key to this trade and Minnesota knew exactly who they were getting.

Ohgren came over to North America at the end of 2023-24 and played four games with the Wild where he had a goal and an assist. I'd expect him to get a year in the AHL if he doesn't make the roster in 2024-25.

Fiala has had 52 goals and 145 points in 151 games as a member of the Kings and signed a $7.875 million AAV contract until the end of 2028-29.

The Vegas Golden Knights traded Alex Tuch, Peyton Krebs, a 1st round pick in 2022 (#16 overall Noah Ostlund) and a 2nd round pick in 2023 (#64 overall Riley Heidt) to the Buffalo Sabres for Jack Eichel and a 3rd round pick in 2023 (#77 overall Mathieu Cataford)

Eichel was traded in November of 2021 after a dispute with the Buffalo Sabres on how he should fix an issue in his neck. The Golden Knights had to wait until Eichel was healthy, so he was limited to just 34 games in 2021-22. Vegas won the Stanley Cup in 2022-23 where Eichel had 26 points in 22 playoff games.

Tuch has taken off offensively in Buffalo and has played 209 games for the Sabres with 70 goals and 106 assists, but has yet to play in the playoffs.

Krebs was the 17th overall pick in 2019 and has been a disappointment so far with just 66 points in his first 215 NHL games. He had just four goals and 17 points in 80 games in 2023-24.

Ostlund could start the 2024-25 season in the AHL after moving over from the SHL where he had 23 points in 38 games in 2023-24.

The Chicago Blackhawks traded Kirby Dach to the Montreal Canadiens for a 1st round pick in 2022 (#13 overall Frank Nazar) and a 3rd round pick in 2022 (#66 overall Gavin Hayes)

It is not often that you see a 3rd overall pick from 2019 traded just three years later for a 13th overall pick and a mid-range pick in 2022.

From that standpoint, it was surprising to see Chicago move on from the then 21-year-old Dach after playing just 152 games in their uniform and putting up 59 points.

He played just two games in 2023-24 and had two assists, but broke out in 2022-23 while with Montreal where he had 14 goals and 24 assists in 58 games. Dach is a bigger forward who might not have his true breakout until the 300 or 400 game mark.

Nazar turned pro after just 54 college games with the University of Michigan where he had 48 points. He's a smaller forward who might need a full year in the AHL for 2024-25.

If healthy, it sure would have been intriguing to see Dach play with Connor Bedard.

Next week, we will continue with 2021 forward. When I started this, I didn't think there would be that many significant trades involving early draft picks.

Thanks for reading and if you have any questions or players you'd like me to look at please message or follow me on Twitter @gampbler15.