This week, we conclude our examination of Western Teams and some of the players they traded away and that have turned into useful players.

In part three we are going to look at St. Louis, Utah, Vancouver, Vegas, and Winnipeg.

Part Two was here.

St. Louis Blues

Tage Thompson – F (27.7)

Jake Walman – D (29.4)

Vince Dunn – D (28.7)

Niko Mikkola – D (29.2)

The Blues have had some significant losses over the past few years, with Thompson being the most glaring example of a player who got away.

Thompson was traded to Buffalo in 2018 as part of the package for Ryan O’Reilly. While O’Reilly was instrumental in the Blues’ Stanley Cup victory in 2019, Thompson has since developed into a legitimate 40-45 goal scorer with the Sabres, with 47 and 44 goals in recent years.

Walman was traded to Detroit for Nick Leddy in 2022 as he was establishing himself as a regular in the NHL. He had 40 points in 65 games in 2024-25 split between San Jose and Edmonton. Leddy will be lucky if he plays 100 more NHL games in his career.

Dunn was selected by Seattle in the expansion draft after the Blues chose to protect other defensemen. Dunn had a career-high of 64 points in 81 games in 2022-23 followed up by 46 points in 59 games and 39 points in 62 games.

Mikkola was an impending UFA in 2022-23 when he was traded to the NY Rangers with Vladimir Tarasenko for Hunter Skinner, Sammy Blais and a 1st round pick in 2023 (Theo Lindstein). He has won back to back Stanley Cups with Florida while playing more than 20 minutes per game in their top-four.

Utah Hockey Club (formerly Arizona Coyotes/Phoenix)

Dylan Strome – F (28.4)

Christian Dvorak – F (29.5)

Adin Hill – G (29.2)

Jakob Chychrun – D (27.3)

Michael Bunting – F (29.8)

Strome was traded to Chicago in 2018 for Nick Schmaltz. While Schmaltz had some productive seasons in Arizona, Strome is coming off a career-high 82 points in 82 games in 2024-25 with the Washington Capitals.

Hill was traded to Vegas in 2021 for Josef Kosenar and a 2nd round pick in 2022 (Julian Lutz). He’s since become a reliable NHL starter and was part of Vegas’s Stanley Cup championship team in 2023. It could be argued that Hill would be an upgrade over Karel Vejmelka in goal. Hill had a record of 32-13-5 in 2024-25 with a save percentage of 90.6.

Chychrun was finally traded to Ottawa in 2023 after years of trade speculation. The return of a first-round pick (Daniil But), second-round pick (Mikhail Yegorov) and a 2nd round pick in 2026 was reasonable, but losing a top-four defenseman in his prime is always difficult for a rebuilding team.

After posting 10 goals and three assists in 21 games with Arizona in 2020-21, the club was unable to re-sign Bunting and he signed with the Toronto Maple Leafs for the 2021-22 season. He has produced between 19 and 23 goals in each of the four seasons since.

Vancouver Canucks

J.T. Miller – F (32.3)

Bo Horvat – F (30.3)

Gustav Forsling – D (29.1)

Chris Tanev – D (35.6)

Vasili Podkolzin – F (24.1)

Jared McCann – F (29.1)

The Canucks have made some difficult decisions in recent years, with mixed results on the returns.

Miller was traded to the Rangers during the 2024-25 campaign for Victor Mancini, Filip Chytil and a 1st round pick in 2025 (Jack Nesbitt) that Vancouver traded away to bring in Marcus Pettersson). Miller had 437 points in 404 games with the Canucks with a career-high 103 points in 2023-24. There was no way they were going to replace the production of Miller when they traded him.

Horvat was dealt to the Islanders at the 2023 trade deadline for Anthony Beauvillier, Aatu Raty, and a 1st round pick in 2023 (Axel Sandin-Pellika). While the return was reasonable for a pending UFA, losing their former captain and a consistent 30-goal scorer was painful for fans. Vancouver traded away the 1st round pick which makes the return hurt even more. Horvat is the ideal 2nd line center that the team desperately needs now.

Forsling was traded to the Chicago Blackhawks in 2015 for Adam Clendening before he had even played a game in North America. He has won the Stanley Cup with Florida back to back and has put up between 10 and 13 goals to go along with 31 to 41 points in each of the past four seasons.

Tanev was allowed to hit free agency by the Canucks after the 2019-20 season with questions of durability, age and salary cap. Five seasons later, Tanev would be ideal as a defensive partner for Quinn Hughes and he has only missed 31 games over five years.

McCann was traded to Florida after his rookie campaign in 2015-16 where he had nine goals and nine assists in 69 games as a 19-year old. The Canucks got back Eric Gudbranson who struggled in his time with Vancouver. McCann has averaged almost 30 goals per year in the four seasons he has been in Seattle.

Vegas Golden Knights

Nick Suzuki – F (25.9)

Alex Tuch – F (29.2)

Logan Thompson – G (28.4)

Vegas has been aggressive in their pursuit of star players, but some of the assets they’ve traded away have developed into quality NHL players.

Suzuki was the centrepiece of the trade (along with Tomas Tatar) that brought Max Pacioretty to Vegas in 2018. While Pacioretty had some productive seasons with the Golden Knights, Suzuki has developed into a legitimate first-line centre and captain in Montreal. Suzuki had a career-high 89 points in 82 games in 2024-25.

Tuch was part of the package sent to Buffalo for Jack Eichel in 2021 that included Peyton Krebs, a 1st round pick in 2022 (Noah Ostlund) and a 2nd round pick in 2023 (Riley Heidt). The trade has worked out well for Vegas with a Stanley Cup win in 2022-23, but Tuch has elevated from a 50-point player to almost a point-per game player in Buffalo. He has 243 points in 281 games with Buffalo while Eichel has 253 points in 241 games with Vegas.

Thompson was traded to Washington in 2024 after losing the starting job to Adin Hill after 2023-24 where he had a record of 25-14-5 with a save percentage of 90.8. In 2024-25, Thompson had a record of 31-6-6 and a save percentage of 91.0.  He’s since established himself as the number one goalie in Washington.

These moves reflect Vegas’s “win-now” mentality, which has brought them a Stanley Cup, but the loss of young talent is always a consideration.

Winnipeg Jets

Johnathan Kovacevic – D (28.0)

The Jets haven't made very many moves in recent years that they should have any regrets for.

Time might tell if not re-signing Nikolaj Ehlers will hurt, but at the moment, they probably didn't have much choice in the matter.

Kovacevic might be a lone regret as they put him on waivers before the 2022-23 season and he was claimed by the Montreal Canadiens and has been an NHL regular since. He has played 220 NHL games with Montreal and New Jersey with 10 goals and 35 assists. He's probably just a third-pairing defender in the NHL, but you never want to give those up for free.

This concludes our three-part examination of Western Conference teams and the players that got away. While hindsight is always 20/20, these moves highlight the difficulty of asset management in the salary cap era and the challenge of balancing present success with future potential.

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