Every team in the NHL has a few players whom they drafted, signed or traded for, only to lose them to another team before the player broke out.

For today's article, I'm going to look and see if there are players from each Western Team that each club would love to have back on their roster.

We are going to include traded 1st and 2nd round draft picks as well, going back ten years to 2015. Some of these hurt as there are some impressive names picked with the draft slots traded even if the team that dealt the pick might not have made the same choice.

In some cases, there are extenuating circumstances where the team had no choice but to move the player.

In week one, we are going to look at Anaheim, Calgary, Chicago, Colorado, Dallas and Edmonton.

Anaheim Ducks

Marcus Pettersson – D (29.2)

Brandon Montour – D (31.3)

29th overall pick in 2017 (Henri Jokiharju)

The Ducks have done well over the past ten years or so, to not have that many regrets in trading players or picks.

Pettersson had just 49 NHL games under his belt when the Ducks traded him for Daniel Sprong straight up. Petterson has played 473 games since and has established himself as a top-four defender who plays 20 minutes or more per night.

The Ducks must have thought they were selling high when they traded Montour to Buffalo for the 29th overall pick in 2019 (Brayden Tracey) and Brendan Guhle.

While Pettersson and Montour might not slot in well with the current young defense that Anaheim has, it was the failure in development that left valuable future usage or assets on the floor when both were traded.

Calgary Flames

Matthew Tkachuk – F (27.6)

Adam Fox – D (27.4)

Sam Bennett – F (29.1)

12th overall pick in 2018 (Noah Dobson)

Tkachuk demanded out of Calgary at the end of 2021-22 and the Flames traded him to Florida for Mackenzie Weegar, Cole Schwindt,  Jonathan Huberdeau and the 25th overall pick in 2025 (Cullen Potter). All things considered, it was not a bad return.

Adam Fox was drafted in the 3rd round by the Flames in 2016 but was unlikely to sign with them after his college career was over. The Flames included him in a trade to Carolina with Micheal Ferland and Dougie Hamilton for Elias Lindholm and Noah Hanifin. Carolina subsequently traded the rights to Fox to the NY Rangers.

Bennett was the 4th overall pick for Calgary in 2014. He played 402 NHL games for the Flames with 67 goals and 73 assists. His career-high was his rookie year with 18 goals and 18 assists in 77 games. He was a pretty disappointing pick for the Flames and was traded to Florida for Emil Heineman and a 2nd round pick in 2022 (David Goyette). I think it's safe to say that he was never going to do in Calgary what he has done in Florida, but that doesn't help Flames fans.

Calgary traded the 12th overall pick in 2018, which the NY Islanders used to pick Noah Dobson for essentially Travis Hamonic.

Chicago Blackhawks

Alex DeBrincat – F (27.6)

Gustav Forsling – D (29.1)

Kirby Dach – F (24.5)

38th pick in 2018 (Alexander Romanov)

12th overall pick in 2021 (Cole Sillinger)

6th overall pick in 2022 (David Jiricek)

Chicago was trying to sell high on DeBrincat after he posted 82-41-37-78 in 2021-22. They traded him to Ottawa for the 7th overall pick (Kevin Korchinski) and a 2nd round pick (Paul Ludwinski) in 2022 and a 3rd round pick in 2024 (Anthony Spellacy).  He sure would be ideal in their top-six now.

Forsling played 122 NHL games with Chicago between 2016-17 and 2018-19 with eight goals and 19 assists. He was then traded to Carolina with Anton Forsberg for Calvin De Haan and Aleksi Saarela. He was placed on waivers by Carolina and picked up by Florida in 2019-20. He has won the Stanley Cup back-to-back and has four years in a row with at least 10 goals and 31 points. He's a top four defender on any NHL team.

Kirby Dach was the 3rd overall pick in 2019 and was traded to Montreal after 2021-22 for a 1st round pick in 2022 that became Frank Nazar and a 3rd round pick (Gavin Hayes). This trade might take a few years to determine the winner as Nazar is currently slotted as the second-line center which is ideally where Dach would be. Dach has struggled with injuries and inconsistencies for a few years now.

The 38th overall pick in 2018 which became Alexander Romanov was traded to Montreal with Phillip Danault for Dale Weise and Tomas Fleischmann. Just for Danault alone, this was a horrible trade. Add in what could have been a solid top-six defender in Romanov and it's a head scratcher.

The ill-suited trade that brought Seth Jones to Chicago, just as they were about to rebuild, cost them the 12th overall pick in 2021 (Cole Sillinger) and the 6th overall pick in 2022 (David Jiricek).They did get back Spencer Knight and a conditional 1st round pick in 2026 when they traded Jones to Florida.

Colorado Avalanche

Mikko Rantanen – F (28.7)

The Avalanche don't have many regrets over the past 10 years, but their handling of Mikko Rantanen could turn into one sooner than later.

He was essentially traded to Carolina for Martin Necas and the jury is out on how that will work out for Colorado as Necas was a little underwhelming in the playoffs.

At the end of the day, Rantanen ended up re-signing in Dallas for eight years at $12 million AAV, which might have been too much for the Avalanche, but they will miss him.

Bowen Byram – D (24.1)

Colorado might not have had space for Byram, but the return on their trade to Buffalo in getting just Casey Mittelstadt was disappointing. Mittlestadt lasted 81 games in Colorado before being dealt to Boston for Charlie Coyle. In the end, it comes down to Byram, William Zellers and a 2nd round pick in 2025 (Liam Petttersson) for Coyle. Not great return value.

Dallas Stars

Valeri Nichushkin – F (30.4)

Logan Stankoven – F (22.4)

Nichushkin posted 57-0-10-10 in 2018-19 with Dallas and wasn't qualified, which made him unrestricted. Colorado signed him and he improved to 65-13-14-27 in 2019-20. The enigmatic forward hasn't played any more than 65 games in a season since, but has become a regular top-six forward in Colorado when in the lineup who has now had three 20-goal outputs. For all we know, there were some issues outside the rink that made Dallas not offer him a contract.

Stankoven was a big part of the package sent to Carolina to bring Mikko Rantanen to Dallas, but there could be some regret if Stankoven can become the 20-25 goal producer that most think he can be in the NHL.

Edmonton Oilers

Cam Talbot – G (38.0)

Adam Larsson – D (32.7)

Dylan Holloway – F (23.8)

Philip Broberg – D (24.1)

Ryan McLeod – F (25.8)

Michael Kesselring – D (25.5)

16th overall pick in 2015 (Mathew Barzal)

45th overall pick in 2020 (Brock Faber)

Talbot played 227 games between 2015-16 and 2018-19 with Edmonton going 104-95-19 with a save percentage around 91.2. He slipped to a save percentage of 89.3 in 2018-19 and was traded to Philadelphia for Anthony Stolarz (who might also be a player who got away).

Adam Larsson was exposed in the 2021 Expansion Draft and was taken by Seattle. He could never live up to being traded for Taylor Hall in 2016 in Edmonton, but he was a defender who they sorely missed once he became a Kraken.

Holloway and Broberg getting offer-sheeted by St. Louis has been well documented and doesn't need a further rehashing, but it's still pretty inexcusable.

Trading Ryan McLeod to Buffalo was an apparent cost-cutting move, but his play was trending up and the Oilers window is fairly short. The addition of Matthew Savoie as the return, is unlikely to help this team in the next year or two. McLeod popping for 20 goals and 33 assists in a more offensive role doesn't help losing him.

The trade to Arizona/Utah of Kesselring for Nick Bjugstad might have been an adept move on the scouts in Arizona at the time. His game has grown by leaps and bounds and he could be a top-four defender on some NHL teams now. The Oilers would have been a good fit for him now. They rolled the dice for the playoffs with Bjugstad, so it's hard to hold it against Edmonton too much.

The 16th overall pick in 2015 which became Mat Barzal was part of the horrible trade that the Oilers made with the NY Islanders for Griffin Reinhart. It's not like Barzal would be a great fit in Edmonton, but they could have parlayed him for something pretty significant.

A case study in being careful of what you give up when acquiring Ryan Kuffner and Andreas Athanasiou when planning for the playoffs. Not only did the Oilers give up the 45th pick in 2020 which became Brock Faber, but they also sent a 2nd round pick in 2021 which became Aatu Raty and Sam Gagner. Athanasiou scored one goal as a member of the Oilers in 13 games including the playoffs.

Thank you very much for reading, and if you have any comments, please leave them below or follow me on Twitter @gampbler15