[Tkachukwagon]

Eric Duhatschek has a good article on the Athletic about players that could benefit from a change of scenery (highlighting how much it has benefitted Sam Bennett). Calgary might have an open protection slot at forward if they choose to expose Backlund. Four players highlighted below:

Tyson Jost, Colorado Avalanche

If you’re not paying close attention, you might not realize that Jost is playing some of his most accomplished hockey since Colorado drafted him 10th in 2016. Jost has been an underachiever offensively since turning pro, but as of Thursday, he has now managed a point in five consecutive games and seems to be playing with more confidence offensively than he has at any point in his career. Jost will be an option for Seattle in the expansion draft, young enough (23) and good value ($874,125 salary, but arbitration-eligible) but if someone wants to add an emerging player who is cost controlled for a while, they should be ringing Joe Sakic on the cellphone before they have to file their protected lists.

Nolan Patrick, Philadelphia Flyers

Patrick went second in the 2017 NHL Draft and missed all of season No. 3 recovering from migraines, which derailed his development and left him almost at a point where he was starting over again in Philadelphia this past year. And while there’ve been flashes, they’ve been few and far between — only eight points in 43 games played, getting just about 13 minutes of ice time per night. His minus-20 rating is by far the worst among the team’s forwards. Patrick is still only 22. Maybe a change of scenery would benefit him. Vegas, a team that wanted to draft him that year, would be an interested suitor.

Gabe Vilardi, Los Angeles Kings

Vilardi went 11th in 2017 and like Patrick, the early part of his career was stalled by a back condition that kept flaring up constantly. Vilardi didn’t get going professionally until halfway through last year and got a promising NHL cameo at the end of last season, where his size (6-foot-3, 203 pounds) jumps out at you. But this year, he’s also struggled to find the net consistently and last scored a goal on March 3. Los Angeles has chosen natural centres with four consecutive first-round picks: Vilardi, Rasmus Kupari, Alex Turcotte and this past year, Quinton Byfield. Byfield isn’t going anywhere. The Kings should be looking at moving at least one of the other three (and maybe two) in order to get more established NHLers to flesh out their complement of top-six forwards. That’s an organization which has seen the exodus of a lot of good players from their last championship team that have gone on and helped their new clubs (Jake Muzzin, Alec Martinez, Tyler Toffoli, Tanner Pearson). If they want to salvage anything from the last handful of chapters in Anze Kopitar’s and Drew Doughty’s careers, they need to see an influx of talent. Hopefully soon. Hopefully, this summer.

Barrett Hayton, Arizona Coyotes

People shouldn’t forget that Hayton looked so good for Canada in the 2020 world juniors (12 points, seven games and a gold medal) but hasn’t been seen much since. He played 20 NHL games in 2019-20 and looked as if he was ready for prime-time duty this season, after getting into a handful of games in Finland for Ilves pre-Christmas. Instead, he was farmed out early by the Coyotes and hasn’t gotten a call-back. He’s only 20, and like the others listed here, a high, high draft choice, so there will be other organizations looking to take a chance