I saw a comment over the weekend about how if there's a hint of a "get me outta here" feeling in a locker room, it can spread quickly and get out of hand in a hurry.

That is, one trade request or discontented pending free agent can lead to another and another before suddenly, it's all you're talking about.

I'd never really thought about it in those terms, but it's certainly been the case for a number of clubs in the NHL in the past several months. The most notable of these are the Calgary Flames and Winnipeg Jets, who found themselves at similar crossroads, the latter on a more accelerated timeline, or at least one that was an extra year or so further along.

In Winnipeg, there was a lot of consternation over the future of Blake Wheeler for more than a year, and the same was true for Pierre-Lu