When the Winnipeg Jets drafted University of Michigan star Rutger McGroarty with the 14th pick in the 2022 NHL draft, the expectation was that he would grow to become one of their top-scoring forwards. He'd join former Wolverines star Kyle Connor in Manitoba to light up the league.

Fast forward to now, and suddenly the mood has changed. Scott Billeck of the Winnipeg Sun reported McGroarty disagreed with the Jets' development path that had him starting in the American Hockey League before advancing to the NHL. The team is looking to trade him.

McGroarty's take is somewhat understandable. Previous top Jets draft picks Ville Heinola (20th overall in 2019) and Cole Perfetti (10th overall in 2020) have had more circuitous routes to the NHL, and in Heinola's case, he's still in the AHL. College players have the leverage to control their destiny if they choose because they can stay four years in school and sign elsewhere.

With McGroarty's wishes in mind, we're scouting out a new team for him and have a few ideas. Some teams you might think would be good places (Columbus, Buffalo, New York Islanders) have been seemingly tepid, per Mike McIntyre of the Winnipeg Free Press. But with more than a few NHL teams either needing prospects, having an opportunity to be in the NHL sooner than not, or both, we're using those ideas as our guide along with reported interest.

Boston Bruins

For as good as the Boston Bruins have been over the years, the one thing that's been a struggle for them is drafting a high-end prospect pool.

They've been able to draft productive and useful players, but haven't picked anyone who's been a major contributor in the NHL since Charlie McAvoy and Trent Frederic in 2016; although Matthew Poitras started making a case for that this past season.

But when it comes to Rutger McGroarty, the Bruins' collective ears perked up.

Outside of Poitras, the Bruins have a dearth of elite prospects and adding McGroarty to the mix makes a world of sense. Boston has 2021 first-round pick Fabian Lysell knocking on the door to the NHL in AHL Providence, but when it comes to home-grown drafted players there's not much else in the waiting. Adding 20-year-old McGroarty to the fold would address that instantly.

As for McGroarty being able to get a path to the NHL quicker with Boston, it would seem unlikely because of how good the Bruins have been. But one look at their bottom-six forward group shows there's opportunity to be had in competition with guys like Poitras, John Beecher, Mark Kastelic, or Justin Brazeau at forward. All of those players have more NHL experience, but if McGroarty wants to make the NHL right away, he's going to have to compete for it, and winning a competition with the Bruins right away would prove he was worth the cost to acquire him.

Minnesota Wild

The Minnesota Wild are in an interesting position. They have a few significant young players making big contributions already with Brock Faber, Matthew Boldy and Marco Rossi.

While Boldy already signed a long-term extension, Faber and Rossi are due for extensions of their own very soon and the Wild are in need of good, young cost-controlled players. That makes Rutger McGroarty an obvious target for them.

Michael Russo shared during NHL Draft weekend that the Wild had significant interest in acquiring McGroarty and it makes a world of sense for them. McGroarty would give them an immediately capable option up front to compete for the NHL roster along with becoming the top-ranked non-goalie prospect in the system.

McGroarty would compete with Marat Khusnutdinov in Minnesota and eventually Reilly Heidt would ascend to join them. But right now, the path is clearer to get to the NHL than with other teams.

The Wild have some very good players and while their NHL roster would seem virtually set, head coach John Hynes likes to tinker and try out different looks. With Hynes' USA Hockey background and McGroarty coming up through the US National Team Development Program, it's a natural match.

Philadelphia Flyers

Arguably, no team is more fascinating with how they'll manage their offseason and their rebuild on the fly than the Philadelphia Flyers. They came so close to making the playoffs last season and yet they're still in the process of getting younger and starting over.

The Flyers also got a taste of how tough it can be to draft a high-end college player when Cutter Gauthier made it known he didn't want to be in Philly and was traded to Anaheim. Replacing a guy like Gauthier would be hard to do...unless they made a run at Rutger McGroarty.

McGroarty would help make up for the loss of a first-round pick by adding one from another team and it would allow McGroarty to experience what it would be like to try to do what it takes to win over coach John Tortorella to earn a spot in the Flyers' lineup.

The Flyers have been in the mix in trade rumors surrounding guys like Joel Farabee and Scott Laughton and if either of those players were to, perhaps, be part of a package to acquire McGroarty, that would open up a spot in the Flyers' lineup for the Michigan star (and other guys within the organization) to play in Philadelphia.

On paper, it's a fit. In reality, it would be worth the price in potential drama to see how it would work for McGroarty and see if he has what it takes to impress a tough coach like Tortorella.

Calgary Flames

The Calgary Flames are in a position to refill their coffers with as much young talent as they can find and making Rutger McGroarty one of those players would be a great idea.

Over the years, the Flames have lost or traded major contributors like Johnny Gaudreau, Matthew Tkachuk, Chris Tanev, Elias Lindholm, Andrew Mangiapane and Jacob Markström and while they've gotten draft picks and other NHL players in return, they desperately need an influx of young players and top prospects to rise from the ashes. Connor Zary can't do it all by himself, you know.

Calgary making a push to add McGroarty would give them an immediate upgrade to their prospect pool and give them a young player who could jump into the Flames lineup immediately whether it's at center or on the wing. The Flames are hurting for offensive players and McGroarty would instantly address that need.

With guys like Zary, Yegor Sharangovich and Jonathan Huberdeau they have a few guys that can score, but boy, do they ever need more than that. Adding McGroarty to the mix with them and learning from them would be a positive thing.

The only catch here is whether or not Calgary has anything left after all of the other trades they've made the past couple of years to help make a deal happen with Winnipeg.

Ottawa Senators

Something the Ottawa Senators have going for them is the number of younger exciting forwards they have. From Brady Tkachuk to Tim Stützle to Shane Pinto to Ridly Greig, there are some good and fun players there. Mix in some of the veterans they have, and the mix is interesting yet hasn't come together yet.

Adding Rutger McGroarty to the mix to shake things up a little bit makes for an intriguing idea though, doesn't it?

McGroarty's offensive upside would provide them some security against injury (Joshua Norris) and take some pressure off other young players (Pinto, Greig) to help them along immediately. Even though they've got veterans like Claude Giroux there to provide scoring and leadership, raw scoring ability would inject life into the group.

The Senators never have to sweat playing scrappy and tough up front, Tkachuk does that plenty, and additions of David Perron and Michael Amadio will add to that. But when it comes to guys who can add playmaking and goal scoring, they could stand to have a bit more. If that means sending out another player in their mid-20s to make it happen, it could be a risk worth taking.

Anaheim Ducks

If there's something the Anaheim Ducks have shown, it's that they're OK with shaking things up in a trade to add a draft pick unhappy with the team that selected them in the draft. Cutter Gauthier got out of Philly and headed to Orange County; Rutger McGroarty doing the same thing would be a lot of fun, wouldn't it?

McGroarty going to the Ducks would make sense given their current rebuild status and he might even be able to help them advance through that stage and into the "playoff hopeful" category. The funny thing is, the Ducks have a player on the roster who could help make a trade happen.

The Gauthier deal came together because the Ducks were willing to part with defenseman Jamie Drysdale who had a disagreement with the organization over his next contract last summer. His teammate Trevor Zegras had a similar issue with them and, perhaps not coincidentally, his name has heavily been in trade rumors ever since.

Would Zegras-for-McGroarty be the kind of trade both Winnipeg and Anaheim would be happy making? Maybe Zegras wouldn't be down for that since Southern California is a bit nicer than Southern Manitoba but having that as the foundation of a trade at least makes sense in theory.

Hey, don't yell at us, we're idea people, not general managers.