Keep the money flowing: 3 players whose free-agent value could soar in the playoffs

There's a lot on the line in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Winning 16 high-intensity games after a grueling 82-game season is far from easy.

For some players in the playoffs, even more will be on the line than a last name eternally inscribed on the Stanley Cup. A number of playoff participants are playing for new contracts.

Here are three players who would benefit most from a dominant spring.

Kyle Okposo

Okposo, a lifelong New York Islander, is set for unrestricted free agency at only 27. A seventh overall pick in 2006, he's a three-time 20-goal scorer and has recorded three straight fifty-point seasons, finishing second on the club in scoring each time. His 64 points in 2015-16 were only five off his career high. Playing with John Tavares has its benefits.

The St. Paul native may not be playing in Brooklyn next season, though, thanks to some long-term contracts that aren't looking so good for the Islanders. Mikhail Grabovski and Nikolay Kulemin are not worth their salary cap hits of $5 million and $4.188 million based on their production.

While Okposo made $4.5 million this season, his salary against the cap was only $2.8 million. He signed a five-year, $14-million contract in 2011 that certainly paid off for New York. He's in line for a massive raise, based on his age and production.

He's a solid possession player with five goals and two assists in 13 career playoff games. Should he help fuel a deep Islanders postseason run, he's going to cash in even more than after the second-best regular season of his NHL career.

Keith Yandle

Keith Yandle's going to get paid this summer. We know that. But he can guarantee a few more riches with a big spring in Manhattan.

Yandle will be 29 on July 1, when he can take offers from the highest bidders. He'll turn 30 on Sept. 29, which means he's in for a multi-year extension at very big money. Think Brent Seabrook, who signed an eight-year extension worth close to $55 million, with a cap number of $6.875 million.

Seabrook has three 40-point seasons, his 49 this campaign a career high. Yandle's scored 40 or more points six times, and 50 or more three times. And Yandle's a positive possession player on a New York Rangers team that doesn't often have the puck.

Teams know what Yandle can do, and he's performed well in the playoffs, with 30 points in 46 career games. The Rangers are looking to go deep again, and always have a chance to do so thanks to Henrik Lundqvist. A big playoff run from Yandle could make him the seventh defenseman in history to carry a cap hit of over $7 million.

* Campbell will be an unrestricted free agent this summer.

David Backes

St. Louis Blues captain David Backes is one of the more intriguing players set to hit the open market.

He can do it all. A center, he's a six-time 20-goal scorer, hitting 30 or more twice. He hit the 20 mark for the third straight season in 2015-16 after a nightmare lockout-shortened 2013, when he scored only six goals in 48 games. He's a two-way forward who plays with sandpaper, a perennial Selke candidate, a possession beast, and he produces - Backes has five 50-point seasons and one 60-point season to his name.

Problem is, the Blues have been bounced from the playoffs in the first round in three straight years. Backes has two goals and four assists in 16 playoff games over that time, and only five goals and eight assists in 29 career postseason games.

Jobs are on the line in St. Louis; the Blues need a big postseason. And so does Backes, who turns 32 on May 1. Backes' last contract paid him $22.5 million over five years. A successful spring could bank him $30 million over five years, maybe more.