Latest On Jakob Chychrun
It’s been seven games now since Jakob Chychrun returned for the Arizona Coyotes, and if interested teams wanted to see proof that he can still be an impact player, he’s done everything they need. The 24-year-old defenseman is averaging 22:25 in ice time on the year and has three goals and six points in those seven games. Granted, six of the seven contests have been losses, but that likely has to do more with his teammates than his individual performance.
Last night on TSN’s Insider Trading, Darren Dreger updated the situation:
I still think there is aprehension among clubs with the most interest to pay the price that Bill Armstrong and the Coyotes are looking for. But I also think there is a group of teams that are getting to the point they realize they may have to.
Armstrong has maintained a high price for Chychrun going back to last season, despite the defenseman’s public admission that he wants to be traded to a contender. That’s because he isn’t just a rental. Chychrun is signed through the 2024-25 season at a reasonable $4.6MM cap hit, though the actual salary owed will continue to increase. While that might sound like a lot, it puts him 65th among active defensemen in the league, tied with Jamie Oleksiak of the Seattle Kraken and just ahead of players like Shayne Gostisbehere, Tyson Barrie, and Nikita Zaitsev.
Several teams around the league are dealing with significant injuries to their defense corps, and others have just seen their players struggle. The Edmonton Oilers, for instance, have been looking for a top-end defenseman as Dreger suggests in the same piece, referencing Evan Bouchard‘s recent benching. Biding his time appears to have worked perfectly for Armstrong, who can now just wait until a team is desperate enough to meet his high asking price.
The Coyotes, meanwhile, are losing even with Chychrun in the lineup, and are doing just fine in their pursuit of the first-overall pick. There’s no rush on their end, even if he does have a no-trade clause that comes into effect next summer. At this point, it’s hard to see the young defenseman blocking a trade anywhere as long as it gets him closer to another playoff appearance.
Snapshots: Hornqvist, Columbus, Colorado
When Anthony Duclair is eventually ready to return from his Achilles injury, the Florida Panthers are going to need to make some moves. The team is using up nearly all of his $3MM in long-term injured reserve flexibility even with a roster of 20 players, meaning that much will need to come off the books to activate him.
While the easy answer might be to trade Patric Hornqvist, who is playing fourth-line minutes on an expiring $5.3MM cap hit, it might not happen. Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet discussed the situation on the 32 Thoughts podcast, and noted that even if there wasn’t a “guarantee” handed over that Hornqvist wouldn’t be traded, to get him to Florida in the first place that kind of agreement was made. While there isn’t anything technically stopping general manager Bill Zito from going back on his word, Friedman doesn’t expect it.
- Also on the podcast, Friedman and co-host Jeff Marek also brought up the Columbus Blue Jackets as the latest team connected to Jakob Chychrun. While the Blue Jackets aren’t going anywhere this year, they have plenty of young assets that could be of interest to the Arizona Coyotes and expect to be better next season when not dealing with a huge number of injuries. Chychrun looked quite good in his latest game for the Coyotes, recording an assist, eight shots on goal, and a +3 rating in a win over the Carolina Hurricanes.
- Now that the Colorado Avalanche don’t need to play today, they’ve returned Sampo Ranta and Anton Blidh back to the AHL. The depth forwards could be back up as early as tomorrow, when the team welcomes the Dallas Stars in.
Latest On Trade Market For Defensemen
Mentioning the market for defense in the NHL immediately brings to mind at least two things: Jakob Chychrun and the Ottawa Senators, both as they are separately, and the rumors connecting the defenseman to Canada’s capitol. With Chychrun having been on IR to finish last season and now to start this season, the rumors surrounding the 24-year-old had been a bit quieter than usual, but expected to tick up with his return on Monday.
Tonight on Hockey Night in Canada’s 32 Thoughts segment, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman seemed to confirm this inevitability, expecting talks on Chychrun to begin heating up once the defenseman returns. Another interesting note from Friedman on the Coyotes and their defensemen is the possibility of a trade involving Conor Timmins. A second-round pick in 2017, Timmins’ prospect status has never really been in question, at least for his on-ice performance. Instead, injuries have derailed the 24-year-old’s career. Now on a conditioning stint in the AHL, Timmins appears to be fully healthy and soon to be ready for NHL action, causing Friedman to wonder if Arizona might pursue a trade market for Timmins as well.
A newer name added to the defensemen speculation is San Jose Sharks defenseman Erik Karlsson. Once thought to be unmovable, Karlsson is off to an incredible start, on pace to set several career-bests already, scoring 11 goals along with 17 assists in just 19 games on the season. With four years left at an $11.5MM cap hit after this season, Karlsson will be incredibly difficult for the Sharks to move even with his historic production, but it just may make doing so possible for the rebuilding San Jose squad. According to Friedman, this also from 32 Thoughts, the Sharks haven’t gotten that far yet in any Karlsson talks. As Friedman says, the belief is that Karlsson has not yet been asked to move his no-movement clause, at least not for any specific team.
Friedman adds that he believes the Sharks are currently trying to determine what other teams are willing to do in regards to the rest of the contract. Of course the Sharks and their potential trade partner will have to work out how much, if any, San Jose retains on the remaining contract and what assets they could get back for Karlsson, which would hinge on how much the Sharks would retain.
One team looking for defense that many want to see on the shortlist to acquire Karlsson would be the Ottawa Senators. Their search for a defenseman in the early part of this season has been well documented and Chychrun has been the number one name associated with them. As reported by Friedman on 32 Thoughts earlier, it is believed Ottawa did try to work on a deal that would have sent Nikita Zaitsev to the Vancouver Canucks in exchange for Tyler Myers, but the deal did not get far enough for Myers, who has a modified no-trade clause, to be asked for permission. Other pieces would have presumably had to be involved to make the deal work for both sides, but that sort of swap would have benefitted Vancouver to the tune of $1.5MM in cap savings while giving Ottawa the defenseman they’ve been looking for and allowing them to get out from under the Zaitsev contract.
Snapshots: Soderholm, Maple Leafs, Chychrun
One of the ongoing debates in the hockey world is when the NHL will start to broaden coaching searches outside of North America. The league has only really had two European head coaches in its history, and every summer there is talk about how someone like Rickard Gronborg could be an interesting candidate.
Well, take at least one name off the list for the time being, as Toni Soderholm has signed a contract to coach SC Bern in the Swiss National League until 2024. The 44-year-old Finn had been the head coach of the German national team for the last several years but used an out clause to terminate the deal and join Bern. Like most of the candidates that are brought up in this discussion, Soderholm has ties to North American hockey already, having played and even captained UMass.
- While the Toronto Maple Leafs celebrate their win over the Pittsburgh Penguins last night, the rest of the hockey world seems to be focused on finding them a new defenseman. Another piece came out today, this time from Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff, detailing several candidates to replace Jake Muzzin. One name that is listed is Vladislav Gavrikov of the Columbus Blue Jackets, a name that has also been brought up by The Fourth Period in relation to the Maple Leafs. Toronto has some additional cap flexibility due to the injury to Jake Muzzin, which is keeping him out indefinitely and could end his career.
- One of the names that is always brought up for defense-needy teams is Jakob Chychrun, and today he officially rejoined the Arizona Coyotes for practice. Speaking with Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic, Coyotes general manager Bill Armstrong once again implied that he will not drop the asking price for Chychrun, which – according to LeBrun – is a package including two first-round picks.
Jakob Chychrun, Nick Schmaltz Set To Return Next Week
The Arizona Coyotes are about to get some reinforcements after an already impressive stretch of play, at least compared to expectations. Defenseman Jakob Chychrun and forward Nick Schmaltz are set to return to the lineup next Monday when the Coyotes take on the Nashville Predators, according to general manager Bill Armstrong, who spoke with PHNX Sports’ Craig Morgan.
As previously reported, though, it seems like Chychrun won’t play more than a handful of games as a Coyote this year. Trade speculation around him has been constant for around a year, and as of the last notable update almost a month ago, the Coyotes’ asking price for the young defender remains on the high side. He’s missed the first month of the season with an ankle injury that kept him out of the end of last season, as well as a separate wrist injury sustained late last month. The 24-year-old is coming off a down season but had 41 points in just 56 games during the 2020-21 campaign. The 16th overall pick in 2016 is a legitimate top-four defenseman regardless, and players like him don’t come around on the trade market often.
Schmaltz, who had a resurgent campaign last year with 59 points in 63 games, left the team’s season opener in the first period. He’s been out since with an upper-body injury.
In an anticipatory transaction, the Coyotes today also sent down forward Laurent Dauphin to the AHL’s Tucson Roadrunners. The minor-league veteran played just one game with the Coyotes this year, but has eight points in eight games with Tucson.
Jakob Chychrun Suffers Setback, Still Week-To-Week
After Jakob Chychrun made it very clear that he wants a trade away from the Arizona Coyotes and into a contending organization, many believed he would quickly be dealt. That still hasn’t happened, and part of it is because of the injury he’s currently recovering from.
Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet recently wrote that “teams want to see him go out and be immediately impactful” before they make an offer. Unfortunately, that sounds like it might still be down the road.
Jenna Ortiz of AZ Central reports that Chychrun has suffered a setback in his recovery and is still listed as “week-to-week” by general manager Bill Armstrong. What that means for his trade value isn’t clear but it would be difficult for any team to know what they are getting if they went after him today.
The Coyotes, of course, are trying to maximize the value of their asset but also don’t really have to rush a move. Chychrun is signed through the 2024-25 season at a reasonable $4.6MM cap hit, meaning there is plenty of time to wait for the right offer. Sure, his value to an acquiring team would be highest the quicker they receive him, but there will still be interested parties down the road, even if it takes him another month to get back on the ice.
It would be much more detrimental for Arizona if he were to rush back and suffer a more long-term injury – plus it’s clear that Chychrun doesn’t really want to play for the team anymore. Taking it slower to make sure everything is healed seems like the best solution, even if it does take some fun out of the hot stove discussion.
Injury Updates: Hughes, Samuelsson, Chychrun
The Vancouver Canucks are having a tough time at the start of this season, to say the least. The team is still searching for its first win of the season, and it’s gotten bad enough that coach Bruce Boudreau was openly questioning his players’ effort level when conducting his postgame media duties last night. To make their situation even more difficult, they may have to chase their first win of the season without one of their top players.
Coach Boudreau told the media last night, including The Athletic’s Thomas Drance, that defenseman Quinn Hughes is injured on a day-to-day timeline. It was noted that the injury isn’t expected to be a “long-term thing,” although few in Vancouver could be blamed for not caring about the long-term with the short-term situation this dire. Unlike many of his teammates, Hughes hasn’t gotten off to a horrible start this season. While his defense could stand to improve, he has registered five assists in five games and is tied for second on the team in points. If the Canucks want to right the ship after this disastrous start, they’ll need to get Hughes back and healthy as soon as possible.
Some other injury updates:
- The Buffalo Sabres received an injury scare last night when defenseman Mattias Samuelsson, a core piece of their blueline, left their contest against the Canucks with a lower-body injury. While we don’t yet have full details on what Samuelsson suffered, we do know that Sabres fans can breathe a sigh of relief. The Buffalo News’ Lance Lysowski reports that the Sabres and Samuelsson “got good news” regarding Samuelsson’s injury and that the team and player “avoided the worst.” While this update is obviously relatively vague, it does suggest that Samuelsson won’t be out as long as some might have initially feared he would be.
- The Jakob Chychrun trade winds have been picking up quite strongly in recent days, and the talented Coyotes blueliner could be on the move in the relatively near future. That being said, though, he’ll have to get healthy first, and he may not be all that close to returning. Per the Ottawa Sun’s Bruce Garrioch, Chychrun is still “a few weeks away,” and he relatively recently conducted an in-person visit to the wrist specialist who conducted his offseason surgery. Yesterday, we covered the timeline update to Chychrun’s status, and now with more information on the nature of Chychrun’s absence, (that it could relate to the wrist issues that troubled him this summer) it’s fair to wonder if we really are any closer to a Chychrun deal than we might have been in the past.
Latest On Jakob Chychrun’s Trade Market
As Jakob Chychrun nears a return from injury, trade speculation around the young defenseman has reignited. Rumors of Chychrun being dealt by the Arizona Coyotes reached a fever pitch last season just ahead of the trade deadline, but an injury suffered on March 12th against the Boston Bruins cost him the remainder of the season and the beginning of this one as well. An exact return date for the defenseman had not been set, but many had expected it would be at some point towards the end of Arizona’s six-game road trip to start their season. However, as discussed earlier today, he is still considered week-to-week.
This evening on the 32 Thoughts segment of Hockey Night in Canada, Sportsnet’s Jeff Marek discussed the current market for Chychrun. Marek notes the asking price on Arizona’s end holds firm at two first-round draft picks, “plus,” meaning some combination of additional draft choices, prospects, or roster players. This ask has appeared palatable for a number of teams in theory, but talks appear to become difficult when the “plus” is brought up. This has become most apparent when it comes to the Ottawa Senators.
Marek reports that discussions on the likes of forwards Ridly Greig and Shane Pinto or defenseman Jake Sanderson are not on the table for the Senators. Considering Chychrun’s talent, age, and cost-controlled contract (three-years, $13.8MM including 2022-23), the player makes perfect sense for an Ottawa team that is just turning the corner in their rebuild, but could use a boost on their blueline.
Still, it’s unclear exactly what the package requested from Ottawa looks like. The Senators aren’t the only team looking at Chychrun, and realistically many teams are likely interested at the possibility of acquiring him given the above, but Marek does list the Los Angeles Kings as another possibility beyond Ottawa, a name we’ve hear before in the Chychrun rumors. With Arizona’s high asking price for the 24-year-old, and the win-now nature of the move, a team like Ottawa or Los Angeles who have a deep system of young talent and are ready to take the next step are two of the most conceivable trade partners in the Chychrun sweepstakes.
Injury Notes: Chychrun, Brossoit, Cernak, Laviolette
As last season’s Jakob Chychrun trade speculation was reaching its peak just as the trade deadline approached, the air was seemingly sucked out of the trade rumors when Chychrun went down in a game against the Boston Bruins on March 12th. After the injury, perhaps without the offer they were looking for to deal the defenseman, the Arizona Coyotes hung onto Chychrun. Many thought he would then be dealt at the NHL Draft this summer, but that and the rest of the offseason had come and gone and Chychrun was still a member of the Coyotes. Several games into this season, the hockey world is awaiting Chychrun’s return from injury, many believing trade talks will once again heat up when the defenseman returns and shows he is fully healthy.
When exactly Chychrun would be returning had remained a mystery, but with the defenseman joining the team on their Canadian road trip, his return seemed fairly imminent. That may not be true though, reports PHNX Sports’ Craig Morgan. Instead, says Morgan, Chychrun will not play on this road trip, which concludes with a game in Columbus against the Blue Jackets on Tuesday. Chychrun won’t return for “a bit” Morgan adds, and is considered week-to-week.
- When the news broke that Robin Lehner would miss the entire 2022-23 season, the Vegas Golden Knights goaltending situation, and ultimately their season, was heavily doubted. Thus far, the 4-1-0 Golden Knights have received more than solid goaltending from rookie Logan Thompson and the recently acquired Adin Hill, and that is without veteran netminder Laurent Brossoit, who is still recovering from injury. A return timetable for Brossoit was unclear heading into the season, though not expected to be long-term. His return is still unclear though, says the Las Vegas Sun’s Danny Webster. Brossoit has not been cleared for any contact, but is progressing well and will be re-evaluated on November 1st, Webster reports.
- Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Erik Cernak is considered day-to-day with an upper-body injury and will not play tonight when the Lightning take on the New York Islanders at home, the team says. Cernak has played in all five of Tampa’s games thus far.
- Washington Capitals Head Coach Peter Laviolette will be behind the bench for tonight’s game, confirms Stephen Whyno of the Associated Press. The Washington bench boss had been a game-time decision with a non-COVID illness. The Capitals host the Los Angeles Kings at home tonight.
Latest On Jakob Chychrun
While defenseman Jakob Chychrun and the Arizona Coyotes are likely shared in their belief that finding a trade for the 24-year-old defenseman is the best path forward for them both, the more immediate priority is getting Chychrun back to full health. And while there hasn’t been much progress on the trade front, it seems that we do have some progress on Chychrun’s health.
On the 32 Thoughts segment of last night’s Hockey Night in Canada broadcast, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported that Chychrun is scheduled to rejoin the Coyotes in Montreal and begin to practice with the team. Friedman clarified that the timeline for his return to game action is “not as firm,” but regardless this should be considered a positive development for both Chychrun and the Coyotes.
The Coyotes are currently 0-2-0 in this young season, and while adding Chychrun back into their lineup is unlikely to instantly make them a competitive team, his return to full health could yield benefits in both the short and long-term.
In the short term, getting Chychrun back will bolster the left side of the Coyotes’ blueline, potentially allowing both Shayne Gostisbehere and J.J. Moser to play less demanding minutes and possibly a number of minutes more suitable to their current capabilities. Additionally, Chychrun could provide a boost to the level of offense the Coyotes can generate from their back end, as he is a more dynamic offensive blueliner than Dysin Mayo, the player currently playing as the third left-shot defender.
From a long-term perspective, getting Chychrun back into games could potentially be the factor that speeds up the process of finding a suitable trade for him. Chychrun had a down year in 2021-22 as he battled injuries and saw his offensive production dry up.
With that down year in mind, if Chychrun returns to the lineup and returns to the form that saw him score 18 goals and 41 points in 56 games in 2020-21, perhaps a team will be more willing to meet the reportedly sky-high asking price the Coyotes are demanding in any Chychrun trade.
On that front, Friedman notes that the Ottawa Senators, a long-rumored potential destination for Chychrun, are likely out of the running, at least for the moment. Friedman cites multiple sources to report that there “isn’t a path” to a Chychrun deal between Ottawa and Arizona.
But while the Senators may not end up being the team Chychrun is shipped to in a deal, simply getting him back into the fold should help the Coyotes not only remain competitive but also get to the conclusion of a trade saga that all parties involved would likely concede has dragged on far too long.
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