NHL Rumors: Senators not alone in pursuit of Jakob Chychrun as more teams revealed
Anthony Scultore
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The moment Jakob Chychrun revealed that the Arizona Coyotes presented him with an opportunity to be traded and he accepted, only meant the rumors were going to crank up into high gear.
“The team approached me a couple of times (last season),” Chychrun said via NHL.com. “[I] decided to take them up on that offer and try to move on to a better situation [because of] my desire to to win in this league.”
One team that has been considered the frontrunner to land the 24 year-old defenseman are the Ottawa Senators, but the list of suitors is growing.
Several teams now in on Jakob Chychrun
Darren Dreger provided the latest update on TSN’s Insider Trading on Thursday night.
There’s no secret that Jakob Chychrun still wants out of the Arizona Coyotes, but the Arizona Coyotes still tell everybody that they’re willing to be patient. Although what is clear now as the regular season is fast approaching is that the trade interest in Chychrun is once again intensifying. Some say that the Coyotes have softened to some degree at least in their expected return and are more willing now to take on a contract or contracts. Granted, you’ve got to have a first-round draft pick, you’ve got to have a prospect involved in all of this, so the ask is still high. Now some of the teams that are listed with interest include the Ottawa Senators, the Toronto Maple Leafs, the Edmonton Oilers, the Los Angeles Kings, the St. Louis Blues, the Columbus Blue Jackets and on and on it goes. However, it is a challenging one. Despite the quality of player and the contract, there’s some cap hurdles that many of teams I just mentioned are going to have to overcome.
Darren Dreger, TSN
Chychrun registered 7 goals and 21 points in 47 games last season despite dealing with injuries. Coming into 2022-23, he is healthy and ready to put up some big numbers.
What makes him even more valuable in a flat cap system is his contract. The two-way defender has 3 years remaining with an excellent AAV of at $4.6 million.
That’s why the ask from the Yotes is so high.
Of all the teams mentioned by Dreger, the Sens have the assets and cap space to get a deal done. The Kings, Blues, Oilers, Jackets, and Maple Leafs are either up against the cap or over it. Any deal with them will require creativity and likely the Coyotes needing to take a bad contract back.
If that’s the case, those other teams will need to sweeten the pot, whereas the Sens do not.
Ottawa is still in the driver’s seat on this one.
