Coyotes “Gauging the Market” on Jakob Chychrun

As per NHL insider Elliotte Friedman, the Arizona Coyotes are ready to look under every rock and turn over every leaf in order to put themselves in the best position moving forward. That apparently means being open to trading one of the team’s best players, defenseman Jakob Chychrun.

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In his latest 32 Thoughts article, Friedman wrote:

Arizona GM Bill Armstrong refused to comment when asked, but it now sounds like the Coyotes are gauging the market on Jakob Chychrun. I’ve heard the ask is massive, but that doesn’t mean opponents are running away. He’s signed for three more years at a very reasonable $4.6 million AAV and is a terrific player. This is one to watch.

You can bet there are a lot of teams considering their options, even if the price is extremely high. While Chychrun hasn’t lit the world on fire this season (7 points in 26 games), he’s not far removed from a breakout performance in 2020-21 where he scored 41 points in 56 games.

It wasn’t long ago that Chychrun was considered untouchable. He is a great defenceman who plays the tea’s top tough minutes and he kicks in regularly on offense. He typically ranks in the top ten of every worthy list of underrated defensemen.

This Could Just Be Curiosity by the Coyotes

Friedman was specific when he used the term “gauging the market”. That could be all this is. Perhaps Armstrong simply wants to know what his options are without any real intention to pull the trigger on a deal unless an offer comes in that is ridiculously too good to pass up. As a GM, if he doesn’t find out what the player is worth, he can only guess.

It seems logical that the price is going to be too high for most teams to pay but Armstrong may just want to see if there’s a team out there willing to go all in, whatever that means from a Coyote’s perspective.

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