Updated Landing Spots for Jakob Chychrun Amid NHL Trade Rumors

Jakob Chychrun's career with the Arizona Coyotes is unofficially over. The soon-to-be traded 24-year-old defenseman's name has been on the lips of rumor meisters most of the season, and now the team is going to hold him out of the lineup until he is traded.

It's a unique situation in that the Coyotes made it clear why they're sitting him out: because they don't want him to get injured ahead of an eventual/imminent trade being made. The allure of Chychrun comes from his young age and his palatable contract, which has two years remaining on it, making him one of the jewels of the upcoming trade deadline.

With Chychrun being held out, however, it's ramped up the rumor mill, and the locations he may wind up are narrowing down quickly. That means we've got to narrow our focus as to where he might be headed as well, and with everyone reading tea leaves, it makes things a little more frantic.

What's clear is the Coyotes want a premium return for Chychrun, something along the lines of three first-round-caliber picks and young player(s). Salary-cap considerations are generally an issue in trades, but the Coyotes can accommodate salary coming back to help out an acquiring team, but that too will come at a cost.

It's a tricky deal to pull the trigger on, and it's one the Coyotes are eager to not get snowed. After all, trading a defenseman entering the prime of his career doesn't happen often (Chris Pronger and Erik Karlsson come to mind immediately), but when it's about to happen, it's a big reason to stay on high alert for the next blockbuster. But where is he going? Let's look at the five main suspects right now before the Coyotes decide to make it happen.

As the saying goes, "where there's smoke, there's fire," and speculation over the weekend of Jakob Chychrun going to L.A. made the smoke detectors short out.

The Kings have been a front-runner for Chychrun almost from the beginning. They have a massive stockpile of prospects, they have first-round picks on hand, and they have quality players they could send to Arizona to help make the money balance out. And now that they're not in the same division anymore, a big trade between these two teams feels more likely.

Speculation on the key return has centered around Kings defense prospect Brandt Clarke and forward Quinton Byfield, although it appears the Kings are not overly willing to part with either player. It's important for the Coyotes to get players of that caliber in return for Chychrun because they're lacking in overall prospect depth, and deepening that pool helps improve their outlook for the future.

The Kings do have other prospects apart from Clarke and Byfield, though. Alex Turcotte, Arthur Kaliyev, Gabriel Vilardi, Rasmus Kupari, Tobias Björnfot and Jordan Spence are as well, and some were first-round picks, which fits the Coyotes' apparent criteria for a deal. The question is how willing is Arizona to come off asking for Clarke or Byfield.

Trades are equal parts negotiation and a game of chicken, and the Kings might have enough prospect ammunition for the Coyotes to blink first, but competition from other teams for Chychrun is likely their biggest competition.

We've been saying all season long that the NHL-leading Boston Bruins could stand to be a lot better, haven't we?

Wait, no, we have not been saying that whatsoever, but the Bruins are reportedly one of the teams with high interest in the big defenseman. Does Boston need him? No, the Bruins have one of the league's elite defensemen in Charlie McAvoy, a resurgent Hampus Lindholm and puck mover Matt Grzelcyk already on the left side (Chychrun's preferred side on the blue line).

It wouldn't be an issue to swap out Grzelcyk for Chychrun, but finding ways to get him on the power play could be with McAvoy and Lindholm already quarterbacking each unit. But that's getting ahead of things. Do they have the ammo to even tantalize the Coyotes? Perhaps.

The Bruins have first-round pick prospects John Beecher and Fabian Lysell in the AHL and they have their first-round picks for the next three drafts. They have players on the current roster that could help soften the blow to the Coyotes' current roster as well to make a deal work and, more importantly, they have salary-cap flexibility beyond this year to not only hang onto Chychrun but also extend him when his contract expires after the 2024-2025 season.

It's not an unreasonable possibility for the Bruins to go all-out to give themselves the best shot of winning the Stanley Cup this season, although it feels unlikely they'd go that hard on a deal like this. They can't be ruled out, however, because they can take a big swing if they want to.

Although it seems the Edmonton Oilers' attention may be on Erik Karlsson, they could go for Chychrun as well.

There are solid reasons why it would and why it wouldn't work out, but let's look at this from the more straightforward standpoint.

The Oilers have some prospects on defense, but they also have pressure to get Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl to the Stanley Cup Final sooner than not. Sacrificing prospects and picks to land Chychrun should be appealing because for everything they're hoping Evan Bouchard and Philip Broberg can become, Chychrun is already there and perhaps beyond what they could become.

The Oilers are tight to the salary cap now and beyond this season, and while Chychrun's $4.6 million cap hit for two more seasons beyond this one is a really good cost for the kind of player he is, any kind of help Edmonton could get to land him would go over very well. Fortunately for the Oilers, it seems Arizona might be amenable to do that, albeit at a price.

Where trading prospects gets a bit hairy for the Oilers is that their pipeline is a bit thin and the team in general lacks depth. Do you need more depth when you've got McDavid, Draisaitl, Evander Kane and Chychrun, among others? It's a good question to ask, and it applies to their pursuit of Karlsson too. The Oilers are in a win-as-soon-as-possible mode, so holding tight to prospects and first-round picks may not mean as much. All we do know is GM Ken Holland can be a bit of a wild card, so anything goes.

Speaking of teams in a win-as-soon-as-possible mode from Canada, there are the Toronto Maple Leafs.

We all know the Leafs will do something at the trade deadline and it would seem the only position they won't touch is goaltending, meaning addressing additions up front or on the blue line are most likely. Nick Kypreos said this past Friday Chychrun is a guy they're looking at closely, but let's play a game of "What If?" with the Leafs lineup, if you will.

What if Leafs GM Kyle Dubas decided the thing the Leafs will need most to get past the Tampa Bay Lightning in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs is a defenseman to tag along with Morgan Rielly? The Leafs have Rielly, T.J. Brodie, Rasmus Sandin and Matt Giordano that roam the left side of the ice, and Sandin is the youngest of the bunch at 22 years old.

The Leafs aren't eager to ship out prospects, like Matthew Knies, and tossing aside first-round picks doesn't excite them either, but the idea of winning their first Stanley Cup since 1967 is exciting and their main goal while they have Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner and William Nylander in their prime years.

It's a tenuous line to toe for Dubas because the pressure to win is enormous and they're going to need anything to get an edge on the Lightning and to give them the best possible shot at beating Boston should they get to the second round. Chychrun would be an immense help on the back end for Toronto and allow the pressure on Rielly to be lessened a bit. Not to mention how much he'd help lining up against the likes of Nikita Kucherov and Steven Stamkos. It makes sense for the Leafs to want him, but their focus may be elsewhere.

Buffalo is in the hunt for the playoffs for the first time in over a decade. The Sabres are teeming over with young players and prospects on the way and they've got all their first-round picks for years to come. That means they fit the Coyotes' qualifications to land Chychrun. Are they a contender for him, though? Not exactly.

Sabres GM Kevyn Adams recently said he wants to be involved in all conversations on players who are available in hopes to find ways that he can improve the team now and down the road as well. Adams even said that adding to defense is something he and the staff have discussed for the deadline as well. It's a rumormonger's dream situation, but making sense of it takes some effort.

The Sabres already have Rasmus Dahlin, Owen Power and Mattias Samuelsson as left-handed shots on defense, and while Dahlin and Samuelsson are in the same pairing, adding Chychrun would pose some issues, albeit nice ones to have.

For one, it would be unlikely he would supplant Dahlin or Power on one of the team's power-play units. Second, do you put Chychrun on a pair with Power (or Dahlin) or have him own the third pairing where he wouldn't see as much ice time? The whole point of adding Chychrun would be to have him on the ice a lot and to have him dominate in areas where he's best.

On the flip side, if the Sabres want to go full fantasy hockey roster, they could meet Arizona's asking price with ease, and if Chychrun didn't want to sign in Buffalo long-term, the Sabres could move him again and recoup what they traded to Arizona. It's a Radiohead situation for hopeful Sabres fans in that they probably shouldn't get any big ideas because they're not going to happen.