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Boston Bruins should be interested in acquiring Jakob Chychrun |
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Rebuilding has become an accepted strategy in the NHL. You inform fans you are going to do it and ask them to be patient. You remind them it's going to take a while. Fans start to root for your losses because it means a better draft position.
You can buy yourself some time with a rebuild announcement. We all understand how it works.
But I don't quite understand the Arizona Coyotes' rebuild, at least not every aspect of it.
Sources around the NHL say the Coyotes are open to the idea of moving defenseman Jakob Chychrun, and that it could happen well before the March 21 trade deadline.
He is a 6-foot-2, 220-pound top pairing defenseman who netted 18 goals last season when the Coyotes still cared about making the playoffs. The 23-year-old Chychrun also has this season and three others on a contract paying him a team-friendly salary of $4.6 million.
To me, Chychrun seems like the kind of player a team builds around, not trades away.
In fairness to the Coyotes, they aren't holding a fire sale on Chychrun. In fact, the Athletic's Pierre LeBrun reported they want a "Jack Eichel" style return.
What that means is they want a package of players and draft picks. If they don't receive their king's ransom they are prepared to keep him. But don't you always say that in negotiations?
When I asked around the league about teams that have the best chance of landing him, the team that came up the most often was the Boston Bruins.
If you look at their situation, the Bruins have the assets and motivation to make this happen. Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand are older players still producing at an elite level and goalie Tuukka Rask seems like he will sign and play one more season. This is the time to push all in.
Plus, they have the assets and, potentially the cap space, to make this happen. We could guess that the Bruins would be willing to give up Jake Debrusk and a first- and a second-round draft pick.
DeBrusk has asked to be traded. He is 25 and has had a 27- and a 19-goal season. He has five goals this season. DeBrusk's $3.6 million say is a $1 million less than Chychrun, putting Boston close to where they would need to be to make the deal.
This won't get a done. It's less desirable than the Eichel deal (Alex Tuck, Peyton Krebs, future first and a future second an Vegas also got a third). But it's a negotiation start that could bear fruit.
This deal would be very attractive to the Bruins to do this deal because they have 24-year-old Charlie McAvoy. This would give Boston two top pairing defensemen for many years to come.
The Coyotes are looking to load up on draft picks. But they are probably going to demand a quality player to go with DeBrusk.
The other issue here is that the Bruins won't be the only bidder. Would guess the St. Louis Blues would be interested and maybe even the New York Rangers. How about the Florida Panthers? Imagine Chychrun playing on the second pairing with Radko Gudas. The other problems is that the Panthers have little cap space. And they might not be willing to give up the younger assets that the Coyotes would want.
Keep in mind the Coyotes don't have to trade Chychrun now or ever. They could wait until the offseason or not trade him at all. The old adage is this sport is sometimes you best trade was the one you didn't make.
Blogger •HHOF Writer's column on the NHL • 
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