Jakob Chychrun will remain out of the lineup for all three of the Arizona Coyotes' games before the NHL trade deadline, PHNX’s Craig Morgan reported Thursday.
Coyotes general manager Bill Armstrong told Morgan that the blueliner would be scratched for “trade-related reasons,” explaining that the team initially pulled Chychrun under the impression that a deal was imminent.
“One of the reasons we held him out so soon was he played a ton of minutes in his last game (at Chicago),” Armstrong added. “After that, we thought we were so close to a deal that we just had to make a decision. It turned out we were not, and then one day led to the next day, and here we are today.”
As for any potential deals to come in the next few days, Armstrong remained noncommittal about the prospect of Chychrun moving, maintaining the leverage he has sought to utilize. Concerns with league-wide cap flexibility — roughly half of the league is up against or above the $82.5-million salary cap — along with a recently flooded market for defencemen have further complicated matters.
“I’m really comfortable with the situation and him coming back if we end up on the other side of it,” Armstrong said, referring to the prospect of a trade not materializing. “We don’t have a gun to our head. It’s business as usual the next day, whether he’s here or not.”
Another concern has been the health of the disgruntled Coyotes defenceman, with Arizona using the trade rumours to hide a potential injury. Armstrong said Chychrun is perfectly fine, returning to practice earlier this week in an effort to stay in game shape.
“He’s 100 per cent healthy and he’s ready to go,” Armstrong said.
The 24-year-old defenceman is having a bounce-back season offensively after returning in November from a wrist injury. Through 36 games, Chychrun has seven goals and 28 points, both of which rank second among Coyotes defenders despite having played 14 fewer games than leader Shayne Gostisbehere.
COMMENTS
When submitting content, please abide by our submission guidelines, and avoid posting profanity, personal attacks or harassment. Should you violate our submissions guidelines, we reserve the right to remove your comments and block your account. Sportsnet reserves the right to close a story’s comment section at any time.