A Surprising Team is Emerging as a Possible Front-Runner For Jakob Chychrun

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Aaron Itovitch
November 27, 2022 (12:17)

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Jakob Chychrun is the hottest commodity on the trade market. He's a young top-pairing defender, with a phenomenally low cap-hit of $4.6-million. Similar player are making nearly double what Chychrun is.

It would thus make sense for a contending team with limited cap-room to acquire Chychrun - the issue being that these contending teams no longer have the assets the Coyotes want.

Now, the Buffalo Sabres have emerged as real contenders for Chychrun. He would be an amazing complement to their budding defensive corps of Owen Power, Rasmus Dahlin and Mattias Samuelsson, and he could be the piece that sets the team apart from the rest of the eastern conference.

They surely have the assets, as players like Peyton Krebs, Jack Quinn, Matthew Savoie, and Noah Ostlund could all interesting pieces for the Coyotes. Beyond this, they have several elite goalie prospects, in Ukko-Pekka Luukonen, Devon Levi, and Erik Portillo. They equally have all of their first round picks still in their posession.

Even with the assets it would take to acquire Chychrun, they would still have one of the deepest prospect pools in the league.

Jeff Marek made this sentiment clear:

«So we're going to fire up the trade talk and you'll hear the likely candidates. We'll hear plenty about the Islanders and we'll hear about the Kings and we'll hear about the Columbus Blue Jackets. And we're starting to wonder as well about maybe a dark horse candidate in the Buffalo Sabres." Marek said.

He added, "Now, Kevyn Adams, the general manager, has always maintained 'we're sticking with youth and that's the way we're going'. But there is a feeling out there that you know, they run those big three, young defencemen and they are Mattias Samuelsson, Owen Power and Rasmus Dahlin, who's having a fantastic campaign. This is a team that doesn't need anymore prospects. They've identified their core, they've locked them up long term. They need to start to put together their team. Jakob Chychrun has this season and the next two seasons at $4.6 (million)."

Source: Markerzone