The Arizona Coyotes are reportedly gauging the market for Jakob Chychrun, but should the Toronto Maple Leafs consider a move for the young blue-liner?
In one respect, the Toronto Maple Leafs‘ blue line has played better compared to last season – at least up this point of the current campaign. However, this doesn’t change the reality it remains the weakest component on the roster and could still stand to improve.
With this in mind, the Leafs and their fans will have surely paid attention to recent comments made by Sportsnet‘s Elliotte Friedman. More specifically, that the Arizona Coyotes are gauging the market for Jakob Chychrun.
It should be noted general manager Bill Armstrong refused to comment when asked about Chychrun specifically. Regardless, Friedman said this was one situation to keep an eye on.
This report was followed up by Nick Kypreos and Justin Bourne discussing the same player on Sportsnet 590 The Fan. Kypreos was of the impression the Leafs would be one of the teams interested in Chychrun, despite the likely high cost to acquire him.
This leads to the question of if Toronto should attempt to trade for the 2016 first round draft pick? Here is a look at the argument for and against making such a move:
The argument for Chychrun:
There is no doubt the 23-year-old would immediately upgrade the Leafs’ defence. He has all the attributes you look for: capable of logging big minutes, physical, excellent size, tremendous two-way player and so on.
Into the bargain, Chychrun is still young and has encouraging upside. This is a player who has a long NHL career ahead of him, as long as he can remain healthy.
Another aspect which is extremely encouraging to the Leafs and teams in general, is Chychrun’s cap hit. After this season, he still has three years remaining on his current deal, at a reasonable average annual salary (AAV) of $4.6 million. (It should also be noted he can submit a 10 team no trade list for the final two seasons of his contract.)
We’ve already touched on the return package needing to be high, which we’ll get to in more detail shortly. However, it is worth noting Leafs’ general manager Kyle Dubas previously said he would be willing to give up one of their top prospects, if it made the team better. (For the record, this would apparently be any prospect with the exception of Rasmus Sandin.)
In this respect, adding a top-four blue-liner would undoubtedly improve the Leafs. The question is, would Chychrun be worth what it would cost to acquire him?
The argument against Chychrun:
While Chychrun’s AAV is reasonable, the Leafs are right up against the salary cap ceiling. As such, they would understandably want to unload a player or players with a comparable — if not higher — cap hit.
One frequently mentioned choice to move would be Justin Holl with his $2 million AAV, although you have to wonder if the Coyotes would be willing to take on a player who has been repeatedly criticised (at least within Southern Ontario). Another possibility is forward Alexander Kerfoot, who carries a cap hit of $3.5 million; fellow forward Ilya Mikheyev and his AAV of $1.645 million is yet another option.
Even pending moving one or more of the aforementioned players, the Leafs will still find themselves in financial difficulty moving forward. And this is despite taking into account Phil Kessel’s retained salary of $1.2 million comes off the wage bill after this season, along with the reported modest rise of $1 million for the 2022-23 salary cap (pending the implications of the recent surge in COVID-19 cases).
This is because once the 2021-22 campaign concludes, Toronto will need to replace or re-sign the players who become free agents. Chief among these will be Jack Campbell.
There is no denying Campbell will be in high demand, with him in line to see a considerable rise to his current annual salary of $1.65 million. It has taken the Leafs a long time to find a true number one goaltender, and you imagine they will do everything possible to retain him.
Verdict:
There has been some criticism about Chychrun’s lack of points this season, combined with him being on course for easily the worst plus/minus rating of his NHL career. However, this says more about the truly awful Arizona team around him, rather than his own play and talent.
As mentioned already, Dubas is willing to part with a top prospect if it’s worth it. (Nick Robertson would seem to be the best bet.) In addition, the Leafs are well positioned to include one or more high draft picks if they consider it appropriate.
Even taking all this into account however, it will still take a precarious balancing act by Dubas to pull off a trade for Chychrun. A lot of things will have to go right, in order to make this work for the Leafs both this season and beyond.
Overall, the Boca Raton, Florida native is worth it, but only up to a point. By all means the Leafs should inquire and they certainly have the necessary assets available, but ultimately they will likely be compromised by the financial restrictions imposed by their salary cap situation.
What is your position on Chychrun? How much do you believe the Leafs should realistically be willing to give up, in order to trade for him? Let us know in the comments section below.