Sportsnet: Elliotte Friedman and Jeff Marek on the 32 Thoughts: The Podcast – Mask On, Mask Off – on Arizona Coyotes defenseman Jakob Chychrun.
** NHLRumors.com transcription
Marek: “A couple more things here. Jakob Chychrun. Buffalo News picked this one up after our report night on maybe looking at the Buffalo Sabres and considering them a dark horse candidate now that Chychrun is healthy and playing again and this is the audition to the rest of the league that this player is healthy.
And we’ve been over the trade speculation and talk countless times. As soon as we went off air , as soon as it was done, I got a DM from someone saying don’t forget the Chychrun’s and the Pegula’s are friends going back to their Florida days. Chychrun actually went to school with the Pegula’s kids Kelly and Matthew.
So I don’t know if that affects the deal, but it was just interesting that right away someone pointed out, yes this makes sense for a couple of reasons. One, they really ride their young defensemen hard, and these guys are, you don’t need me to tell you how good Rasmus Dahlin and Mattias Samuelsson and Owen Power are. They’re real good but they are also really young.
And the idea of bringing in someone who is more veteran, I would imagine is tempting for Kevyn Adams. They do have the assets that the Arizona Coyotes would be looking at and looking for. It sounds still like they want the old San Jose – Brent Burns deal. That’s what they’re looking for in this one.
We’ll see where it goes Elliotte. We’ll see where it goes but I know more people now are certainly talking about the Buffalo Sabres as perhaps being a candidate for his services.”
Friedman: “First of all, I think that was a really interesting find by you. That’s number one.
Number two, it makes sense to me, if there’s one complaint people have about the Sabres. Actually, I don’t really know if I would say it’s a complaint, but if there’s one thing that teams play against the Sabres have noticed, is that they get pushed around a little bit. They’re a little small. First of all, nobody is pushing around Tage Thompson. And nobody is pushing around Kyle Okposo because he’s a killer. But I do think that teams feel they can generally push them around.
And their defense has talking a lot of punishment. I was talking to someone and they said it makes a lot of sense what you said cause Rasmus Dahlin takes a lot of punishment. Powers a big guy, but.
Marek: “He’s young.”
Friedman: “He’s young. They could see some there like Chychrun. Just a bigger, stronger guy who can dish it out a little bit more. That can ease the punishment that a lot of these guys take.
Buffalo can make this deal as you said. It was interesting. The reaction was very interesting base on, people think that it would ease the burden on some of their other defensemen. And I think there’s a recognition from Buffalo that it’s something that they will need to do at some point. They did Lyubushkin this year, which is a good fit for them, but I also wonder if they’re kind of thinking, we could always do more.
And Chychrun’s locked in for a couple years too. You have a contract here.
I still think Columbus is potentially around this.”
Marek: “Islanders.”
Friedman: “Islanders have been around this.
The Kings. The Kings are an interesting one. I do think they are looking for a left-shot D. I just don’t know if they feel the pressure to do it right now. Everybody knows the Kings have a lot of people on the right side, but one of the things the Kings have kind of indicated is, they can wait a little bit of time if they want to because the clock really starts for them next year, making sure there is a spot for Jordan Spence. I don’t know if they feel that they have to do it now or yet. But I think at some point in time they are going to. That’s kind of the interesting group there.”
Marek: “As an aside, when you look at Jakob Chychrun, and you look at what Arizona’s program is, and what they want, I think when you look at teams that have a really rich and deep prospect group. Buffalo does and so do the Los Angeles Kings. That one makes a ton of sense for what Arizona would want from LA.”
Friedman: “Ya, LA can certainly do it. You know, Edmonton, I think at times, Edmonton’s kind of taken a look at it but I don’t get the sense they’ve really been in it. I’m not convinced Toronto’s there either. There’s always going to be teams I’m missing, but I’m with you Buffalo, LA ..
Marek: “Columbus”
Friedman: “Columbus. I think Ottawa would look at it but there just hasn’t been a match and I’m not convinced there’s a match. The thing I heard about Ottawa is they are just determined to not make a bad trade or one that they regret.
I do think there is a market for him. Very curious to see who pulls the trigger. I think Chychrun would like for it to happen and I think Arizona would like for it to happen.”
** NHLRumors.com transcription