NHL Rumors: What are the chances the Arizona Coyotes trade Jakob Chychrun at the trade deadline?

PHNX Coyotes: Craig Morgan talking about defenseman Jakob Chychrun and if the Arizona Coyotes will trade him this season.

** NHLRumors.com transcription

“It’s a very complex deal because we talked about a lot of teams being cap strapped. So again, if Chychrun goes, you can bet there’s going to be salary coming back. There’s going to be a player coming back to the Coyotes cause teams are going to need to fit this number in under their cap ceiling, and his cap hit is $4.6 (million).

Again his salary goes up in the next two years but that’s probably not going to matter to the teams we’re talking about as much as the cap hit itself. They’ll need to move something back.

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The other thing of course is the ask. And I know that the narrative out there is the Coyotes are asking too much. Well, are they really when Brandon Hagel draws what he got last season? If you look at some precedent, maybe not.

When you hear a lot of that stuff, I realize I just cover the Coyotes, but when you hear of lot of that stuff in the media, ‘well the ask is too high,’ just remember that’s GMs speaking through media members. Okay. This is a negotiation and they’re negotiating through the media. We’ll see if it’s too high. We’ll see if a team is willing at the trade deadline to pay the price for Jakob Chychrun.

Another point I want to make, there’s a starting point. There’s a starting ask, and I’ve written this a few times, two first-round picks and a second-round pick or the prospect equivalent of that. These are negotiations. It’s not hard fast, it’s either that or nothing. These are negotiations. There’s a back-and-forth. We’ll see what happens.

There could be other things that equal that package for the Coyotes. It just has to be what Bill Armstrong feels is fair value. Fair return for Jakob Chychrun. A guy, who again, is under contract for two more seasons. He’s having another…”

Leah Merrall: “He’s more than just a rental.”

Morgan: “Exactly.”

Merrall: “Which is what you often at the trade deadline.”

Morgan: “He’s cost-effective when you look at that cap hit for a top-four defenseman. It’s a good number.

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