If Asking Price For Jakob Chychrun Drops, Should Canadiens Pounce?

If the asking price for Arizona Coyotes defenceman Jakob Chychrun on the NHL trade market were to drop, should the Montreal Canadiens try to acquire him?

An NHL source recently indicated to Montreal Hockey Now, that Coyotes general manager is ‘willing to get creative’ when entertaining any future NHL trade inquiries from interested teams. One of the reasons Chychrun wasn’t traded prior to the March 21 NHL Trade Deadline was the exorbitant asking price for the 24-year-old rearguard who was drafted 16th overall by the Coyotes at the 2016 NHL Entry Draft. The rumoured ask for Chychrun was a 2022 or 2023 first round pick, top prospect and a young rising NHL player like an Alexander Romanov.

Obviously, Montreal Canadiens general manager Kent Hughes likely wasn’t going to even think about making such a trade and rightfully so. However, if the asking price is lower now, should Hughes at least give Armstrong a ring now to potentially get ahead of what will likely turn into a sweepstakes for Chychrun on the NHL trade market as the NHL Draft draws near. Even with Jakob Chychrun entering the fourth season of a six-year contract that carries a very reasonable $4.6 million cap hit, the Canadiens would unfortunately still need to move some contracts on the NHL trade market to make the trade work salary cap wise.

Hughes and executive vice president of hockey operations Jeff Gorton are still at the mercy of Carey Price’s future and the four years left of his $10.5 million cap hit  and they are actively trying to move three years left of defenceman Jeff Petry’s $6.2 million cap hit. They obviously would like to gain some salary cap space on the NHL trade market from moving a forward or two. …Mike Hoffman anyone?

Another factor will be what’s becoming and will continue to become a very crowded house on the left side of the Canadiens blue line. Currently the Canadiens have four left-shot defencemen on their roster and left-shot defencemen Kaiden Guhle  and Mattias Norlinder will get a shot to join that left side soon too. If Hughes was to find a taker for Petry and gain the cap space for Chychrun, he would then need to fill in an opening on the right side. My MHN partner-in-crime Marco D’Amico recently listed Anton Stralman, Justin Braun and Jan Rutta as potential stop-gap right shot defencemen that Hughes could bring in.

If Hughes was able to work the NHL trade market and/or free agency to address those issues and gain cap space, the read here is that he absolutely should be interested in a 24-year-old top pairing defenceman like Chychrun who could likely emerge as a young leader on a Canadiens roster Hughes is trying to rebuild and eventually turn into a Stanley cup Playoff contender down the road.