This season marks Chychrun's seventh NHL season, all spent with the Arizona Coyotes. In his tenure, he's played on some pretty poor teams, and this season has been no better. The Coyotes sit second last in the Central Division with a record of 16-28-6.
Keeping this in mind, teams across the NHL have been monitoring the Chychrun situation since early December. The Coyotes are keeping the availability of moving the star defenseman at the deadline, and Chychrun seems to be open to it as well. This morning, NHL fans noticed that Chychrun had taken the Coyotes out of his Instagram bio, which could anticipate a move being done in the imminent future.
Now, it isn't an uncommon thing we have seen in the past where players remove their teams from their social media headings. Sometimes it leads to a departure (as expected when a player does that), but often, nothing is made of it. Given the circumstances, this could hint that the outstanding two-way player is just about finished in Arizona.
If this is the case, his six-foot-two frame will attract many contenders in the market come the March 3rd deadline. Despite Arizona's lack of defensive ability, Chychrun has found success on both sides of the ice while averaging over twenty-three minutes of ice time a night. Adding him to a legit contender with a support system could push his potential over the edge.
From the perspective of the Coyotes, a team looking closer to a lottery pick than a playoff spot must consider all available options. A resourceful option would be to move their left-handed defenseman to obtain assets prevalent in their ongoing rebuild.
So, although it's all speculation at this point, the timing of Chychrun's social media changes is suspicious. With that said, we cannot jump to any conclusions, but due to the rumours around Chychrun all year long, it's a good possibility there is meaning behind this.
POLL | ||
4 FEVRIER | 509 ANSWERS Jakob Chychrun trade could be imminent after suspicious social media activity Will Chychrun finally be traded this week? | ||
Yes | 288 | 56.6 % |
No | 87 | 17.1 % |
Dear God, I hope so | 134 | 26.3 % |
List of polls |