Latest On Jakob Chychrun
The Trade Deadline is still over a month away, but that hasn’t stopped activity from slowly beginning to increase across the league. That trend doesn’t appear to be stopping, as multiple big names are still on the market and could be moved prior to the deadline. One of those names is Arizona Coyotes defenseman Jakob Chychrun, who’s probably the best defenseman available.
Trade talk has surrounded Chychrun all throughout this season, as a tough year for the Coyotes has meant a tough year for him personally on the ice. Now, The Fourth Period’s David Pagnotta reports that there’s an “increased level of activity” surrounding Chychrun trade discussions, and it appears as though the Los Angeles Kings are the current frontrunner in those talks.
While it’s obviously impossible to predict a return, Pagnotta reports that sources indicate the Coyotes are interested in a package from Los Angeles that includes prospect Gabriel Vilardi. Selected 11th overall back in 2017, Vilardi’s struggled with injury during his development process but looked at home in L.A. last season with 23 points in 54 games. With just one assist in 7 NHL games this season, though, he’s been spending a lot of time with the AHL’s Ontario Reign. There, he’s chugging along with 29 points in 29 games, a positive indicator there.
The Kings currently sit with 59 points and the second Wild Card spot in the Western Conference. While the team’s received strong play from Drew Doughty, Matt Roy, and Sean Durzi on the right side defensively, their left side lacks a higher-end, experienced NHL defenseman. While Chychrun is just 23, he’s at least been in the league for a few seasons and even has some brief playoff experience under his belt. There’s a natural fit for him atop the defensive depth chart on a pairing with Doughty, a situation that could help him rediscover the offensive side of his game.
Winnipeg Jets Re-Assign Ville Heinola To Manitoba
After getting a long look at the NHL level over the past few weeks, the Winnipeg Jets have opted to send defenseman Ville Heinola back down to the AHL’s Manitoba Moose.
Heinola’s played in eight NHL games this season, an auspicious number considering the 10-game ‘entry-level slide’ rule that can apply to young prospects on entry-level deals. This isn’t a contractual move, though, as the Jets have already slid the beginning of Heinola’s entry-level deal twice, meaning the clause no longer applies.
After being drafted 20th overall in 2019, Heinola immediately signed his entry-level deal with the team. He’d played in 13 NHL games prior to this season, notching a goal and four assists.
This season, he’d notched two points in another eight games, but averaged under 14 minutes a game and saw limited usage. At this point in time, the team’s decided they trust Logan Stanley more in an NHL role, opting to send Heinola back to the Moose. There, he has 16 points in 25 games this year, continuing to develop his all-around game.
East Notes: Chiarot, Lyubushkin, Poulin
There’s a gigantic Saturday night rumors dump, courtesy of Elliotte Friedman and Jeff Marek on Sportsnet’s Hockey Night in Canada. It starts with maybe the most-discussed name on the trade bait list in recent days in Montreal Canadiens defender Ben Chiarot. Talks are reportedly heating up, with Friedman singling the St. Louis Blues on the program as a team interested in Chiarot’s services. It’s entirely likely that Chiarot is another name gone before the deadline, as the Habs certainly don’t seem to be afraid to get out ahead of the action. Chiarot would give the Blues three options with considerable NHL experience at left defense, as Niko Mikkola, Jake Walman, and the injured Scott Perunovich have competed for ice time there this season as well. But none of them have the games played and playoff experience at the NHL level that Chiarot has.
More notes from the Eastern Conference today:
- The Arizona Coyotes are holding Ilya Lyubushkin out of the lineup as a healthy scratch, and Friedman names the Toronto Maple Leafs as one of the top teams interested in the Russian defender’s services. With Nick Ritchie falling out of favor in Toronto, and Arizona’s willingness to take on buried contracts, the fit seems logical as Friedman suggests. Lyubushkin would be a spectacular depth add for Toronto’s right side defensively, who, aside from T.J. Brodie, has faced inconsistency this season.
- Jeff Marek reports that prior to the commencement of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, the Montreal Canadiens reached out to the representatives of Canadian women’s forward Marie-Philip Poulin about what her career plans were after the games, suggesting Montreal had an interest in having Poulin within the organization. While no official job offer was ever made, all indications point to Poulin wanting to continue her on-ice career. The 30-year-old forward still has multiple opportunities to represent Canada on the international stage.
Tyler Tumminia Resigns As Commissioner Of PHF
As reported by Sportsnet’s Jeff Marek tonight, PHF commissioner Tyler Tumminia is resigning from her duties. She plans to stay on through the end of the PHF regular season and playoffs.
Tumminia originally entered the PHF world in April of 2020, when she was named chairman of the expansion Toronto Six. Just six months later in October, however, the PHF named Tumminia the interim commissioner of the league after restructuring their administrative model.
She retained the interim commissioner title until August 2021, when the role was given to her permanently. Tumminia resigns from the job after just six months.
The PHF’s playoffs take place in late March, meaning Tumminia will only stay on for the next six weeks, approximately.
The news comes less than a month after Alex Sinatra resigned as the Executive Director of the Players’ Association of the PHF.
Dave Tippett Reportedly Plans To Retire From Coaching Career
PHNX Sports’ Craig Morgan tweeted Saturday night that former NHL head coach Dave Tippett, who was let go by the Edmonton Oilers earlier in the season, plans to retire from his coaching career.
If true, that would conclude a 17-year NHL head coaching career for the now 60-year-old Tippett. He was fired by the Oilers after a 23-18-3 start to the season.
Tippett, a longtime NHL player as well, got his first crack as a head coach in the 2002-03 season with the Dallas Stars. After six seasons in Dallas, Tippett joined the Coyotes organization for the next eight years, serving as their head coach from 2009-2017. There, he guided the team to the 2012 Western Conference Finals and was the Jack Adams Award winner in 2010, his first year in Phoenix/Arizona. That year remains the only 50-win, 100-point season in franchise history.
Through 1,285 games as a head coach in the NHL, Tippett finishes with a 648-475-162 record. It’s an all-time points percentage of .567. In 82 playoff games, Tippett went 34-48.
Trade Deadline Primer: Pittsburgh Penguins
With the All-Star break now behind us, the trade deadline looms large and is just over a month away. Where does each team stand and what moves should they be looking to make? We continue our look around the league with the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Despite more predictions of their demise this offseason, the Pittsburgh Penguins have kept on rolling all throughout 2021-22. The team’s ridden great depth scoring and good goaltending from Tristan Jarry through the entire season to overcome more injury issues with stars Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. Pittsburgh currently stands tied for first in the Metropolitan Division, and should undoubtedly be buyers at this year’s Trade Deadline. With an increasingly tricky salary cap situation, though, that’s easier said than done.
Record
31-12-8, 2nd in the Metropolitan
Deadline Status
Buyer
Deadline Cap Room
No base cap room, $4MM in deadline cap space with LTIR, 0/3 retention slots used, 47/50 contracts used per CapFriendly.
Upcoming Draft Picks
2022: PIT 1st, PIT 2nd, PIT 4th, PIT 5th, PIT 6th, PIT 7th
2023: PIT 1st, PIT 2nd, PIT 3rd (becomes 4th if Jeff Carter plays in 50 games this season), PIT 5th, PIT 6th, PIT 7th, TOR 7th
Trade Chips
If one regular player is to get moved off the team’s current active roster in a trade, whether it be for salary or roster space reasons, it’s likely winger Dominik Simon. The 27-year-old hasn’t found his way up the lineup, being relegated largely to a fourth-line role. He’s averaged less than 10 minutes of ice time per game and has three goals and nine points in 45 games.
In terms of the prospect side of things, the Penguins don’t exactly have the largest cupboard to deal from. There is 21-year-old Swede Filip Hållander, who the team has already dealt away once, only to reacquire him later from the Toronto Maple Leafs in exchange for Jared McCann. Playing in the AHL with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton this season, he’s on pace for a full-season total of just seven goals and 23 points in 63 games, however, and his stock isn’t as high as it was after an impressive SHL season the year prior.
One position they could look to deal from is goaltending. They have considerable young depth at the position and could afford to lose a player there more than any other area. One name that should carry some value is Finnish netminder Joel Blomqvist. While he didn’t get into game action in the abbreviated World Juniors this season, he has an incredibly impressive .940 save percentage in 13 Liiga games with Kärpät this season. The Pens drafted him in the second round in 2020.
There’s also a pair of young forwards that remain on Pittsburgh’s roster as scratches or injuries in Radim Zohorna and Drew O’Connor. Zohorna looked good in stints last season but has only appeared in eight games this season as Pittsburgh’s forward depth remains tough to penetrate. O’Connor was impressive in the preseason but had just five points in 22 games before being sidelined with an undisclosed injury about a month ago.
Other Potential Trade Chips: F Tristan Broz (unsigned 2021 draft pick), D Mark Friedman (12 NHL GP in 2021-22, pending RFA), D Juuso Riikola ($1.15M cap hit buried in AHL, pending UFA)
Team Needs
1) Middle-Six Scoring Winger: Jason Zucker continues to be out week-to-week with an upper-body injury, and he hasn’t exactly been exceedingly productive when healthy, either. Pittsburgh could upgrade considerably on Danton Heinen, who’s currently riding shotgun on the second line with Malkin and Carter. Another true scoring threat behind the team’s big line who could benefit from playing with Malkin would help increase scoring and improve the team’s bottom-six depth and stability.
2) Sixth/Seventh Defenseman: The team obviously likes having Chad Ruhwedel around, considering the two-year extension assigned to him today. But he remains one of Pittsburgh’s starting six defensemen on a nightly basis with relatively little competition internally. A right-shot man with a higher pedigree to fit in on the third pairing with Mike Matheson will only improve this team’s playoff aspirations.
Top Prospect Logan Cooley Commits To University Of Minnesota
After previously committing to the University of Notre Dame, top 2022 NHL Draft prospect Logan Cooley is changing Big 10 schools, as the USA Hockey National Development Team Program announced today that he’s committed to the University of Minnesota for his collegiate career.
Cooley is a consensus top-five selection for the upcoming draft, with Daily Faceoff’s Chris Peters even ranking him first in the class ahead of Shane Wright in his midseason rankings.
A product of Pittsburgh and the Penguins’ youth system, Cooley has been money in the bank since joining the U.S. National Team in 2020. During the 2021-22 campaign, Cooley is dominating with 20 goals and 36 assists for 56 points in 41 games. He was also a part of the USA’s World Juniors roster, netting an assist in a singular game prior to the tournament’s abrupt cancellation.
With him and Wright making noise as the likely two best centers in this draft class (although Matthew Savoie would like some words as well), Cooley is a giant get for a Minnesota program that already includes prominent NHL prospects such as Brock Faber, Matthew Knies, Chaz Lucius, and Ryan Johnson. It’s somewhat likely that Cooley’s stay only lasts a year, however, as the highly-touted prospect likely isn’t too far away from making an NHL impact.
Maple Leafs, Others Showing Interest In Justin Braun
The market for defensively sound depth defensemen is always a hot one, especially around the Trade Deadline as teams assess their deficiencies as they prepare for playoff runs. While Ben Chiarot discourse has been steamrolling its way through the public lately, he won’t be the only defensive specialist with playoff experience available at the Deadline. He’s not the biggest piece the Philadelphia Flyers may have for sale, but it looks like veteran defenseman Justin Braun could be a rental for a team looking to win this Spring.
On the latest edition of TSN’s Insider Trading, Pierre LeBrun suggests that multiple teams are interested in Braun’s services, but specifically lists the Toronto Maple Leafs as one of those teams.
Braun, now 35 years old, has exactly 100 games of playoff experience under his belt, 84 of which came with the San Jose Sharks. Since arriving in Philadelphia in 2019, even as his offense began to decline with age, he’s maintained his status as a stellar defensive specialist in a bottom-four role.
The price to acquire Braun shouldn’t be nearly as astronomical as the rumored first-round pick for Chiarot, as recency bias tends to reign supreme on Deadline day. It could be a very solid value acquisition for any team, though, as a mid-round pick spent on Braun seems like a much smarter move than a high-round pick or prospect spent on Chiarot.
Specifically for Toronto, Braun seems like an extremely logical replacement in the lineup for Justin Holl, who’s also a right-shot defenseman. Holl has struggled mightily this season, getting consistently outshined by Toronto’s young pair of D-men in Rasmus Sandin and Timothy Liljegren. Adding Braun to the mix would create incredible depth and injury insurance at defense for Toronto in the playoffs, as defensive depth issues caused by injury have exposed them in recent years.
Vancouver Canucks Remove Quinn Hughes From COVID Protocol
The Vancouver Canucks are getting a big boost to their lineup in the form of defenseman Quinn Hughes, who the team activated from COVID protocol today.
Hughes and his brother, Jack Hughes, found themselves on the league’s list after testing positive on arrival to their respective teams after the NHL All-Star break in Las Vegas. Because of the break, Hughes hasn’t suited up for the Canucks in two and a half weeks, missing the team’s first three games post-All-Star break. Vancouver’s last game was a 3-2 win this past Saturday against Toronto.
The 22-year-old defenseman has been Vancouver’s best player this season not named Thatcher Demko. With two goals and 32 assists this season, Hughes’ 34 points are best by far among Canucks defensemen and second on the entire team behind J.T. Miller‘s 48 points. While Hughes isn’t exactly a defensive defenseman, he’s continually improving and developing in his own end, a trend that’s continued into this season.
Hughes will slide back into the Vancouver lineup tonight against the San Jose Sharks, likely alongside Luke Schenn considering usual partner Tucker Poolman remains out with an undisclosed injury.
Nashville Predators Sign Mark Borowiecki To Extension
The Nashville Predators signed defenseman Mark Borowiecki to a one-year contract extension worth $900,000, as announced by the team. The one-year deal will make him a Predator through the summer of 2023.
Borowiecki, a 32-year-old native of Kanata, Ontario, has two assists in 39 games with the Predators this season. Over his past two seasons, both spent with Nashville, he’s totalled three assists in 61 games. He currently leads all NHL skaters in penalty minutes this season with 103.
The veteran defenseman has now skated in 11 NHL seasons, the first nine of which were spent with his hometown Ottawa Senators. This is Borowiecki’s sixth NHL contract, over the span of which he’s tallied 54 points in 436 career NHL contests.
A true heart-and-soul type of guy, ‘Boro Cop’ is a defensive specialist whose main attraction is his leadership and physicality. His extension gives Nashville a reliable sixth/seventh defenseman in the organization for yet another year.
Borowiecki was in the last season of a two-year, $4MM total contract he signed with Nashville as a free agent in 2020.