The seemingly neverending rumors surrounding the LA Kings and Arizona Coyotes defenseman Jakob Chychrun were put into hyperdrive on Saturday.
The Coyotes were in St. Louis for what seemed to be a rather inauspicious matchup between two teams that will miss the playoffs. That is until Arizona announced that Jakob Chychrun was going to be a healthy scratch:
The speculation ramped up, and we started to get a little more clarity from Sportsnet’s Jeff Marek:
Marek’s comments had led many to believe that LA was out on Chyrchrun, despite the fact he quite clearly stated the team “poured cold water” on the idea, which made sense. As Marek alluded to, Saturday night was Dustin Brown‘s night. It would make sense for the Kings not to want anything to be a distraction to their former captain’s ceremony.
Things picked up even more when the Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli noted the continuing smoke around the LA Kings and Chychrun:
The LA Daily News’ Andrew Knoll provided more context:
There was very little in terms of any potential players going the other way on Saturday. That changed on Sunday:
Knoll, again, added some additional context:
Oh, but that’s not all. There just might be another twist to this potential deal:
So as we sit here on the night of a certain big NFL game, all signs are pointing to the league’s longest rumor finally coming to fruition and Jakob Chychrun ending up with the LA Kings. That is, of course, unless another team is able to up their offer. While Marek noted the Toronto Maple Leafs and Edmonton Oilers are out, Knoll reports that the Boston Bruins and Calgary Flames remain interested.
We’ll see how this all shakes out, we could see a resolution as early as Monday.
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