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The Toronto Maple Leafs Don’t Need to Trade for Jakob Chychrun

By James Tanner

GLENDALE, ARIZONA - JANUARY 14: Jakob Chychrun #6 of the Arizona Coyotes passes the puck during the third period of the NHL game against the San Jose Sharks at Gila River Arena on January 14, 2020 in Glendale, Arizona. The Coyotes defeated the Sharks 6-3. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
GLENDALE, ARIZONA - JANUARY 14: Jakob Chychrun #6 of the Arizona Coyotes passes the puck during the third period of the NHL game against the San Jose Sharks at Gila River Arena on January 14, 2020 in Glendale, Arizona. The Coyotes defeated the Sharks 6-3. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images) /
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The Toronto Maple Leafs get linked to nearly every single player that enters into league-wide trade rumours.

Most of the time, these players are stars who the Toronto Maple Leafs would have no chance of trading for, but it’s always fun to dream.

Tyler Bertuzzi, Taylor Hall, Alex Pietrangelo….countless others. They are exciting to dream about, and you can often make really good arguments about why the Leafs should go for them.

And while it would be really exciting to get Jakob Chychrun, I don’t think he’s a player the Leafs should be interested in at this time.

Toronto Maple Leafs and Jakub Chychrun

Chychrun is 23 year-old, signed to a very reasonable $4.6 for four more years, and could still get better.

His excellent numbers are buoyed somewhat by luck, but he’s still a really good player – he just isn’t a great player.  The Leafs have Morgan Rielly and they have Jake Muzzin, and they have Rasmus Sandin on an ELC.

There is no room on the left-side of the Toronto Maple Leafs blue-line, and though a Rielly for Chychrun swap may have some merit, you’ve got to account for the fact that Rielly is the Leafs heart and soul, and a fan-favorite who should play his entire career in the blue and white.

Also, there are questions to how good Chychrun would be if he wasn’t a) standing out on a terrible team and b) getting lucky results.  Last season Chychrun had career highs in  both shooting percentage and on-ice shooting percentage (i.e the shooting percentage of him and his teammates when he was on the ice).  (stats naturalstattrick.com).

Paying top price for a player at the peak of his career is often a recipe for disaster.  Chychrun might be a nice fit if he was right handed, or if he was more of a two-way star, but he’s mostly an offensive left-side defenseman, something the Leafs are stacked with.

Also, the price is rumored to be 2 x first-round picks.   It is my opinion that the Leafs could use just one first round pick and the cap space that Chychrun would take up to acquire a player who is a better fit for the team at the trade-deadline.

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The term of his contract and the potential upside of Chychrun would make me excited to add him to the team, but in this case, given the price, his position/role, and the fact that he might be due for some regression makes it easy for me to say the Toronto Maple Leafs should not pursue him, even if it’s true he is available.

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