Coyotes get some awful news on trade bait defenseman Jakob Chychrun

Arizona Coyotes general manager Bill Armstrong announced today that injured defenseman Jakob Chychrun has suffered a setback in his recovery from a wrist operation that he had in the offseason and is still weeks away from being able to re-join the team.

This is assuming that Chychrun re-joins the Coyotes at all, as there has been the source of a LOT of trade speculation in the past calendar year. In fact, Chychrun himself this past offseason that he has asked for a trade given the trajectory of the team. And really... can you blame him? The Coyotes are actively taking for a top draft pick and are playing in a literal minor league facility. I can't imagine too many Coyotes players are keen to stick around through what's likely to be a long and painful process.

The 24 year old Chychrun is likely to be a hot commodity on the trade market once he does get healthy and there have been a ton of reports linking him to the Ottawa Senators. Chychrun put up seven goals and 21 points in 47 points for the Coyotes last season and a career high 41 points in just 56 games the season prior. The thing with Chyrun though is that he's never been able to stay healthy for a full season in his entire NHL career. The most games he has ever played is 68 in his rookie season back in 2016-17. Yes, he's young and he's signed to a very reasonable $4.6 million contract for the next three seasons, but if I were a team in the running for him I'd be real concerned with his ability to stay in the lineup.

As it is, we likely won't hear any new trade reports out of Arizona until Chryrun is off the injured reserve (IR). Personally, I see him as a great fit for the Senators, but I wonder if a struggling team like the Vancouver Canucks might take a run at him. Beyond Quinn Hughes, the Canucks are woefully thin on the back end and they have plenty of good young players at the forward position to offer up in a potential trade.