Kings and Coyotes trade for Jakob Chychrun has 'stalled.'

On Sunday, former National Hockey League player turned radio host Nick Kypreos reported that he was hearing Arizona Coyotes star defenseman Jakob Chychrun was on his way to the Los Angeles Kings in exchange for one of the Kings' top prospects in the form of defenseman Brandt Clarke.

Since then a number of reporters have issued reports that contradict the statements made by Kypreos, with some even going so far as to confirm directly with Clarke's agent that he has in fact not been traded.

This had led to a great deal of confusion on this front given that the Coyotes themselves announced on Saturday night that Chychrun was in fact being scratched for "trade related reasons" but thankfully NHL insider Elliotte Friedman is now shedding some light on the this whole fiasco.

On the latest episode of his podcast, Friedman detailed how the Kings and the Coyotes were extremely close to a trade and that it was actually an ancillary part of the trade that led to what he described as a snag in the deal between the two teams.

"The Clarke rumors went crazy on Sunday and I believe the Kings took the step of notifying Clarke that he would not be traded," said Friedman on the 32 Thoughts podcast.

"I think everybody was thinking 'L.A. was the team' and I think L.A. is in the driver's seat... and I'm afraid to say this because things can change at anytime, but I think somewhere between the Kings and Coyotes there was a snag. That doesn't mean that it's impossible... but I do think there was some kind of snag."

What makes this so interesting is that it sounds like it was a relatively minor part of the trade that caused things to hit a roadblock, with Friedman describing some type of contract as the source of the problems between the Kings and Coyotes in this deal.

"I think what the snag may have been is that the Kings and Coyotes were talking about a contract that needed to be moved and they couldn't agree" said Friedman. "I don't think it was one of the principal members of the trade, but I think it was potentially an ancillary member on the trade and the two sides couldn't agree on it. I think that stalled the trade a little bit."

Friedman believes that this is where things currently stand with the Kings and the Coyotes agreeing on the principal aspects of a deal, but with an ancillary piece 'gumming up the works' as the insider put it. It sounds like Friedman believes this trade may still happen, but it also now sounds like this is no longer a done deal. That being said the insider believes there was a genuine desire from both of these teams to get a deal done, and that things came very, very close.

"I think it was very serious between these two teams, I think they legitimately tried to get a deal done and I think something snagged the deal." said Friedman.

Last but certainly not least, it sounds like this snag may have opened the door to some other teams to try and get back into the mix.

"I wonder if it's re-engaged some other teams," said Friedman. "I think there's some other teams that are kind like 'Ok, this is in the final stages here let's see if we can get back in it.' And I think that's possible that has happened, which only clouds all this."