NHL Rumors: 3 Young Senators Off The Table In Potential Chychrun Trade

The Ottawa Senators are one of the teams currently in need of a defensive upgrade. They have been linked to the Arizona Coyotes and Jakob Chychrun. The cost to trade for Chychrun remains the same, the equivalent of two first-round picks, but Elliotte Friedman reported that Ottawa isn't willing to trade Jake Sanderson, Shane Pinto, or Ridly Greig.

The Senators look strong to start the season, and that's without starting goaltender Cam Talbot or RFA Alex Formenton. Without moving their top young players, the team has lots of options to still pull off a deal. They have a number of first round players and even high second round players in their system, plus all of their first round draft picks.

Other young players of interest could include Lassi Thomson, Jacob Bernard-Docker, Tyler Boucher, Zack Ostapchuk, Roby Jarventie, and even Formenton who is further along in his development than the rest of these names and is still unsigned. The Coyotes have the cap space to sign him and play him in a top-six role.

With the amount of high-level young talent the Senators have, they are smart to identify a few of their best as untouchable and keep the possibility of the rest in play. Sanderson is already playing second pairing minutes as a rookie while Pinto is an early leader in Calder Trophy discussion with four goals and five points in the team's first five games. Greig is on the cusp of making the jump to the NHL, and the Senators have more defensive prospects that would be of interest to the Coyotes. Since Arizona is trading a defenceman, they are wanting a young one in return.

Look for the Senators to remain major players in the Chychrun sweepstakes.