Plenty of intriguing names lead off TSN's Trade Bait list

A goalie headed to the Hockey Hall of Fame and a captain headed to his team’s Hall of Fame are featured on TSN’s first Trade Bait board less than six weeks from the March 21 trade deadline.

But it’s a 23-year-old defenceman, not Chicago’s Marc-Andre Fleury or Philadelphia’s Claude Giroux, who heads up the list.

The Arizona Coyotes’ 6-foot-2, 220-pound blueliner Jakob Chychrun is No. 1.

Chychrun is in his sixth season with Arizona and has three years left on his contract at a team-friendly $4.6-million AAV.

There will be no shortage of suitors calling GM Bill Armstrong, whose Coyotes are well represented on the list, including one of the most enviable assets of all at No. 10: cap space.

Capfriendly.com calculates Arizona’s cap space at $6.7 million as of Feb. 11.

Of course, more could open up with Chychrun, No. 11 Phil Kessel and No. 25 Johan Larsson all on the Trade Bait list.

Goalies of Fleury’s stature are seldom available at the deadline. The three-time Stanley Cup champion ranks No. 3 on the Trade Bait list and No. 3 on the all-time list of regular-season wins behind Martin Brodeur and Patrick Roy.

Fleury, 37, is tied for seventh in starts (34) this season and most recently stoned Edmonton Wednesday, stopping 40 of 41 shots he faced. Oilers’ head coach Dave Tippett was fired Thursday.

As for Giroux, the 2022 NHL All-Star MVP is No. 4 on the Trade Bait list and could waive his no-trade clause and chase a Stanley Cup, which has so far eluded him.

The 34-year-old centre is enjoying something of a renaissance this season. With 15 goals in 43 games, he is scoring goals at his highest pace (.35 goals per game) in four years.

Eighteen players in the Top 25 are slated to be unrestricted free agents (UFA) after this season.