NHL Rumors: Toronto Maple Leafs, Arizona Coyotes, St. Louis Blues

Welcome to another edition of Full Press Hockey’s NHL Rumors! The 2022-23 regular season is more than halfway done and players will be evaluated. Now, with the trade deadline less than nine days away, rumors are sizzling.

Clubs are always working to improve their rosters for next season. Some teams are having difficulty creating enough cap space to make moves. Others are experiencing severe injuries to star players. Trade rumors/signings are still possible. In this Wednesday edition of NHL Rumors, we will look at the Toronto Maple Leafs, Arizona Coyotes, and the St. Louis Blues.

Toronto Maple Leafs – Justin Holl

Rumor: Per – Darren Dreger – TSN.ca. Toronto Maple Leafs general manager Kyle Dubas has been busy of late discussing several trades and while there’s already been one blockbuster with the St Louis Blues announced, sounds like something else big could be coming in Toronto.

Justin Holl has become a main target to be replaced as he’s struggled throughout the past few weeks and was taken out of the lineup last week as a healthy scratch. Other players who could be moving on may be Alexander  Kerfoot, Pierre Engvall and David Kampf. They’re all pending free agents, and play a vital role in the Leafs bottom-six.

Obviously things heated up between St Louis and Toronto as the day went on. Sounds like Minnesota didn’t sign off on their piece of the puzzle until just before their game last night vs the Stars. https://t.co/VkACaDATPY

— Darren Dreger (@DarrenDreger) February 18, 2023

Highly critical fans in Toronto don’t hold much love for the job Holl is doing… or isn’t doing. With about $4.4 million in cap space after Dubas made his huge deal to acquire Ryan O’Reilly and Noel Acciari, he is still in need of a better solution on the blueline than Holl.

The 🎥 on left is from 2019. The 🎥 on right is from 2023 (last night). What has Justin Holl been doing at practice for the past 4 years? His attempt to defend, play his position, angle & move the puck with precision is not at the NHL level. Time to make changes. #LeafsForever pic.twitter.com/lOQkPAFpMb

— Donny Dangles (@DonnyDangles) February 20, 2023

It would be hoped by many Leafs fans that a defenseman like Jakob Chychrun could be had especially with the Coyotes being open to retaining some salary. Rumored deals for Chychrun have gone cold, and he has been held out of five game now due to “trade related” reasons. Don’t count out Dubas crossing all his t’s and dotting all his i’s in his search to fortify his blueline. The problem with getting Chychrun is that the Leafs don’t have the draft picks now after the recent trade with the St. Louis Blues. That may force Dubas to look at an alternative like Vladislav Gavrikov. He better hurry since the Boston Bruins are very much interested in adding him.

Arizona Coyotes – 2 Players Who Could be Traded

Rumor: Per – thefourthperiod.com. Jakob Chychrun adds another team who may be looking to acquire him. Now, the Calgary Flames are also interested.

The 2022-23 season has been disappointing for the Flames thus far, so it adds up that they are looking to make a major move and bring Chychrun in. This along with other Chychrun trade rumors are just that at this point. Not to dismiss the idea that he will be traded, but today he actually practiced with the Coyotes for an upcoming game Wednesday night.

Jakob Chychrun was on the ice for Coyotes practice today.@CraigSMorgan spoke to head coach André Tourigny to find out what Chychrun's return to practice means!https://t.co/syI1FxJg1N

— PHNX Coyotes (@PHNX_Coyotes) February 21, 2023

The on-again, off-again trade status has fans wondering what general manager Bill Armstrong is doing. At this point, even the St. Louis Blues who have been very active may reinstate interest in obtaining the 24-year-old defenseman. The Blues certainly have the assets with three first-round picks in their pocket. Of course, they would need to lose one of Torey Krug or Colton Parayko, who also has been rumored to be traded. The Coyotes have nine days to get a deal done, we’ll see what happens.

Rumor: Per – Frank Seravalli – dailyfaceoff.com. The Carolina Hurricanes need a replacement for injured Max Pacioretty and Lawson Crouse could fit right in.

Crouse has had a really productive season with 19 goals and 12 assists in 52 games. While he is quite a bit different than Pacioretty, his size would be a valuable asset to the Canes going into the postseason.

Just landed in Raleigh for tonight's Stadium Series, so today is the perfect day to focus on the #Canes as part of our Deadline Countdown series. #LetsGoCanes

🏒 Deadline Posture: Smart Buyers
🏒 How did we get here?
🏒 Potential Targets
🏒 Trade Chipshttps://t.co/r3B9sDRVpm

— Frank Seravalli (@frank_seravalli) February 18, 2023

The Coyotes seem very satisfied with Crouse, so he may not be moved unless Armstrong gets an acceptable return. It doesn’t seem to make much sense to move a player who is peaking in performance, but the trade deadline and a rebuild change that thinking.

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St. Louis Blues – Timo Meier

Rumor: Per – Frank Seravalli – dailyfaceoff.com. St. Louis, while also attempting to reshape its defense corps, is looking to leverage the picks they’ve acquired from O’Reilly and Tarasenko trades.

Sources: #stlblues have entered the chat for #sjsharks Timo Meier.

St. Louis, while also attempting reshape its defense corps, is looking to leverage the picks they’ve acquired from O’Reilly and Tarasenko trades.https://t.co/8pjQIaOQOb

— Frank Seravalli (@frank_seravalli) February 21, 2023

The Blues have been very active and looking to do a re-tool instead of a rebuild. With three first-round picks to use, that could be very inviting for the San Jose Sharks to deal Timo Meier. This plays well for general manager Doug Armstrong as he has a history of pulling off trades like this. Just go back to the trades he’s done in recent years: Kevin Shattenkirk for a first-round pick, he then takes that pick and uses it to acquire Brayden Schenn in the summer.

Armstrong would be bringing a good young forward to go along with Jordan Kyrou, Robert Thomas and Brayden Schenn. You could call that a rebuild on steroids. The competition for Meier’s services is peaking quickly. Both the Carolina Hurricanes and New Jersey Devils have shown intense interest in him. This may be the Blues only chance to grab the valuable forward who has 31 goals and 21 assists in 57 games this season. Now, he is hurt, but it is a day-to-day injury and shouldn’t affect a potential trade.

It will be intriguing to see what the Blues do here. Meier would certainly give the team an excellent player to add to their great group of forwards.

That concludes this edition of NHL rumors. Be sure to catch our next article, and thanks for reading!