So, Jonathon Drouin isn't the only left winger who has asked for a trade from the team that selected him in the first round of the 2013 NHL Draft.
On Sunday, Drouin's agent made public the trade request that he had made to Tampa GM Steve Yzerman in November on behalf of his disgruntled 20 year old client.
Columbus Disptach writer Aaron Portzline reports that former Windsor Spitfires star left winger Kerby Rychel has also asked for a trade from the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Rychel, a physical left winger (6'2" 200 lbs.) was selected 19th overall by the Blue Jackets at the 2013 draft. This kid can do it all. He'll score, drop opponents with punishing hits, make the safe pass, win wall battles, screen the goalie and drop the mitts when he has to defend his teammates.
The disappointing Blue Jax have played Rychel in only 11 games this season. He has collected three assists.
Rychel's father, former NHLer and OHL Windsor VP/GM Warren Rychel, reportedly met with Columbus management during training camp to get a better understanding of how his son would be used this season. The Rychels obviously are not satisfied nor happy with the 21 year old wasting away in the AHL where he is leading the Lake Erie Monsters in many offensive categories. In 20 games for the Monsters this season, the power forward has scored five goals and has 18 points. Last season he scored 12 goals and 33 points in 51 games.
Rychel is buried under a thick blanket of organizational depth right now as the Blue Jax have traded for and have been stock-piling left wing draft choices for the past few seasons and their organizational LW depth chart is an impressive collection of players including: Matt Calvert, Boone Jenner, Scott Hartnell, Gregory Campbell, and Team USA rock star Sonny Milano.
Rychel also plays right wing, which makes him a very tradable player due to his versatility, however in CBUS he would have to compete for a full time RW gig with Brandon Saad, Cam Atkinson, Nick Foligno, Oliver Bjorkstrand and David Clarkson, whose gargantuan contract is too huge to bury in AHL Lake Erie.
Rychel is locked in depth chart jail in Columbus and his only hope of playing NHL hockey this season or next is to be traded to a team that values his unique bundle of assets.
The Blue Jax are the 30th place team in the NHL and the hiring of John Tortarella appears to have only hurt Columbus rather than help them.
Center Ryan Johansen, 23, is on the trade block right now. GM Jarmo Kekalainen can fetch a huge package of assets to rebuild with if he were to trade both Rychel and Johansen at or before the February 29 NHL trade deadline.
I've seen Columbus' video and pro scouts at Buffalo Sabres games in recent weeks. There is no secret that Tim Murray covets Rychel's size, speed, strength, pugnacity and scoring touch. Murray has a soft spot in his hockey heart for players like Rychel who can play the heavy game and are a pain in the ass to play against.
Imagine a Buffalo power trio of Rychel-Eichel-Girgensons.
It may well happen in the near future. The 28th place Sabres are struggling to score goals on a consistent basis. They are experts in creating chances, however, they cannot finish at the net. Murray isn't ready just yet to fly the white flag and pronounce a tanking call to arms. The Sabres feel like they are better than their cellar-dwelling fate finds them in right now. A timely trade for a bomber like Rychel could light the spark that lights the wick on a piece of offensive dynamite that the Sabres are craving. Rychel is too good to be playing in the AHL. He needs a full time NHL job and STAT. There was talk at the 2013 NHL Draft that Murray was very high n selecting Rychel with their 17th overall pick, however, the Sens opted for center Curtis Lazar instead at #17. Buffalo selected Nikita Zadorov at #15. San Jose selected Mirco Mueller at #18 and Detroit took Anthony Mantha at #20.
At what cost Rychel to Buffalo?
The Blue Jackets need defense in a bad way. John Tortarella loves big, athletic D-men who block shots and clear the crease. Mike Weber and/or Cody Franson would add immediate value to the Columbus D corps.
The Sabres also have center/winger Tyler Ennis who when healthy can pump in 20 goals. Ennis is dinged for the next week or so. He is currently listed as week to week. Trading a number one center in Johansen woul dmean that the Jax would have to replace that position with a 20+ goal centerman like Ennis.
Kekelainen spent a lot of time scouting the Erie Otters in person last season where he would have seen scoring right winger Nick Baptiste up close and personal.
Which other NHL teams will be interested in Rychel?
San Jose assistant coach Bob Boughner coached Rychel while at the Windsor Spits together. There's a natural connecton in NoCal for Rychel.
Also, Colorado, Montreal, NY Rangers, Toronto, Detroit, LA and St. Louis are possibilities.
Colorado may have an inside track to Rychel as their GM Joe Sakic and head coach Patrick Roy were long time Avalanche team mates of Kerby's father, Warren. However, Roy and Sakic are being very aggressive about wanting to reunite Nathan MacKinnon with his Halifax line mate and partner in crime Jonathon Drouin. Roy was terrorized by the MacKinnon-Drouin duo when he was the head coach and GM of the Quebec Remparts. The Avs may move heaven and earth to land Drouin which would leave Rychel to Buffalo and the other suitors.
Given my druthers, I would rather trade for Rychel than Drouin because he plays the inside game and doesn't live on the perimeter. Rychel loves to dish out punishment and isn't adverse to receiving it as he lowers his broad shoulders like an NFL full back and bullies his way to the blue ice. The kid is fearless. He is big, strong and nasty and knows how to finish at the net, where 90% of the goals in today's NHL are scored.
Drouin is a sharp shooting, sneaky forward who has a ton of talent He will thrive when he adds more strength to his 6'0" 188 lb. frame. I see Drouin as more of an NHL passer than a scorer at this juncture of his NHL career. He will score his NHL goals in time.
Rychel is ready to score in the NHL right damn now.
The Sabres announced Monday afternoon that energy forward Nic Deslauriers will be lost for the next 3-5 weeks with a foot injury.
Now would be a great time for Tim Murray to trade for Rychel and play him in the top six. Tim Schaller was recalled to fill in for Deslauriers for the time being. Murray can also call up veteran Pat Kaleta to add a jolt of energy to the lineup if need be.
***
The Columbus Blue Jackets were dealt another blow to their goaltending position on Monday when veteran backup goalie Curtis McElhinney was placed on injured reserve. They're starting goalie Sergei Bobrovsky has been on the shelf for the past 3 weeks.
Anton Forsberg has been the starter for the Blue Jackets while Bobrovsky is healing from his injury.
Joonas Korpisalo was added to the Columbus Blue Jackets’ roster on emergency recall for the second time this season. Selected by Columbus in the third round of the 2012 NHL Draft with the 62nd overall pick, Korpisalo is 5-6-2 with two shutouts, a 2.34 goals-against average (GAA) and a .918 save percentage (S%) in 13 appearances for the Monsters so far this season.
A 21 year-old native of Pori, Finland, Korpisalo registered a 1-4-0 record in five appearances for the Blue Jackets in his first NHL call-up in December with a 3.65 GAA and a .886 S%. Korpisalo appeared in three AHL games for the Springfield Falcons last season, posting a record of 0-2-0 with a 3.20 GAA and a .878 S% in his first North American professional action.
Forsberg and Korpisalo will be Columbus's goalie tandem for the near future.
The Buffalo Sabres have several goaltenders in their organization right now and perhaps Jarmo Kekalainen may want to do a deal with Buffalo that includes Kerby Reichel and would send a goalie back to Columbus as part of the deal.
The Sabres have Andrey Makarov and Nathan Lieuwen in AHL Rochester.
Linus Ullmark will most likely be sent back to the Amerks once injured starter Robin Lehner returns from his high ankle sprain. Letter has been out of action since the season opener on October 8th when he suffered a high ankle sprain in the second period against the Ottawa Senators. He began skating in team practices last week. Sabres head coach Dan Bylsma said last week that letter would be ready for an AHL conditioning stint in Rochester in the next week or so. The thought process is that once lender has passed his conditioning stint and his played pain free in Rochester he will then go back up to Buffalo and share the net with veteran backup Chad Johnson. Such a move would cause a logjam of three goalies for two nets in Rochester.
Let's assume that the Blue Jax have thrown in the towel on this season and have turned their attention to tanking in order to land Auston Matthews with the lottery win for the first overall draft choice in the 2016 NHL Draft in Buffalo. There is loudening chatter that Kekelainen will be willing to trade veterans Jack Johnson, Scott Hartnell and Cam Atkinson if he is offered a legitimate trade proposal that includes roster players, prospects and picks.
Lieuwen and Makarov are veteran AHL starting goaltenders and could provide immediate value for Columbus is AHL affiliate in Cleveland.