Washington has been open about its desire to bring in a top-six scoring winger ahead of this season's deadline. Among the more prominent reportedly available names who could address that hole is Blues forward Jordan Kyrou of St. Louis.
At 27, Kyrou logged 67 or more points across each of his four prior campaigns, though consistency has eluded him this year with the Blues. Sitting at 24 points (11 goals, 13 assists) over 42 appearances, he initially surfaced in the rumor mill once he was made a healthy scratch earlier in the campaign. The chatter has intensified amid reports the Blues are reportedly willing to deal.
A duo of hockey's top insiders, David Pagnotta and Jeff Marek, took up Kyrou's status during a segment of Daily Faceoff's The Sheet. They pinpointed Washington as a possible landing spot, with Marek citing the club's earlier appetite for adding quickness to its forward group.
Marek explained that if Kyrou is on the move, he keeps thinking about the Caps, largely because the franchise had chased Nikolaj Ehlers. He painted the team as one lacking in foot speed, which is why Ethen Frank's burst stands out so vividly there. Marek noted that Carolina landed Ehlers by tacking on an extra year, but he doesn't think that deters Washington from trying to get faster, and that's precisely why he sees a plausible Kyrou-to-Washington match.
Speed ranks among Kyrou's strengths; clocking a top velocity of 22.72 mph on NHL Edge puts him at the 79th-percentile mark, and at five-on-five he's a scarce Blues skater staying above water this year. Whenever he's deployed, the team's control rates (each a percentage) come in like this: shot attempts at 54.6, expected goals at 62.2, scoring chances at 61.5, and high-danger looks at 61.8. One asterisk applies: a roster-high 69.7 of his shifts begin in the attacking zone (again by percent), the steepest such rate on the team.
Looking past the current year, Kyrou's contract runs five more campaigns at $8.125 million against the cap, paired with a complete no-trade provision that ultimately becomes a 15-team list in its final season. Without his blessing, St. Louis can't ship him out this year.
Per PuckPedia, Washington has roughly $7.5 million of room at present and projects to reach $14.3 million by the time the deadline lands on the sixth of March.
Pagnotta said he concurred that it would be an excellent match. He acknowledged that some bring up Panarin given Ovechkin, but he cast it as a more long-range matter, favoring signed-through players. He observed that should a Panarin-type or another expiring piece simply fall to them, Washington would obviously seize it, yet when weighing someone under contract who can keep helping now and in seasons to come, that aligns with how Patrick (Chris) and MacLellan (Brian) tend to prefer building out this roster.
A Toronto product, Kyrou carries a couple of earlier ties to Washington. In junior, he spent two years with the OHL's Sarnia Sting alongside Jakob Chychrun, and he lined up next to Pierre-Luc Dubois while representing Canada at junior events.
As for St. Louis' likely asking price for Kyrou, Pagnotta figures they'll be hunting for help on the blue line. Just three rearguards are under contract with the franchise past next year, and of that group only Philip Broberg will remain in his 20s.
Should they ship out someone of Kyrou's caliber, Pagnotta said, the prospect of a young rearguard anchoring the package intrigues him. He added that St. Louis appears to be targeting players aged 25 and under who are NHL-ready already or nearly there as everyday contributors.
Washington has a few defenders who might fit that bill, chiefly the 25-year-old Sandin (Rasmus) up top and a name like the 21-year-old Chesley (Ryan) toiling for Hershey at the AHL level. Sandin, in particular, could be viewed as expendable, given that prized prospect Cole Hutson might assume the left-side role on the back end before the spring is out.