Sabres among teams interested in Coyotes defenseman Jakob Chychrun

On Sportsnet’s 32 Thoughts intermission segment, Jeff Marek wondered aloud if the Sabres could be a “dark-horse candidate” to acquire Chychrun, a 6-foot-2 left-shot defenseman who has two years remaining on a contract that carries a bargain price of $4.6 million per season.

Marek’s comment is more than speculation, though. Sources told The Buffalo News on Sunday that the Sabres are among several teams that have discussed Chychrun with Coyotes General Manager Bill Armstrong. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman wrote recently that the price tag for Chychrun is expected to include a pair of first-round draft choices, either prospects chosen in recent years or future selections, plus “something else.”

Sabres General Manager Kevyn Adams declined to discuss Chychrun when asked by The Buffalo News on Sunday, but Adams reiterated that he’s always seeking ways to improve his roster in the short- and long-term.

“I guess what I would say to that is my job is to talk to every team and look at every possible situation of how we can move our roster forward and move our organization forward,” Adams said. “So, I’m not doing my job if I’m not having those discussions, and, you know, like anything, you’re always going to be looking at what you can do. But there’s certain things that, for me, we can’t get away from our plan in the way we are building this.

“If something makes sense and it’s within our vision and our plan, we would be willing to do it. But if it gets us outside of that, that’s where we’d have to be very careful.”

Cap space isn’t the issue for the Sabres. They’re still $17.438 million away from the ceiling this season. The NHL’s salary cap is expected to rise again this summer when the club could have as many as six notable unrestricted free agents coming off the books.

Chychrun also fits perfectly with how the Sabres play and want to build their roster. He’s a big, strong, mobile defenseman who frustrates opponents away from the puck and possesses high-end offensive talent. In 340 regular-season games across seven years in Arizona, he has 54 goals and 91 points while averaging 20:52 of ice time. He led all NHL defensemen with 18 goals in 2020-21.

The 2016 first-round draft choice is under contract for multiple years at a reasonable price. He would fit well in a defense corps that includes Rasmus Dahlin, Mattias Samuelsson, Owen Power and Henri Jokiharju. The Sabres have only one high-end defense prospect outside the NHL in 2019 first-rounder…