If Arizona Coyotes GM John Chayka is willing to prepare a bounty to acquire the rights of homegrown projected No. 1 draft selection Auston Matthews, it's news to him.
Chayka indicated this week that the Coyotes are unwilling to bundle first-round picks with prospect and budding talents - or any sort of comparable package - in a trade with the Toronto Maple Leafs to acquire the first pick in next week's draft.
"I'm not exactly sure where people come up with this stuff," Chayka said, via Craig Morgan of Arizona Sports. "I personally find some of the reports that are out there are pretty ridiculous speculation."
That, however, doesn't mean Arizona isn't exploring avenues to potentially move out from No. 7.
"We're still just in discussions, whether that means moving up or down, and up doesn't even have to be No. 1," Chayka said.
"What we're really looking at it is does this trade make your team better in the short term and in the long term?"
Copyright © 2016 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.