GM responds to new rumors of trade chatter around his talented young defenseman.

The National Hockey League rumor has been in full effect this week, so much so in fact that it has prompted Winnipeg Jets general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff to respond.

The rumors around defenseman Jacob Trouba have been too loud to ignore, and with several teams in the mix it's not hard to see why. Add to that the fact that both Dustin Byfuglien and Tyler Myers who also shoot right are signed to long term deals with Winnipeg and again the trade talk around Trouba, who is reportedly looking for as much as $7 million per season on his next deal, is understandable.

Reporter Tim Campbell of the Winnipeg Free Press asked Cheveldayoff point blank if he was looking to trade Trouba, and he got a long and convoluted response.

"Trying to trade Jacob Trouba?" the GM said. "This is an interesting time of year. I've seen lots of different scenarios out there of teams that are pushing hard that I haven't even heard from and I've talked to different teams that have asked different questions that I've certainly asked myself. I'm not trying to trade anybody. I think in this game there's a distinct possibility that anybody can get traded.

"And again we've got some good young players here. We've got two of them that are up for contracts in Trouba and (Mark) Scheifele and we're going to do our best to get those contracts done and in the books. So trying to trade him? No."

The Scheifele contract could play a big role in the Jets decision regarding Trouba, a long-term deal for the young defenseman who has shown steady decline in Winnipeg may bot be in the Jets long term interest, especially when you consider they are a budget team with a lot of young talent that will need new contracts either this summer or next and especially if Scheifele gets a big deal of his own.

Despite Cheveldayoff's denials, the rumors on Trouba have not slowed down one bit, and Bruins insider Joe Haggerty is now reporting that the Coyotes are now also in the mix, perhaps believing that Trouba would be the perfect fit alongside Oliver Ekman-Larsson on Arizona's top pairing.

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