The Arizona Coyotes have traded star defenseman Jakob Chychrun to the Ottawa Senators in exchange for a 2023 conditional first-round pick, a 2024 conditional second-round pick and a 2026 second-round pick.
The conditional 2023 first-round pick is top-five protected, so if the Senators fail to make the playoffs and score a top-five selection in the upcoming draft, the pick becomes an unprotected 2024 first-round pick.
After spending over a year on the trade block, Chychrun finally has a new team, and the Senators have a bona fide No. 1 defenseman. Despite playing on one of the NHL’s worst teams for his entire career, Chychrun has put up some impressive numbers.
Chychrun has consistently generated offense throughout his career, especially when it comes to goal-scoring. In the 2019-20 season Chychrun scored 12 goals, and he took that to another level in 2020-21, when he scored 18 goals in just 56 games.
This season, Chychrun has seven goals in 36 games, which comes out to a 16-goal pace in a full 82-game season.
Chychrun’s assist numbers haven’t been quite as impressive. He’s never tallied more than 23 in a single season, but expect that to change on a roster with more firepower than what he’s used to in Arizona.
What might be even more encouraging about Chychrun’s performance with the Coyotes are the results he gets while on the ice at five-on-five. This season, Arizona has outscored opponents 35-25 in those situations, per Natural Stat Trick. That plus-10 goal differential is far and away the best number on the team.
Chychrun has two more years left on his contract at $4.6 million per season, and he will continue to be one of the better bargains in the NHL.
