Jakob Chychrun Traded To Ottawa
It has happened! Jakob Chychrun is finally on the move! In a pretty surprising change of events it is going to be the Ottawa Senators who acquire him. The Sens clearly believe in their core and making the playoffs this year. Even more interesting is that the package is straight draft picks. No prospects or roster players. Check it out below:
It goes without saying that this has been a longtime coming. The American defenseman is now heading north of the border to help a Sens team looking to force their way into the Eastern playoff race. They’re 5 points behind Pittsburgh with 60 games played each. However, they’re only 6 points behind the Islanders with a whopping four games in hand. The addition of Chychrun could easily help this team catch fire and jump into a wild card spot. Even more helpful is that every roster player is still in tact. A first and two seconds isn’t even a huge package to give up. Chychrun looks set to jump into the Ottawa blue line and provide some much needed support:
Sens Going After It
We don’t have to go too far without giving the Sens forwards some love. They’re already awesome and look set to dominate both now and into the future. Even without Josh Norris they’re a very fun team to watch. On defense, Thomas Chabot has always been the #1 guy in Ottawa. However, Chychrun gives them a legitimate #2 defenseman if they choose to put two lefties on the top pair. They could still shift one of them to the second pair and give either Artem Zub or Travis Hamonic a nice boost. This trade is also cap management 101. A great way to add a $4.6 million cap hit with term without rocking the boat. You’re gonna have to pay up for the young guns pretty soon but that’s not the concern yet.
What I am curious about is if Ottawa will be done or not. Anton Forsberg is on the IR as well as Norris. Could a move for the recently dealt Jonathan Quick be on the cards? Or another defenseman? It remains to be seen. Not paying a super high premium for Chychrun could allow for flexibility in other deals. In any case, we will know between now and Friday whether they choose to push the chips further to the middle of the table.
One of the most highly anticipated deals is now done. Jakob Chychrun has found a new home that should suit him pretty well in all honesty. It’s still hard to believe that we have tomorrow and Friday morning/afternoon until this deadline is passed. Once again everyone stay tuned because there’s no sign of stopping!
