Plenty of armchair general managers in Bytown had Ottawa Senators’ blueliner Jakob Chychrun on the move at the NHL trade deadline on March 8. Yet in the absence of the proverbial “offer you can’t refuse”, it would have been a big mistake for Senators president of hockey operations and general manager (GM), Steve Staios to have rushed to sell him.
Sure, everything is for sale at a price and Chychrun is no exception. So he could very well be booking a flight out of Ottawa this summer to parts unknown. But before trading him, Staios needs to think long and hard.
As always, there are two sides to any decision an NHL GM makes. Let’s take a look at the two sides of the argument.
The Case for Trading Chychrun
In a nutshell, the Senators don’t need Chychrun anymore. A deal that looked like a coup for then-Senators GM Pierre Dorion on March 1, 2023 when he acquired him from the Arizona Coyotes no longer meets the Senators’ needs. As Dorion put it at the time, “solidifying our backend, it hasn’t been easy. I think it’s been on billboards everywhere in any hockey market that the Ottawa Senators were always looking for a top-four defenseman.” Yet, now the left side of the Senators’ blue line is awfully crowded with Chychrun, Thomas Chabot, Jake Sanderson and Erik Brannstrom all cruising that side of the ice. It’s true that Chychrun can skate on the right side, but that’s not ideal. The team needs a natural right-shot defender.
Not only that but there’s plenty of young talent coming along in the Senators’ farm system who can take his place. Tyler Kleven in Belleville is big and mean with a wicked left-hand shot and plenty of upside potential. Another lefty finding success with the Baby Sens is Jacob Larsson, a former first-round selection. Farther back in the pipeline, but with a shot at breaking into the lineup in a few years is left-shot Jorian Donovan who is turning heads this season in the Ontario Hockey League (OHL) – so much so, that he was called up to play with Team Canada this year in the IIHF World Junior Championship.
Lefty Tomas Hamara is another OHL prospect who has potential down the road with the Senators. Completing the array of possible options on a future left side are Donovan Sebrango and Dillon Heatherington – both in Belleville now.
Not only is Chychrun surplus but he could be used to acquire a roster player who could bring desperately needed improvements to the team. And there’s no bigger hole in the Senators’ lineup than between the pipes.
You have to wonder whether Ottawa could snag Boston Bruins’ netminder Linus Ullmark. That deal could be a straightforward player-for-player hockey exchange. Chychrun is under contract for another full season and comes with a cap hit of $4.6 million, while Ullmark also becomes an unrestricted free agent (UFA) at the end of next season and has a contract with an average annual value (AAV) of $5 million.
There’s no question that the Bruins need to bolster their backend. Injuries and expiring contracts have taken their toll. Everyone in Boston knows that the 30-year-old Ullmark is probably surplus to the team’s needs and could fetch them much-needed help for their D-corps. Apparently, it wasn’t for lack of trying that the Bruins failed to move him at the trade deadline. If Bruins management is confident that 25-year-old Jeremy Swayman is truly a starting goaltender, you can bet they’ll be aggressive in peddling him on the trade market later this year.
Still, Ullmark is rumoured to have a 16-team no-trade list in his contract. Many believe that is why he is still in Boston. There is a very high likelihood that Ottawa is on his list and he’d nix a Beantown to Bytown move.
Assuming that Staios could work out a Chychrun-Ullmark swap, another problem arises – what to do with Joonas Korpisalo? Any belief the gullible in Ottawa had that he would prove to be a starting goaltender was extinguished long ago. Very few NHL GMs fell off a turnip truck and even those who did wouldn’t buy Korpisalo’s contract with its $4 million cap hit and three long, excruciating years of term remaining. I’m not sure there’s enough lipstick in all of Ottawa to make that pig look appealing.
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Forsberg would be easier to move. His cap hit is only $2.75 million and he’s under contract for another year. To move him, just like Korpisalo, he would probably need to be packaged with picks and prospects with which the Senators can ill-afford to part company.
Whatever Staios is contemplating with respect to Chychrun, he needs to acquire roster players who will make immediate improvements to his team. Chychrun is the most marketable asset he has in his portfolio right now and will fetch more than just mediocre depth players or picks and prospects.
Staios is perfectly placed to trade Chychrun. Unlike his predecessor, he owes no loyalty to him or any other player. Nor, unlike Dorion, would he feel any need to keep him on the roster lest he look foolish for sending him packing just a year after he hailed him as the second coming on skates.
The Case for the Senators to Keep Chychrun
There was first-rate value in Chychrun’s contract when he came to town in 2023 and there still is. Given his performance in Ottawa, his $4.6 million cap hit amounts to a bargain, especially when compared to the contracts of Chabot and Sanderson.
It’s galling for many Ottawa fans when they mull over Chabot’s contract with its AAV of $8 million for the next four seasons. He never lived up to the franchise’s expectations when he was drafted as one of the Senators’ first-round picks in 2015. The Norris Trophy that many expected him to win has eluded him. As for Sanderson, he makes as much as Chabot leaving many to wonder how a 20-year-old was handed an eight-year, $64.4 million contract before he had proven anything in the NHL.
Chychrun’s statistics lead many to wonder why Chabot isn’t the subject of trade rumours instead. In his 62 games this season, he is the highest-scoring defenceman the Senators have. In fact, he’s the sixth-highest point-getter on the team.
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Not only that, but with an average time on the ice per game of 22:38 he logs virtually the same ice time as Chabot and Sanderson. Sure, he can make some dopey plays in his own zone once in a while, but no more than Chabot and Sanderson. And yes, with a plus/minus of minus-17, he compares poorly with everyone else on the Senators’ blue line. Yet he has the highest number of blocked shots this season and the third-highest number of hits – just shy of what the rugged Travis Hamonic has notched and about half the number Artem Zub lays on opposing teams. He does all of that, yet makes just over half of what Chabot makes. Not only that, but he’s healthy most of the time having played in every single game so far this season.
Staios seems pleased with Chychrun. Did he listen to offers for him at the trade deadline? Sure, that’s his job. Did he run trade scenarios involving Chychrun? Absolutely. Any competent GM would. Yet that doesn’t mean he doesn’t value Chychrun.
Speaking back in January about the constant rumours swirling around the young D-man he said, “First I’ll say I’m disappointed that his name is out there. I think when you have these conversations with other teams, if I’m on the other side looking at our team, I’m asking about Jakob Chychrun as well. So I’m disappointed, I’m disappointed for him. I guess it’s part of the game, but he’s a great player for us, he’s a great young man and loves Ottawa. So he’s going to have to deal with those types of things being out there.”
As for Chychrun, he seems to want to be in Ottawa very much. He has roots here and calls it “his second home.” For goodness sake, his grandfather lives in Ottawa and he bought a house in the city! Not many kids who grew up in Boca Raton as he did would want to stay in Ottawa that badly. All of that is to say that he is committed to the team even after the utter disaster that is this season.
Staios Should Proceed Cautiously on Chychrun Trade
Chychrun becomes a UFA at the end of next season so Staios must either extend or trade him to ensure he doesn’t walk out of town for nothing. Yet that decision doesn’t have to be made until this time next year. There’s folly in rushing to make decisions before they need to be made.
Proceeding slowly will allow the Senators to see if he gels under a defensively-focused coach the likes of Craig Berube who is rumoured to be in the running as Ottawa’s next bench boss. While it’s pretty clear Chychrun wants to be in Ottawa, Staios can’t ignore offers on his services. Yet he shouldn’t rush to take the first one that comes along either.
Good trades take time.