Jakob Chychrun was traded to the Ottawa Senators by the Arizona Coyotes on Wednesday.
Arizona received a conditional first-round pick in the 2023 NHL Draft, a conditional second-round pick in the 2024 NHL Draft and a second-round pick in the 2026 NHL Draft.
Chychrun is in the fourth season of a six-year contract he signed with the Coyotes on Nov. 13, 2018, and can become an unrestricted free agent after the 2024-25 season.
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The 24-year-old defenseman has 28 points (seven goals, 21 assists) in 36 games this season, last playing Feb. 10. Chychrun sat out eight games while waiting to be traded, which happened before Arizona’s game at the Dallas Stars on Wednesday. He did not make his season debut until Nov. 21 because of a wrist injury.
“A defenseman we’ve coveted, Jakob is big and plays imposing,” Senators general manager Pierre Dorion said. “He possesses a quality skill set; he defends hard and is highly skilled. He uses his heavy shot with accuracy and is effective at creating offense as a threat at the offensive blue line.”
Ottawa (30-26-4) is five points behind the Pittsburgh Penguins for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference.
Selected by Arizona in the first round (No. 16) of the 2016 NHL Draft, Chychrun has 170 points (60 goals, 110 assists) in 373 regular-season games and one goal in nine playoff games.
“Jakob was a first-class act,” Coyotes GM Bill Armstrong said. “He had expressed interest to move on to a club that was a contender. We were trying to do that with a trade. We had immense respect for the player and his wishes. At the same time, I’ve said this before, we had to make sure it was the best for the club. … He gets a chance to go play in Ottawa and a chance to lead that team and help them get to the playoffs. It’ll be a great challenge and he’s going to be a great add for that team.”
Armstrong said he’d spoken to other GMs about Chychrun for about a year.
“It took us a while just to get the ask right and get into the market and understand it,” Armstrong said. “… Our aim was to acquire draft capital at this point. … This will give us a chance for two fairly high picks in the draft in the first round and you can really make some hay when you do that as an organization.”
Also Wednesday, Arizona traded defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere to the Carolina Hurricanes for a third-round pick in the 2026 draft.
The Coyotes (21-30-9) are 21 points behind the Oilers and Winnipeg Jets for the second wild card into the playoffs from the Western Conference.
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