Jakob Chychrun exposes biggest problem in Ottawa after trade

On Monday, the Ottawa Senators sent defenseman Jakob Chychrun to the Washington Capitals in exchange for defenseman Nick Jensen and a 2026 third-round pick. The Sens and the blue liner went their separate ways after parts of two seasons. There was hope that Chychrun would stick it out in Ottawa, seeing that he got to spend more time with his grandfather who lives there, but the trade was pulled and the defenseman sent to Washington.

In his first interview as a member of the Capitals, Chychrun revealed what went wrong for him and many other players in Ottawa in the past seasons. He admitted that he “didn’t play my best hockey in Ottawa” and mentioned how “coaching change, new ownership was tough on a lot of the guys” a lot of “noise,” a lot of “distraction for the group.”

It’s been quite messy for the Senators in past years, though they are trying to right the ship with some offseason moves and captain Brady Tkachuk leading the way. There is still a lot of chatter on potential trades and free agents not wanting to join the Sens, but from now on, Chychrun does not have to worry abou this anymore.

His trade did come with a bit of drama when it was recently revealed by Darren Dreger of TSN that general manager Steve Staios allegedly tried to bluff everyone around the league last weekend at the NHL Draft in Vegas by telling his fellow general managers that he had received an offer of a first round pick in addition to a second round pick for Chychrun and that he asking for more in return for his services, which was obviously completely false. Not one GM took the bait and days later, Staois had to content himself with the small return from Washington to move Chychrun and looked like a total idiot in front of his counterparts.

Chychrun lands in DC after recording 14 goals, 27 assists and 41 points in 82 games with the Senators this past season. He also averaged 22:23 of ice time per game, recorded the second-most blocked shots on the Senators with 154, took a career-high 204 shots on net and had 16 power-play points.

And most importantly, away from the drama and all the distractions.