The Washington Capitals should absolutely extend Jakob Chychrun. On the second day of free agency they made a major splash by signing Matt Roy and trading for Jakob Chychrun to shore up their defense. So far, it's been working.
Chychrun has four goals which ranks tied for second among NHL defensemen and his 0.36 goals per game rank first. But it's not just the stats and we'll get to advanced stats later. Chychrun was traded for from the Calgary Flames and it appears to have paid dividends.
The Caps would send Nick Jensen and a third rounder in 2026 in exchange. It was one of the final moves of the Brian MacLellan era before Chris Patrick took the reigns as Capitals general manager.
MacLellan said at the time of the trade:
"Jakob is a 26 year old offensive defenseman who has nearly 500 games experience. His unique skill set and experience will undoubtedly bolster our blueline, substantially increasing our offensive capabilities. "Brian MacLellan
Last season with the Senators he matched his NHL best with 41 pionts in 82 games with 14 goals and 27 assists. Seven of those 14 were power play goals and he averaged 22:23 minutes of ice time per game.
This year is actually the final season of his six year contract that he signed with the Arizona Coyotes back on Nov. 13, 2018. It was six years and worth $27,600,000 with an average annual value of $4,600,000.
In his last three games, the young defenseman has three points with two goals and an assist. This season he averages 18:48 minutes of ice time while also recording 12 blocked shots and nine hits. He also has eight takeaways.
Six years and $27 million is a high number but we expect the defenseman to get at least seven years and $38 million. The John Carlson reach if you will. At least that's what we would do if we were the Caps right now.
This was a home run trade by Mac. This also gave Chris Patrick the fresh start he needed to jumpstart the Caps into the hot start that they have right now. Now it's up to the new GM in town, GMCP if you will, to try to extend him.