Sellers or buyers? The status of the Ottawa Senators so close to the trade deadline was unclear. By signing three convincing wins in a row, the players may have helped their general manager to decide.
The Senators got Jakob Chychrun from the Arizona Coyotes, one of the most sought-after defensemen on the market this winter.
To get the 24-year-old, the Senators are giving up a conditional first-round pick in 2023 and second-round picks in 2024 (also conditional) and 2026.
Chychrun has 28 points (7 goals, 21 assists) in 36 games this season, and is playing an average of 23 minutes per game. He also has a plus-8 differential, the best among the Coyotes. He had his best campaign in the shortened 2021 season, registering 18 goals and 23 assists for 41 points in 56 games.
He holds a contract valid for two more seasons after this one, with an average annual value of 4.6 million.
Chychrun is originally from Florida but represents Canada internationally, and his father, Jeff, grew up in the Ottawa area. Chychrun is also the nephew of former Canadian assistant coach Luke Richardson, an Ottawan.
With 5-2 wins against the Canadiens on Saturday, then 6-2 and 6-1 against the Red Wings on Monday and Tuesday, the Senators stayed five points from the last place giving access to the playoffs. They are therefore far from guaranteed to participate in the tournament, but the team’s general manager, Pierre Dorion, has protected himself by negotiating conditions for the draft picks he is giving up.
Thus, the 2023 first-round pick will be pushed back to 2024 if the Senators ever draft in the top 5. However, this choice of 2024 will not be subject to such protection.
As for the conditional second-round pick in 2024, he will become a first-round pick if the Senators reach the Eastern Finals this spring. Obviously, they still have to qualify for the playoffs, and survive the nuclear war that is looming in the East.
With this trade, the Senators now have no picks in the first three rounds in the next draft. They traded their second-round pick to the Blackhawks to accept Nikita Zaitsev’s contract, and their third-round pick to the Maple Leafs to jettison Matt Murray’s contract.
Gostisbehere too
Earlier in the day, Coyotes general manager Bill Armstrong traded fellow guard Shayne Gostisbehere to the Carolina Hurricanes for a 2026 third-round pick.
Like Chychrun, Gostisbehere is productive this season (31 points in 52 games), but his contract expires on 1er July. For this so-called rental player, the return was therefore less.
PHOTO JEROME MIRON, USA TODAY SPORTS ARCHIVES
Shayne Gostisbehere
The Coyotes have thus contributed to the spectacle in this week when the general managers do not intend to wait until the deadline set on Friday.
“We’re trying to mess up the trade deadline specials,” Armstrong joked in a videoconference. We love seeing guys in Toronto who have nothing to say for three hours!
“I feel like we’ve been working on it for three weeks. I think teams don’t want to wait until the last moment. There is a change in the way DGs operate. They start a few weeks early. »