What would a potential trade package look like if the Blues traded for Jakob Chychrun?
Jakob Chychrun could be on the move this summer, and the St. Louis Blues look like a great fit, given their need for a young, two-way blueliner.
While a Jakob Chychrun trade to Gateway City would dramatically help the St. Louis Blues in so many ways, the logistics of such a trade would, without a doubt, serve as one of the more challenging aspects. We’re talking about trying to further retool the Blues into a younger yet still competitive lineup in this scenario, but the issue is evident: Many of the Blues seasoned veterans have either full or modified no-trade clauses.
Spending time in a place like Ottawa, where the Senators haven’t been relevant for a while, having last made the playoffs in 2016-17, probably isn’t preferred. So, a potential trade package in a hypothetical trade involving Chychrun heading to St. Louis may require some supplementation.
But before we get into the specifics, and there are a lot of specifics here, let’s first talk about how a trade involving Chychrun would benefit the Blues and the Senators.
The Blues will benefit from acquiring Jakob Chychrun, but…
The Ottawa Senators could be raring to start over again or at least acquire future assets, as this team has long had the talent, but they haven’t seen sound results on the ice. You would think a team with Brady Tkachuk, Tim Stutzle, Drake Batherson, and Claude Giroux leading the charge, along with Jakob Chychrun and Jake Sanderson heading up the blue line, would at least be somewhat relevant.
So far, it hasn’t happened, and it shows us that the Sens would be better off acquiring more draft capital and prospects. But the Blues are also restructuring, so parting with their top prospects wouldn’t be the best route to go here.
For both teams to benefit, Doug Armstrong would do well to make some unconventional moves in an effort to bring Chychrun to town if he’s interested in acquiring the young, two-way defenseman. The Blues have a forward-heavy prospects pool and one with a few players nearing NHL-readiness to the point they could see the ice later in the 2024-25 season.
This isn’t the easiest trade package to work out since, for the Senators to benefit from it, they would also need a full-time NHL player who can give them some options as opposed to just draft picks and prospects.
The challenges of bringing Jakob Chychrun to St. Louis
Ideally, Doug Armstrong would make a deal that involves trading away one of his four aging defensemen - Colton Parayko, Nick Leddy, Justin Faulk, or Torey Krug, but convincing them to drop their respective no-trade clauses to play in Ottawa while acquiring a replacement probably isn’t happening.
Not that trading them somewhere wouldn’t be the case, as there will be plenty of teams the four aforementioned players probably would be willing to play. So for this one, we’re bringing in a third team, one with a general manager who likes to make big moves in the offseason - the Detroit Red Wings.
Note that the Wings are a team that will contend for the playoffs next season, but a few other organizations can be used in their place. For the purposes of this article, they’re the ideal candidate since they have a pair of players to move elsewhere: Ville Husso and Justin Holl.
Both have modified no-trade clauses, but they were also “odd men out” in the Motor City, so they’d be happy to play in Ottawa, especially since the Senators could always trade them at the 2025 trade deadline should Holl and Husso play well and Ottawa again struggles.
Division rival of the Sens or not, these two teams have worked well in the past - just look at last year’s Alex DeBrincat trade. Now, let’s talk about where the Blues step in.
The ideal trade package that would bring Chychrun to St. Louis
St. Louis, at this point, would trade Torey Krug to Detroit, where he can factor in as a replacement for the likely departing Shayne Gostisbehere. Krug has played well on the man advantage throughout his time with the Blues, so this trade would make a ton of sense, especially for a team with generous cap space like the Wings.
But the Blues also need to compensate the Senators, so they’re sending Ottawa a first-round pick in 2025 and a third-rounder in 2026, plus Juraj Pekarcik. St. Louis will also send the Wings a 2025 fourth-round pick for ‘brokering’ the trade. And to give the Blues multiple assets, Ottawa will send its 2025 fourth-round pick to Gateway City.
Overall, all three teams should get what they want here, with the Blues finally landing one of the league’s upper-echelon young two-way defensemen in Chychrun. This would be a challenging deal to work out, and while the absolute best-case scenario would involve two teams, we’re also taking a realistic look here, and few would see Parayko, Leddy, Krug, or Faulk going to a place like Ottawa.
So the ideal trade in this scenario is more of a contingency plan than anything else, but one that will more than benefit all three teams involved, something you rarely see in three-team trades.
What a Jakob Chychrun trade would look like for the Blues, Senators, and Wings
A rather unconventional trade here, and again, the Red Wings are just an example of the “broker” in this deal, as general manager Steve Yzerman has players he desperately needs to move, and both Justin Holl and Ville Husso more than need fresh starts.
Jakob Chychrun Trade
Torey Krug is the example used here, but it could be any of the four blueliners on no-trade clauses, all of whom should have no problem agreeing to find a new home in the Motor City. Krug would give the Wings a solid two-way player on the blue line, and it serves as their second-biggest offseason need next to fixing the goaltending if they don’t re-sign Gostisbehere.
The Senators benefit in many ways in this scenario, as they’ll have an early and a mid-round pick, plus a pair of contracts that will expire in the next season (Husso) or two (Holl). But it also gives them trade bait should either player enjoy a career renaissance in Canada’s capital. And as a bonus, they’re getting a high-end prospect as well.
The Blues simply benefit because they would have a younger, high-scoring blueliner who has scored like a forward at times in this league. Their power play will thank them for bringing in a player like Chychrun, and it could be the difference between earning a trip to the playoffs. And best yet, this scenario also allowed them to shed a contract from one of their older defensemen.
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