The Detroit Red Wings have a need on the blue line and they are predicted to sign a star defenseman in free agency.
The website PuckPedia allows users to propose trades and signings. One user predicted the Red Wings will sign Jakob Chychurn to a seven-year deal worth $8.25 million power season, which works out to $57.75 million total.
Chychrun is in the final year of his six-year $27.6 million deal which pays him $4.6 million per season and will be in line for a big raise.
The star defenseman is playing with the Washington Capitals and is having a career-high. He’s already set his career-high in points and is tied with his career-high in goals. With the Capitals this season, Chychrun has recorded 18 goals and 24 assists with 42 points in 62 games.
If Detroit does sign Chychrun, he would be a top or second-pair defenseman but could help run the power play. He also would replace Jeff Petry who’s a pending free agent and hasn’t lived up to expectations with his offense.
The Red Wings are projected to have just over $22 million in cap space in the offseason.
Chychrun Open to Extension With the Capitals
Washington traded for Chychrun in the offseason and he has fit nicely with the Capitals.
With Chychrun having a career-year and the Capitals being in first in the East, he says he’s open to signing an extension.
“My agent has, yeah,” Chychrun told RMNB about whether he’s had extension talks. “I don’t know how much I want to go into detail on that, but there hasn’t been a whole lot. We just started.”
Chychrun is playing on the Capitals’ second D-pairing with Trevor van Riemsdyk. Since being traded to Washington, Chychrun says he’s enjoyed his time and says the group is close which has helped them win.
“We love it here,” Chychrun said. “The group of guys is awesome. We’re playing good hockey, and it’s been a lot of fun. I think it didn’t take very long (to settle in)… It’s just been a great group. We’ve had a lot of guys playing really well from the start of the year. I just think guys came in early and started skating together, and we just felt like everybody was pulling in the same direction and clicking.”
Chychrun has played over 500 NHL games in his career.
Red Wings GM Confident Group is Starting Something Special
Detroit is battling for a playoff spot, but even if they don’t make the playoffs, Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman likes what they are building.
Yzerman believes Detroit has been much better with Todd McLellan as their head coach. The GM expects that success to carry over to next season.
“I believe Todd is very good coach and he’ll do a good job moving forward with us,” Yzerman said. “Got us into the playoff race, but now here, we’ve got to see if we can win hockey games, obviously, and win a lot of them. But I wasn’t sure what to expect coming out of the coaching change, honestly. I didn’t know what was going to happen. But, felt it was the right thing to do at the time, and I still do. And again, it wasn’t just to get through the season. It’s hopefully, and I expect it to be, a long-term thing.”
With the Red Wings having plenty of cap space, Yzerman says he will do everything he can to improve the roster.
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