The Red Wings Need to Explore a Potential Jakob Chychrun Trade

1 of 3

The Detroit Red Wings currently have a lot of young defenseman on their roster. Between Moritz Seider, Simon Edvinsson, Gustav Lindstrom, Filip Hronek, they are not lacking players. However, what they are lacking is two top four left-handed defenseman.

The Detroit Red Wings drafted Simon Edvinsson in last year’s 2021 NHL entry draft under the assumption that he’d be the top defenseman pairing with Moritz Seider. But, it appears we as a fan base are forgetting that he will be going into this season not having played in a true NHL game before. Therefore, we really don’t know what to expect from him.

Edvinsson was one of the top prospects in last year’s draft, so it’s easy to get ahead of ourselves and think that he is 100% the solution, but we don’t know until we see him actually play. Furthermore, we don’t know how Edvinsson and Seider will play together. There are just too many unknowns with Edvinsson as we speak which means that we still need to work on finding a left-handed defenseman worth their salt.

In my opinion what you have to do is go after a player who is proven to be a top line defenseman in which you can kill two birds with one stone.

Here let me elaborate;

The Red Wings have a cluster of prospects at their disposal but we do not have enough spots available on this roster. Additionally, do we really think that a team of rookies is a good idea in this league? I don’t. So why not move off a couple prospects in order to get yourself a proven, top line player? That’s where the Arizona Coyotes defenseman, Jakob Chychrun comes into play.

Jakob Chychrun of the Arizona Coyotes. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images) /

Why Should The Red Wings Target Jakob Chychrun in Particular?

The Red Wings, as I stated above, need to get a defenseman to play alongside Moritz Seider. I think Edvinsson could be that guy, don’t get me wrong, but he’s yet to play in a NHL game and if he’s like a majority of the first-round picks in this league, it’ll be a couple years before he really hits his stride.

So, I’ll ask- are you willing to continue just sitting around for all of their prospects to figure it out and in the meantime just continue losing more than half of the games played? I’m not. I want to see this team succeed and win again. I think Chychrun helps us accomplish that.

Not only would Chychrun be a unreal acquisition for Yzerman and the Red Wings, but it’ll give us the thing we’ve been missing- the left-handed defenseman shot.

Seider is an unreal offensive defenseman. I know that he made some moves in transition this past year that made me feel like I was watching prime Erik Karlsson out there. He was moving the puck well, he was able to make moves around defenders, he was able to make accurate passes, he was spectacular in that sense. However, the one thing I wanted to see from him was the shot. But, that’s not his play style. Additionally, I’m just being knit-picky with his play because he was so good this year; It’s hard to find things he did wrong.

Anyways, back to Jakob Chychrun.

The Red Wings need to add the defenseman that can score from the blue line and who can move the puck with pace and can play with pace as well. This is a quick Red Wings team with a lot of speed and therefore we need to make sure that the passes can be put on the teammates sticks in stride and vice versa.

Everything about Chychrun seems to make sense too me. I truly see no downside to it other than his injury infested seasons. But, I’m willing to take that risk for a guy who could go down as one of their best defenseman.

Mock Trades

The Detroit Red Wings have the prospect pool that would allow them to make a trade happen and not really be all that impacted by it. Additionally, given the fact that Chychrun is only 24 years old and is still under contract for another three seasons at a AAV of $4,600,000, it would be like your just drafting a top notch defenseman for the next three seasons with your first-round pick. In other words, your ahead of schedule.

Also, yes, I’m aware of what I just said about giving up a first-round pick, but you didn’t really think that we would be able to make a trade happen without giving up a first, did you?

Last year at the trade deadline the asking price for Chychrun seemed to sit around a first-round pick, two top prospects, and depending on the value of the prospects, another pick. Which, I know it seems like a lot. But, let’s be honest, we have so many prospects on this team that it doesn’t really set us back any. Additionally, after this past season, I doubt this trade really hurts us. If anything, I think it puts us in a better spot.

I know in the past my mocks have been very, well, it’s been a very controversial. However, I feel this one here is quite realistic in terms of value. Maybe not the player or picks, but the value here is going to be very similar to what we’d have to give up.

Now, I know above I said that maybe another pick depending on the prospects we are willing to part with. Well, I decided to part with prospect, William Wallinder and winger, Filip Zadina as well as two top picks. Our first-rounder this year and a second-rounder next year. In return, we get Jakob Chychrun and a fourth-round pick this year.

Why Would the Coyotes Do This?

The Coyotes are a developing team, similar to the Red Wings. Except they failed to make something of themselves over the past couple years and outside of Clayton Keller and Jakob Chychrun, not many of their prospects have done much. Therefore, Chychrun wanted to be traded and so they put him on the trade block.

It was at that time that we, as NHL fans, received what a package would have to look like in order to get him from the Coyotes and it’s not cheap. However, as I’ve said multiple times in this article, the Red Wings have the prospect pool and draft capital to get him and not feel like they just got shot in the foot.

The first-round pick this year get’s them a top selection in the draft to use to fill some of their needs. Additionally, they get a second-round pick next year that will help them continue to draft prospects that they hope will one day become something.

As far as parting with Filip Zadina, a change of scenary could be good for him and quite frankly, he could probably go and play immediately on the top line in Arizona. They are thin at pretty much every position, but Zadina could be a good pairing alongside Clayton Keller.

As for the reason I parted with William Wallinder, they said that they wanted a top LHD prospect to replace Chychrun and parting with Edvinsson wasn’t an option because that’s part of the reason I wanted to do this trade. To let Edvinsson play on the third-line for a month before throwing him into action because when he’s ready. Being able to line up a left-handed defenseman group of Edvinsson, Chychrun, and the Johansson or Walman or any of the other prospects I didn’t list, it makes for a very strong group.

Wallinder could be a very, very good piece for the Coyotes in time but as a Red Wings fan, I feel like because of the depth we have, Wallinder is 100% disposable if it means getting Chychrun.

Why would the Red Wings Do This?

I know it’s hard to think that in their current stage, that the Red Wings would be able to pull this off. It’s honestly kind of laughable. However, no one can tell me in all seriousness that Jakob Chychrun in a Red Wings uniform, playing alongside Seider, wouldn’t look great.

Their play styles work together so well, they are both young players that haven’t even begun to reach their true potential and that’s what makes this so exciting.

Adding Chychrun into the mix, even if it means giving up two top tier picks and a top prospect, it’s something you have to deal with and just be happy about it. Because as I previously said, we do not have a place for all of these prospects that we have in the pipeline.

Moving a player with top notch value for a proven player is exactly what I feel the Red Wings need to do. Acquire star power, not depth.

Moving the two picks and Wallinder sucks, but I’m sure you’re wondering where Filip Zadina comes into play. Or maybe not, but the reason I moved off Zadina is to allow Elmer Soderblom or Jonatan Berggren a chance to compete at training camp. Give them the ability to work for the open roster spot.

Home / Red Wings News