Former Ottawa Senator Scores New Year's Eve Game-Winner, Now Leads NHL Defencemen In Goals

Washington Capitals defenceman Jakob Chychrun may have been traded away by the Ottawa Senators back in June, but his current hot streak completely aligns with the end-of-year heater his old team is on.

On November 25th, Chychrun stood with eight points for the Capitals. Since then, he's posted 17 points in 17 games and now shares the NHL defencemen goal scoring lead with Cale Makar and Zach Werenski.

On New Year's Eve, Chychrun ripped home his 11th goal, drifting in from the point with that vicious wrist shot on the power play and immediately getting a bear hug from Alex Ovechkin.

That ended up being the game-winner in the Capitals' 3-1 victory over the Boston Bruins, the team the Senators are trying to catch in the standings. Boston is four points ahead, but the Sens now have three games in hand.

Chychrun's 11th goal left him just three shy of his total for all of last season in Ottawa. And say what you will about the plus/minus stat, but Chychrun's +47 point improvement from last season is kind of noticeable.

Meanwhile, November 25th is also when the Senators took flight. At that point, the Sens had lost five games in a row, standing with a record of 8-11-1. Since then, the Sens have gone 11-4-1 to move into a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.

The symmetry only serves as a reminder of how the trade has worked out beautifully for both teams.

If you only read the scoring summaries, you've probably convinced yourself that the Senators got fleeced, getting the less flashy Nick Jensen and a third-round pick in the deal. Jensen has two goals and 13 points in 36 games.

But the Sens already had enough left-shot offensive defensemen. They needed veteran, shut-down, right-shot defensive help for their blue line, and Jensen fit the bill. Players like Jensen are undervalued by most fans, but not by NHL general managers, and certainly not by Steve Staios, who played that style himself.

So the Sens had to pay a high price. They could have paid with Jake Sanderson, but he's the future of Ottawa's blue line, so he wasn’t going anywhere. They could have paid with Thomas Chabot, but his contract made him untradeable, or at least it did last summer.

So, with Chychrun heading for UFA after this season and appearing lukewarm about re-signing here, he was the guy.

Defensively, Jensen has not only been an upgrade over Chychrun, but he's also made Chabot better. While Chabot has never finished a season as a plus player, this year he's a plus-12 and now an analytics darling.

Not every NHL deal has a loser. This was a mutually beneficial exchange, like yeast for flour, with both teams on the rise.

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