Jakob Chychrun is the future of the Capitals’ blue line, but will he ever score like that again?
By the Numbers
20
Goals
27
Assists
74
Games played
21
Minutes per game
On-ice percentages
53%
Shot attempts
49%
Expected goals
56%
Actual goals
Isolated Impact by HockeyViz
About this visualization: This image by Micah Blake McCurdy of hockeyviz.com shows how the player has impacted play when on the ice. At the top of the image is the team’s offense (even strength at left, power play at right) and at bottom is the team’s defense (with penalty kill at bottom right). In each case, red/orange blobs mean teams shoot for more from that location on the ice, and blue/purple means less. In general, a good player should have red/orange blobs near the opponent’s net at top, and blue/purple blobs near their own team’s net at bottom. The distributions in middle show how the player compares to league average at individual finishing, setting up teammates to score, and taking and drawing penalties. The number at center is Synthetic Goals: a catch-all number for the player’s impact.
Player Card by All Three Zones
About this player card: This image from Corey Sznajder of All Three Zones shows how the player compares to league averages in different microstats in the defensive, neutral, and offensive zones. Blue bars mean the player has a higher rate in that statistic compared to league average, and orange means a lower rate. The numbers are Z-scores, also known as standard deviations, indicating how far the number is from league average, where more than two standard deviations means the player is on the extreme edge of the league.
Player Card by Evolving Hockey
About this player card: This card from Josh and Luke of Evolving Hockey compares the player to league averages based on their impact on on-ice statistics. GAR means “goals above replacement,” where “replacement” means an average player called up from the AHL. xGAR is the same figure but assuming league-average goaltending. The numbers at top are the player’s percentile ranks overall and then for offense and defense alone.
Player Overview by NHL Edge
About this visualization: The NHL’s advanced statistics program, Edge, tracks player and puck movement. At left are the player’s numbers in various statistics along with the average number for that same stat among players of the same position and the player’s percentile rank in it. At right is a radar chart for various statistics, where the bigger the shape the better the player performs in those measures.
Fan Happiness Survey
About this visualization: At three times during the season, RMNB conducted an open survey with readers, asking the following question for each player: “On a scale from 1 to 5, how HAPPY are you to have this player on the team?” The numbers above show the average score for the player in each survey period.
Slavoj Žižek on Chychrun
The problem with Chychrun is not an unreliably high shooting percentage or an interest in alternative health, it’s that he has manifested twin objets petit a, unobtainable fantasy objects of performance and wellness.
Peter’s Take
Jakob Chychrun is an interesting case. One of the team’s many summer 2024 reclamation projects, Chychrun was a rousing success. Only two defenders, Makar and Werenski, scored more goals this season — and Chychrun missed eight games.
Doubters will cite his high shooting percentage — 10 percent during five-on-five play, 11 on the power play — as reason why we should limit our enthusiasm about his future, which is under contract through 2032-33. This is my biggest concern too, but I think there’s something special about Chychrun’s offense. He loves shooting from outside…
…and he is fantastic at it…
In the first of these diagrams from HockeyViz, the shapes represent locations from which Chychrun shoots — clustering high in the offensive zone, just below (above in the diagram) the blue line. In the second diagram, red indicates Chychrun is red-hot effective on those distant shots – for far more goals than expected, nearly seven during five-on-five play.
Your take on jersey number 6 comes down to if you think that performance is repeatable. Historically, for most players, straight-up, it’s just not. I feel like Tobias Funke from Arrested Development saying, but it might work for us! Is it a skill, and therefore sustainable, or will Chychrun drop down to his historic average of around seven-percent shooting? It’s evident that the Caps were organizing tactics around Chychrun’s seeing-eye puck from the blue line last season. What do they know that we don’t? Answer: A lot. I hope.
Chick on RMNB
- The Caps traded Nick Jensen to the Sens for Chychrun. Worked out great for everyone.
- On the fit: “It seems like [Washington has] been very aggressive and it’s great to see I mean, obviously, they’re a group that wants to win and I’m just so excited. I think they’ve done a great job of improving the team and I’m thrilled honestly. I think it’s a great fit for me personally and I’m just so excited to be able to help contribute to this team and try to take this team into the playoffs.”
Here’s Jakob Chychrun preparing for the season by eating an entire watermelon shirtless
- Chychrun suffered an upper-body injury in October and missed time until early November.
- Recipient of the first player-of-the-game locker room award, as foretold by Bandz A Make Her Dance.
- At the end of November into December, he had seven points in four games, earning NHL third star of the week.
- Sorry for busting Wilson’s face.
- From me: A nice Christmas present for me would be re-signing Jakob Chychrun
- Chychrun has been involved in mental health initiaves for a long time. In January, he and his family participated in the ceremonial Hockey Talks puck drop.
- These are the Ian stories I love most: Jakob Chychrun is wearing Sonny Milano’s gloves this season. Here’s why.
- In March, Chychrun suffered a “significant” skate cut to his wrist.
- Okay here’s a whole series of things. Big links for each. This was maybe the Storyline of the Season:
Dylan Strome says Jakob Chychrun’s ‘new thing’ is that he wants to have no light bulbs in his house
- There was a lot of build-up to it. At the end of March, the Capitals signed Chychrun to eight-year contract extension.
- The team immediately pranked him over it.
- Chychrun says Ted Leonsis wearing his jersey might have accelerated the contract negotiation.
- And now, the Bandz a Make Her Dance subplot:
- Acknowledging Chychrun and Ovechkin’s fixation on the song during pregame rituals, Juicy J wore Caps jerseys at a show.
- Capital One Arena blasted “Bandz A Make Her Dance” twice as Chychrun recorded his first twenty-goal season.
- And in April, Juicy J and Project Pat joined Ovechkin Chychrun in the tunnel. “After this, we’re going to the strip club”
Your Turn
Will Chychrun hit 20 goals again?
This story would not be possible without
Please consider joining us in supporting them.
