Safe to say there are some unhappy campers in the Ottawa Senators’ locker room after Jakob Chychrun’s huge hit that injured Nick Cousins on Tuesday night.
After many of Cousins’ teammates expressed their ire to reporters postgame, Cousins showcased his frustration in a different, much pettier way.
The 33-year-old forward unfollowed Chychrun on Instagram a few hours after the play occurred. According to a viral tweet from NHL Follow Tracker, Cousins hit the unfollow button on Chychrun’s profile early Wednesday morning at 2:48 am.
While the move comes across as salty, the unfollow does reveal something positive, too. It shows that Cousins was at least healthy enough to be scrolling on his phone late into the night. Senators head coach Travis Green told the Ottawa Citizen’s Bruce Garrioch on Wednesday that Cousins will miss 7-10 days with the injuries he suffered from the hit.
Chychrun’s hit knocked Cousins out cold and sent him flying limply into the boards and eventually onto the ice, where he cut his face open. Cousins needed assistance from teammates and Ottawa’s training staff to get to his skates and then down the tunnel into the team’s locker room.
Officials initially assessed Chychrun a five-minute major for the hit. Upon further review, however, they ruled there was no penalty on the play, much to the dismay of the Senators and their fans. Per ESPN’s Emily Kaplan, the NHL’s Department of Player Safety has also cleared Chychrun of any wrongdoing.
Jakob Chychrun throws massive hit on Nick Cousins
Adding to the drama and intrigue, Chychrun and Cousins were previously teammates on the Arizona Coyotes during the 2017-18 and 2018-19 seasons, so they do have a prior relationship.
As of noon on Wednesday, Chychrun still follows Cousins on Instagram, even though their mutual social media friendship appears to have been damaged beyond repair by the hit. While Cousins unfollowed Washington’s top defender, a cursory search shows that he still follows Chychrun’s mother, Nancy.
The Capitals and Senators play two more times this season, with their next meeting coming on January 2 at Capital One Arena. The game will be the first chance to see whether Cousins’ beef with Chychrun remains just online.
