Grant & Danny have been joking for weeks now, at the end of every one of Jakob Chychrun’s weekly Wednesday visits, that they’re waiting for the day he comes on after a giant contract extension is done.
That day will be this Wednesday, because Chychrun got an eight-year, $72 million deal finalized on Tuesday, and GM Chris Patrick told the guys there was no reason to wait any longer.
And, he revealed, it’s something they’ve been thinking about since the beginning of the season, although the process indeed ramped up once other business was handled.
“We had some early conversations back in the fall, but really started talking in earnest at the start of the new year here, and I think it took a while to get some serious traction,” Patrick said. “They have their group of players that they're gonna use as comparables, and we have ours, and it’s trying to find somewhere in the middle that makes sense for both sides. With the playoffs coming up, it's definitely not something you want to do going into the playoffs, and with a player like Jakob, if you get out of the playoffs and you've got one month until the free agency period starts, at that point for him, it's almost like, why should I rush and do anything now, so I felt like getting something done here at the end of the regular season would be good timing-wise. So, we upped the intensity a little bit and tried to find some common ground, which luckily we did in the last couple of days.”
Listen to Patrick’s entire visit with G&D, which also includes some prospect news, above!