Capitals’ Jakob Chychrun deserves more love to make Canada’s Olympic team
The moment is quickly approaching when we’ll finally know the players that will make up Team Canada for the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympics, as the 12 participating nations must submit their rosters on New Year’s Eve. As is always the case for a best-on-best Canadian men’s hockey team, debates, speculation, and predictions about which players deserve a roster spot have been rampant.
This time around, most of the conversation has revolved around Canada’s forward group, with youngsters Macklin Celebrini and Connor Bedard playing their way into strong consideration. The biggest debate about Canada’s blue line is whether New York Islanders rookie Matthew Schaefer has already impressed enough to garner a look. Sometimes, though, familiar players can fly under the radar, even if their play demands more attention. Enter the Washington Capitals‘ Jakob Chychrun, who leads all NHL defensemen with 14 goals and is on pace for a career-best 67 points this season. The former Arizona Coyote may be the most overlooked candidate for Canada’s roster, though credit to our Matt Larkin, who had Chychrun on his final Team Canada roster projection.
On Friday’s episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, Tyler Yaremchuk and former NHL goaltender Carter Hutton discussed Chychrun’s candidacy for spot in Team Canada’s defense group.
Tyler Yaremchuk: I want to begin with Jakob Chychrun, who scores his 14th goal of the year. He leads all NHL defensemen. There’s been a lot of debate about Team Canada, whether it’s Bedard, Celebrini. On the blue line it’s been (Evan) Bouchard, Schaefer. Have we not been paying enough attention to this guy in Washington?
Carter Hutton: You know what? I’ve got to credit my wife on this one. We were doing something last night and we had the Leafs and Capitals game on in the living room. She knows Jakob Chychrun because we had some time in Arizona with him, and she was like “You’ve got to see this goal that Chychrun just scored.” Then it came to me, and I texted you, have we not really talked about him a lot? It was an absolute missile. I don’t know what the Leafs were doing, I don’t know if you guys had seen the goal. Bobby McMann let him walk right down to the ladies’ tees and absolutely rip a missile.
Something that I do remember playing with him, his fitness level and the way he competes is like no other. I think it is something that is overshadowed just because he’s bounced around. When you think about star defensemen that are going to play for your country with Team Canada, they’re usually guys that are generational players that have been in one organization. Chychrun’s quietly bounced around. He’s been in the league a long time, but he can play. I think he’s put himself on the map now with the Washington Capitals. He is a guy that is on the radar and I would be very surprised at this point if he isn’t playing for Team Canada.
You can watch the full segment and the rest of the episode here…