Talked with a longtime source today about the Jakob Chychrun trade to Washington for 33 y/o Nick Jensen and a 2026 third-round pick. That seemed awfully low, even though Chychrun is likely to head to UFA next summer.

"What happened was that (Steve) Staios overplayed his hand," the source said. "There was interest in Chychrun but Staios went around telling teams he had offers of first-round and second-round picks and pressured clubs to 'top it' and said they were also close to an extension unless someone blew them away. But the offers were NOT to that level and the club dropped out and looked elsewhere. Ottawa finally accepted the next offer that came in -- because they KNEW Chychrun wasn't extending, and everyone else knew it."

The source also said all the smoke Ottawa put out about Thomas Chabot not being available was also not believed. Ottawa was searching here too for a team to offer a no-brainer type of return. Now there's a complication -- Chabot's partial no-trade has kicked in, and it looks like he WILL stay put.

On another note: Ottawa WAS able to get the elusive extension done with Shane Pinto but it wasn't the long-term variety. It was a bridge deal that's going to set up a contentious negotiation once again. But the Sens really REALLY don't want to trade Pinto. They kicked that can down the road a bit.

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