Coyotes’ Jakob Chychrun relishes role as league’s youngest defenceman
Arizona Coyotes captain Shane Doan had already played 160 NHL games when teammate Jakob Chychrun was born in the spring of 1998.
At 18 years 266 days, Chychrun is the youngest defenceman in the NHL and third-youngest player in the league behind Finnish teenagers Jesse Puljujarvi and Patrik Laine.
“It’s cool and all, but I think I don’t really look at myself as a young kid,” said Chychrun, a six-foot-three, 200-pound defender from Boca Raton, Fla. “I kind of approach the game just as a pro would and I feel I’m mature beyond my years.”
A first-round pick of Arizona at this year’s draft, Chychrun still has his “kid” moments though, like when he went into Chicago for the first time and faced Patrick Kane or when the Coyotes visited Sidney Crosby and the Penguins in Pittsburgh. Because the Florida Panthers were so mediocre when Chychrun was growing up — they made the playoffs once in his 13 years there — he became a part-time fan of the Penguins, idolizing Crosby in particular.