Chychrun was absolutely awful in his own end last year and Chabot played down to his level when paired together. Jensen is a large improvement in his own end and that should benefit whoever he plays with. As for Brannstrom he was pretty meh last year so it won't take much to replace what he brought.
ok so it looks you didn't read the link I provided to you on August 16th... This is what I told you back then :
Chychrun scored 41 pts last season, Jensen only 14. We gotta hope that Jensen major analytical/play drop last season was just a bump on the road and he'll get back to being a solid 2nd pairing defensive D-man (see link at the end of this post)
Washington Capitals 2023-24 season player review for Nick Jensen, with a look ahead to 2024-25 and beyond.
www.japersrink.com
Also, you could maybe look for what Caps fans had to say about Jensen last season and how much he had declined from 2021-22
Chychrun actually had pretty good metrics when paired with Sanderson (54.1 xGF%) and even with Chabot (53.4 xGF%). Had terrible metrics with Hamonic and JBD, as it could have been expected. So yes Chychrun had a terrible stretch last season but which Jensen version are we going to get? The 2021-22 version or the 34 y/o version that was not that good last season? Is it going to be enough to offset the difference in offensive contributions?
Brannstrom meh or not, did really well analytically on the 3rd pairing role for 2 seasons now. This might come as SHOCKING for some but did you know that Erik Brannstrom the last 2 seasons combined had the 100th highest amount of points at Even Strength? With 32 teams and 128 Top-4 roles, not bad for a 3rd pairing guy getting secondary minutes (with crap players most of the time). Jake Sanderson had 3 more points overall in the 2 seasons. So EB had pretty decent production and even better defensive metrics in his limited role, not automatically replaceable. Exemple, you put a Hamonic level player there and it's a really bad trade.
The game is not about what we see in the Sens rookie tournament right now, that's not hockey, at least not in the current decades.
The game is about outworking and out-chancing your opponent, until you end up scoring more goals than them. That's what I am looking in hockey players, not players like Boucher, Ben Roger or Eliasson but players that can contribute with their talent level and their hockey IQ. It's time to evolve into 2020's hockey. Our scouting and past management surely didn't
The D is without a doubt improved with Kleven and Jenson rather than Chychrun and Brannstrom
True I forgot involving Kleven and if he is for real then it could help tremendously but IMO the improvement really won't come from
34 y/o Jensen + Calen freaking Addison vs Chychrun + Erik Brannstrom
It's good if all the changes keep Hamonic from playing. Hopefully Kleven and JBD are solid and healthy as a 3rd pair and we don't see much of Hamonic or Addison
The worry is that Kleven is a rookie after all and if he has to carry Hamonic or Addison, it could get ugly.