The price we paid for Chychrun was a result of our former GM being one of the worst managers in recent memory vs. an accurate reflection of him as a player.
I think Chychrun can be a good, offense-first 2nd pairing guy. He has an unreal shot, is a solid passer, and is good at jumping in off the rush. If paired with the right partner (and it seems like that's the plan in Washington with Roy), he can be a solid guy who plays 20-21 minutes a night and puts up ~45-50 points.
His downside is that he's pretty bad in his own end. He routinely makes poor decisions, takes way too many bad penalties and for a guy as big as he is, is allergic to contact. He often doesn't really know where to be. He needs to be insulated.
It didn't work in Ottawa because we had a logjam at LD, didn't have a need for another defenseman who was weak at actually playing defense (Chabot has that covered), and to be honest, his effort level last year was terrible. And reportedly, he wasn't well liked in his room.
I think there's some shock at the return because of his name recognition, but in reality, his value is probably a little bit lower than John Marino considering he's a pending UFA.
He's probably worth a 2nd + 3rd in an all futures package, and Ottawa took Jensen instead of the 2nd to fill in immediate need, which makes sense.
So all in, I think it's a fair deal.