Mark Madden: Jakob Chychrun would help Penguins reach the playoffs, but does that move make sense?

As Friday’s NHL trade deadline looms, the most concrete option for the Pittsburgh Penguins seems to be the potential acquisition of defenseman Jakob Chychrun from Arizona. The price, we’re told, is two first-round draft picks.

Other teams reportedly kicked the tires on Chychrun, including Boston, Edmonton and Los Angeles. But those clubs got other defensemen instead.

Chychrun reportedly has been on the market for months. So, he’s not exactly the hottest commodity. But playing in Arizona is the NHL’s equivalent of witness protection.

In a vacuum, that deal for Chychrun is reasonable.

Chychrun, 24, is a legit top-pair defensemen. He is 6-foot-2, 220 pounds and signed for two more seasons at a cap hit of $4.6 million. That contract parallels the length of Sidney Crosby’s deal. After that, the Penguins dry up and die.

Chychrun isn’t exactly durable: He hasn’t played more than 68 games in a campaign. He played 47 last season.

Coach Mike Sullivan reportedly sees Chychrun as a good defense partner for Kris Letang. I wonder if they’re not both too offensive-minded to play as a pair.

But Chychrun is quality. He’s somehow plus-8 this season on a Coyotes team that is minus-48. He scored 18 goals in 2020-21. He has excellent mobility and quickly transitions play from defense to offense.

Chychrun also isn’t a rental. The Penguins don’t need rentals. No rental could help enough. The Penguins’ ceiling this season is losing in the first round of the playoffs.

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To get to the Stanley Cup Final, the Penguins would have to beat, in succession, Carolina, the New Jersey/New York Rangers winner, then the Atlantic Division survivor. Or, if the Penguins switch to the Atlantic bracket, they’d have to beat Boston, the Tampa Bay/Toronto winner, then the Metropolitan Division remnant.

Neither of those scenarios seem remotely possible. Those are all powerhouse teams.

The worse news: The path won’t get easier in the next few years, nor will the Penguins get younger, nor will up-and-coming teams like Buffalo, Detroit and Ottawa stop improving.

So, what’s the point of getting Chychrun?

Not much, really. But the Penguins are in “win-now” mode, even if they can’t. Retaining the core three of Crosby, Letang and Evgeni Malkin dictates that.

So, GM Ron Hextall (or whoever succeeds him at some point) must act accordingly. The Penguins won’t liquidate and rebuild no matter how this season ends. (Eight no- or limited-movement clauses for players contracted beyond this season make that impossible.) The deck will be reshuffled around the core three.

Sullivan reportedly wants to make the Chychrun trade. Hextall doesn’t. So, we’ll see who’s got power.

Besides the Chychrun discussion, Penguins trade rumors are all over the place.

There’s talk about getting a forward like Brock Boeser or J.T. Miller from Vancouver, with Marcus Pettersson part of the package to the Canucks.

The Penguins shopped Pettersson throughout the offseason. But he’s currently their best defensive defenseman. If dealing Pettersson leaves Brian Dumoulin, P.O Joseph and, say, Ty Smith as the left side of the defense, that’s subpar.

The Penguins don’t need to weaken their defense. They don’t need to strengthen their defense, either. They’re adequate at the blue line.

What the Penguins need most is a third-line center. Jeff Carter stinks.

But, even as Carter disintegrates before our very eyes, it seems he will play no matter what. He was on the ice defending a 2-1 lead in the waning moments at Nashville on Tuesday night. So was Brock McGinn, who had been waived earlier in the day.

Would I make the Chychrun deal? Probably. The locker room and fans expect a move like that. The future is damned, anyway.

Chychrun would almost certainly help get the Penguins into the playoffs for a 17th straight season. The more that means, the more it really doesn’t. (See Tomlin, Mike.)