The hockey world is a small one, and every time a big piece of news breaks, the entities within that world ask themselves “Oh boy, how dos this impact us?”

Earlier this week, the Washington Capitals signed blueliner Jakob Chychrun to an eight year contract extension with a $9 million cap hit. The Calgary Flames currently boast a defender of somewhat similar age and experience to Chychrun, alternate captain Rasmus Andersson, who has one more year left on his current contract.

So what does Chychrun’s extension with Washington mean for the Flames’ impending negotiations with Andersson?

Andersson and Chychrun are both blueliners that play a ton for their teams. Andersson averages 24:06 for the Flames and Chychrun averages 20:56 for the Capitals.

In terms of career experience and production, they’re pretty close. Andersson has 228 points over 525 career games (0.434 per game). Chychrun has 260 points over 533 career games (0.488 per game).

Andersson plays 3:50 more per game than Chychrun. Andersson’s 17th in the NHL among defenders in ice time per game, Chychrun is 81st. The main difference in their usage is that Chychrun doesn’t kill penalties. More time on ice for blueliners generally means more compensation.

It’s silly, but right-shot defenders seem to be more in-demand in the free agent market, so that could contribute to a higher cap hit for Andersson.

Chychrun was born in 1998 and his deal kicks in for the 2025-26 season, otherwise known as his 27-year-old season. Andersson was born in 1996 and his next deal would kick in for the 2026-27 season, otherwise known as his 30-year-old season. As such, an eight-year deal for Chychrun captures more of his prime (and less of his declining years) than Andersson’s would.

In his career, Chychrun has way more goals than Andersson does: 94 for Chychrun and 46 for Andersson.

In their two most recent seasons (2023-24 and 2024-25), they’ve played the same number of games (148) but Chychrun has a clear edge in goals (32 to Andersson’s 19) and points (88 to Andersson’s 67). Yes, you can make an argument that this season’s numbers are skewed by Chychrun playing on the NHL’s most productive offensive team and Andersson, well, not.

Based on the evidence, should Andersson get the same deal as Chychrun just signed? Probably not. Andersson’s relative age when his next deal starts means that deal would capture more of his declining years than Chychrun’s deal does, which brings the cap hit down. Andersson plays more than Chychrun and in more situations, but Chychrun scores more goals and is a more offensively productive team recently. (We would call those last two points a bit of a wash, as they speak to each player’s usages within their teams.)

Chychrun’s $9 million cap hit represents 9.4% of next season’s $95.5 million cap ceiling. If Andersson got the same cap percentage when his next deal begins in 2026-27, it would be a $9.8 million cap hit within the $104 million projected ceiling. If you bring that number down to somewhere around $8.5 million, that’s 8.2% of the cap ceiling and a more palatable number.

(For those freaking out about an $8.5 million cap hit, remember that it would be the equivalent to $7.22 million under the current $88 million cap ceiling. MacKenzie Weegar’s current $6.25 million deal represented 7.49% of the cap hit in 2023-24, the first year of that deal. Cap inflation is a real thing, and agents are more and more focused on cap percentage than overall dollar numbers in terms of making comparisons within the marketplace.)

Chychrun’s extension in Washington doesn’t really provide an air-tight example of what Andersson’s next deal should look like, but if nothing else it provides a ceiling on the market value for Andersson’s next deal.