Arizona Coyotes head coach Rick Tocchet doesn’t know when defenseman Jakob Chychrun will be back following off-season knee surgery, as he told told SiriusXM NHL Network (via NHL.com).
The sophomore defenseman is considered out indefinitely, after all.
Still, whenever Chychrun does return - and Tocchet believes it will happen sometime during this coming season - he’s expected to make a remarkable recovery.
“He’s just a beast,” Tocchet said. “If this happened to somebody else, you might have a guy who’s out for the year. I don’t know the timeframe (for his recovery), but it’s not for the year. It’s something that he’s going to bounce back (from). He’s an animal. It’s almost like we’ve got to crank this kid down a little bit.”
That sounds promising ... though with knee injuries, it is indeed risky to come back to soon in certain cases. As much as the Coyotes want to make strides forward, they’d be wise to play it safe with Chychrun.
Assuming he lets them.