Chychrun was the 16th pick of the 2016 NHL Draft. At 18 years, 198 days old, he will become the third-youngest player to skate in a game for the Coyotes/Winnipeg Jets franchise, behind Ryan Stewart (18 years, 154 days) in 1985-86) and Dale Hawerchuk (18 years, 185 days) in 1981-82.
He also is the first Coyotes player to get into a game in his draft year since Mikkel Boedker and Viktor Tikhonov in 2008-09.
Forward Laurent Dauphin, another of the five rookies on the Coyotes roster, will play his ninth NHL game Saturday, centering the fourth line with Crouse and Ryan White. Forward Dylan Strome, the third pick of the 2015 draft, is a healthy scratch.
"Those players have earned their right into the lineup and they've had good [training] camps," Arizona coach Dave Tippett said. "I can count on one hand the number of times this many guys were in their first game, but they are good players, otherwise they wouldn't be here."
Eight of Arizona's 18 skaters were not on the team last season. Another, forward Jamie McGinn, is out because of an upper-body injury.
With defensemen Michael Stone and Kevin Connauton also injured, the Coyotes will start four newcomers on defense Saturday: Chychrun, Alex Goligoski, Jamie McBain and Luke Schenn.
On the other end of the scale, captain Shane Doan will begin his 21st season and play in his 1,467th game, all with the Coyotes/Jets.
Mike Smith will start in goal for Arizona.
The Flyers are playing back-to-back games to start the season. They scored four times in the second period in a 4-2 win against the Los Angeles Kings on Friday. Forward Sean Couturier scored two goals, the first coming 48 seconds after forward Boyd Gordon scored the game's first goal.
Playing in his first NHL game, Flyers forward Travis Konecny set up both of Couturier's goals and the Flyers built a 4-0 lead. It was the first time they won their first road game of the season since 2011-12.
Defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere sustained a cut to the right cheek near his nose when he was hit by the skate of Kings forward Kyle Clifford during the first period but remained in the game and will play Saturday.
"God was with me on that one," Gostisbehere told Philly.com on Friday.
