Is there a place for Yegor Chinakhov?
The Columbus Blue Jackets set a franchise record this season, with 267 goals scored. Breakout years from Kirill Marchenko, Adam Fantilli, Kent Johnson, Dmitri Voronkov, and - depending on how you look at it, Zach Werenski - helped this team reach another level.
Yet, we enter this summer with the team needing to find another top-six scoring forward. Yegor Chinakhov is one of the most talented guys on the roster, and his season started out really well with 7 goals and 14 points through his first 21 games.
Unfortunately, an upper body injury suffered in late November, derailed him until early March. After returning, Yegor played 9 more games with the Jackets - registering just one assist. By that point, he was pushed out of the top-six for this team, earning mostly third and fourth line minutes even as the team struggled to find any offense through the month of March.
Obviously, the question here: is there a place for Yegor Chinakhov in this lineup? The 24 year old now has four full seasons under his belt in North America, so it's hard to call him a prospect at this point. In those four years, injuries have been a huge issue as he's played just 175 of a possible 328 games. It might be time for the Jackets to find another fit here.
Chinakhov is one of the fastest skating, hardest shooting players in the entire NHL. He also does not get enough credit for his work ethic or his two-way game. When he's healthy, I definitely think he can be a very good middle six winger on a contending team. He's more than capable of scoring 30 or more goals in this league.
But, reliability is the big concern here, and with most of the young guys around him breaking out this year, I could see Don Waddell putting out feelers for Yegor's value this summer. This is the kind of trade chip that could lead to an upgrade elsewhere in the lineup.
With one year left on his contract and a cap hit of just $2.1m, Chinakhov would be an intriguing pickup for nearly every team in the league. He's a loveable guy that I would definitely hate to see in any other uniform, but as the old adage goes: you have to give up good players to get good players. Of all of the young skilled guys on this team this year, he's easily the most expendable piece.
All of that aside, nobody knows Yegor's health and potential better than the Blue Jackets. It's entirely possible that Waddell could hang onto him and have another breakout star next season. He is certainly more than capable.
Whether any or all of these three return to this team next season, I do expect the Jackets to look vastly different. One way or another, they will need to clear out salary and roster space to do that.