Under the radar, Yegor Chinakhov is breaking out for the Blue Jackets this season
While it hasn't been a perfect start to the season, we are witnessing exactly what we've hoped to see out of this young Blue Jackets team for the last couple of years: progress. One player who deserves notice for his play is Yegor Chinakhov, who is flying under the radar a little bit, but breaking out in a big way.
The Blue Jackets have been the team to make arguably the two most surprising first round picks over the last decade or so of the NHL Draft. One of those was taking Pierre-Luc Dubois with the third overall selection in 2016. The other? When the team took Yegor Chinakhov 21st overall in 2020.
Live coverage of the draft was paused when this pick was made. They had to take a commercial break to regroup. Some "draft experts" stated they had no idea who Yegor Chinakhov was. Only Craig Button(?!) seemed to have any notes on him. But the Blue Jackets were stoked to have landed a player that then-GM Jarmo Kekalainen said was in their top-10 for the entire draft. Now, four years later, it's becoming clear that they were correct.
"This guy has Joe Sakic's wrist shot..."
Yegor was drafted from Omsk Avangard of the KHL; where he had a head coach who is well-known in NHL circles. Bob Hartley led the Colorado Avalanche to a Stanley Cup in 2001, where he had a handful of future Hall of Famers at his disposal. One of those players was Joe Sakic, whose wrist shot is nothing short of legendary. Hartley himself compared Chinakhov's shot favorably to Sakic's.
Wasting no time, Chinakhov signed a contract and came to North America for the 2021-22 season. He got into 62 games with a plucky Blue Jackets team, showing off that shot pretty often - but only scoring 7 goals and 14 points on the season. Over the next two seasons, he got into a combined 83 games, scoring 20 goals and 42 points. This year, however? He's quietly been one of the best forwards on the team. Let's break down his game on the next page.
Yegor Chinakhov is more than just a great shooter.
I've long talked about how underrated Yegor is without the puck, and this year his play is paying off on both sides of it. Through 12 games, he has 9 points; which is impressive because it's not coming off of his shot. With just 3 goals on the season, it feels like he's been a little bit snakebitten. This is bad news for the rest of the league, because he is quietly becoming one of the most complete players on this team.
With top-six minutes so far (averaging 17:59 per game), Chinakhov has a +7 rating, which is two higher than Kirill Marchenko for the team lead. If we dig deeper, however, it gets even better. Chinny leads the Jackets with a 63% Corsi %, is second on the team in on-ice xGF% (68.3%), and has a team-best on-ice goal differential of +12, +4 ahead of anyone else.
CHINNY GETS US STARTED ON THE POWER PLAY! @FanaticsBook | #CBJ pic.twitter.com/2k8bt3FEQE
— Columbus Blue Jackets (@BlueJacketsNHL) October 17, 2024
All of this while ranking in the 96th percentile in speed, and in the top-15% or so in shot power. If you scroll down on this page and look at where he's shooting from, you can see that he's generating a lot of high danger chances. With that considered and knowing his shot, the goals are certainly not far off. When he starts finding the net, he's going to start dominating games offensively.
The kind of player who wins you hockey games...
One stat that caught me off guard: Yegor Chinakhov is fifth on the team in hits, with 16. He's thrown this many hits and played this much hockey, without taking a single minor penalty so far. When you put it all together: this has been a spectacular start to the season for Yegor. He's been incredibly reliable on both sides of the puck. He's great on the forecheck. Arguably the best skater on the team. Not arguably its best shooter (now that Patrik Laine is gone).
Jarmo Kekalainen and his scouts were right. Chinakhov was easily one of the top-10 players taken at the 2020 NHL Draft. He already ranks 11th in that class in points, and his 157 games are fewer than all but one player ahead of him on that list. Some players from that class have played 100+ more games already in their careers. He'll be on the rise, if he keeps up his momentum.
I guess nobody can say they don't know who he is, any longer. Or, maybe he'll just have to keep reminding them.
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