Yegor Chinakhov has (somehow) already entered his fourth season in North America and has never played over 75% of a season. He hasn't played over 60 games since his rookie campaign in the 2021-2022 NHL season. Injuries are starting to become the storyline of his young career.
After a blistering hot start to the 2024-2025 season, where he posted a 7-7-14 line in 21 games, Yegor has not appeared for the Columbus Blue Jackets since the Montreal Canadiens game in Columbus on November 27, 2024. Since then, the young winger has had a roller coaster of a recovery process from what The Athletic's Aaron Portzline has called a "back injury".
When he was out for the November 29th game, the Blue Jackets' Jeff Svoboda was to not "be too worried." Sources reported he was listed as day-to-day, which continued for several weeks until Chinakhov was finally placed on IR on December 11th.
Then, Chinakhov reportedly returned to the ice on December 18th for an optional skate but was missing from practice a few days later on December 20th. During a media scrum with head coach Dean Evason on December 30th, the quote was that Chinakhov had no timeline to return to the ice again. Despite this, just the next day, Chinakhov was again seen skating before the team with also-injured teammate Boone Jenner on December 31st.
Following the beginning of the new year, Yegor again skated without the whole team on January 7th per Mark Scheig, but the team considered him more than just a few weeks away from returning. The best news came again from Mark on January 14th, who said that Chinakhov could return "in the next couple of weeks, " per Evason's comment.
This remained the message given during an interview with GM/PHO Don Waddell on January 18th. A few weeks later, Yegor finally skated during a full practice with the club on January 29th but was forced to leave early due to "precautionary reasons" for his recovery.
He again skated with the team on February 5th and 8th for optional skates as the NHL headed into the 4 Nations Face-Off break, and hopes were high that he would return following the two weeks off. Unfortunately, Yegor has not been seen at practice or any optional skates since his return last week, and his timetable for recovery continues to remain a mystery.
At some point, a player could be tagged as injury prone.
Unfortunately, this has been a repeat pattern for the young Russian winger, who has suffered multiple long-term injuries since moving to North America. His talent is tantalizing: he possesses 93rd-percentile speed bursts per NHL EDGE compared to the rest of the league. He has a wicked shot that only continues to mature. He has emerged as a decent two-way forward, earning him time on both the penalty kill and power play units on top of all of this.
I believe in his potential and talent and want to see him succeed. He's a guy who's beloved in the locker room and adds a unique skill set from which the club would benefit. With Yegor signed through the end of next season and Columbus retaining his RFA rights after this contract, he still has time to work his way to recovery.
But, when it comes time to sign his next deal, it'll be difficult to overlook how much time he has missed for the franchise since coming over. I only hope that, with time, he finds his way to health again and that we will see Chinakhov tear up the NHL again here soon.