Welcome back to another edition of NHL Rumours by us here at Last Word On Hockey. For this one, it is a bit spicy, as it is a trade request by the player. This is followed up by the general manager essentially backing up his head coach. These type of situations can get messy, or they can end up working out as if nothing happened. In any sense, let’s get into it and figure it out.
The Athletic: #CBJ Yegor Chinakhov requests a trade, citing misunderstandings with Blue Jackets coach Dean Evason
GM Don Waddell said Chinakhov “couldn’t handle” being a healthy scratch after he returned from a back injury last spring.https://t.co/xZePRlCppo
— Aaron Portzline (@Aportzline) July 17, 2025
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NHL Rumours: A Disgruntled Blue Jacket Winger Wants Out of Town
Rumour: This one comes to us from The Athletic. Apparently, Russian winger Yegor Chinakhov, of the Columbus Blue Jackets, has requested a trade. His reasoning? An inability to see eye-to-eye with head coach Dean Evason.
Analysis: When the player wants a trade, it isn’t always easy, especially when it is not a star. Therefore, people won’t be necessarily knocking on general manager Don Waddell’s door.
The bigger issue here is that the winger could have, without trying to, marked himself. If he can’t get along with one coach, what’s to say it would be any different in a new environment? Often times like this, it is best to work with the coach and player, and try to give the player what he wants. It appears as though it is mostly more ice time. In contrast, at the same time, the player needs to give the coach more of what he’s looking for when he gets his ice time. As a middle-six winger, you need to be responsible. You never know when you’re getting matched up with top-line scorers, especially during the long change of the second period for instance. Also, you need to be productive. You need to score efficiently, which for the most part, Chinakhov has proven to be able to do.
Checking Out Chinakhov’s Stats
Yegor Chinakhov has requested a trade. #CBJ pic.twitter.com/ZT4KYkF9Lb
— JFresh (@JFreshHockey) July 17, 2025
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If we break it down statistically, Chinakhov has some favourable numbers. He had a back injury in 2024-25 and played just 30 games, in what was his fourth NHL campaign. He scored seven goals and added eight assists. Moreover, this was in a career-high 15:43 average ice time. This was up a decent amount from his 13:59 career average. Also, he played on the power play for a average of just below two minutes a game. So, he was getting a decent amount of opportunity in that situation.
If you think about who he played the most with, you can filter on line combinations of 50 or more minutes. The only regular set of linemates he had was Sean Monahan and Kirill Marchenko. They were a very successful line, however, Chinakhov’s injury did prevent a more favourable bottom line.
Before the injury, his ice time was up significantly. Five times in his first 21 games, he was over 19-and-a-half minutes a game. Conversely, after his return in March, his game high was down to 14:31. So, it does make some sense that he was right to voice his frustration. But it was the end of the season, with Columbus not really in a playoff push, so why force it? However, perhaps Chinakhov saw it as him being pushed out. Early in the year, he was being used in a top-six role and they performed well. So his thinking, why deviate from what worked previously?
Figuring Out the Situation
What really spurred these NHL Rumours, was from what happened upon his return, Evason likely wanted him working on his defensive and physical play. The fear might have been for Chinakhov that he was being pigeon-holed, and losing his spot to others. In any case, it did seem like a great fit, especially playing opposite on the wing with fellow Russian Marchenko early in the season. That definitely wouldn’t be something that Chinakhov wants to miss out on.
So if we put on our trading possibility hat, just what would Chinakhov fetch? He is efficient, but that is also likely dependent on playing with high-calibre linemates. The one advantage from his perspective is his lower $2.1 million cap hit. You could play him anywhere in your top-nine forward group, give him some power play time, and let him have a big contract season. That would be quite similar to the situation that would play out in Columbus, if he does end up sticking around.
Main Photo Credit: Russell LaBounty-Imagn Images
The post NHL Rumours: Russian Winger Unhappy With Ice Time in Columbus and Asks for Trade appeared first on Last Word On Hockey.