In what is another dismal season in Ohio’s capital, one young star is giving something fans to cheer about.
Columbus Blue Jackets forward Yegor Chinakhov is having a career season, taking advantage of a full bill of health in his third season with the team.
Through 39 games, the Russian-born winger has 14 goals and 10 assists, blowing by his previous best, a 14-point rookie season during the 2021-22 campaign. Chinakhov has really picked up steam over the last few weeks, scoring four goals and three assists in a six-game span just before the All-Star break.
He is only sixth on the Blue Jackets in scoring, though he has played 10 games fewer than the majority of the roster. Averaging 0.62 points per game, Chinakhov is a hair off the pace that Johnny Gaudreay is on. Gaudreau currently leads Columbus with 32 points in 50 games.
Chinakhov as come a long way for a player that many people did not know about before getting drafted. He will look to continue his impressive season with the worst team in the Metropolitan Division on Saturday night, when the Blue Jackets play their first game out of the break against the Tampa Bay Lightning.
On Friday’s edition of Daily Faceoff LIVE,Tyler Yaremchuk gave some props to Chinakhov, despite the situation with his team.
Tyler Yaremchuk: He’s been a bright spot in this forward group, a young player that hopefully they can keep around and grow with. What I like about this, it’s not like this 14 goals in 39 games run that is fueled with a couple of two-goal games and a couple of hat tricks. He’s been consistently bringing offense to the Blue Jackets.
You can watch the entire segment, and full episode here…
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