Blue Jackets’ former first-round pick requests trade

“I had some misunderstandings with the coach during the season,” Chinakhov said. “Now I would be glad to have a trade. I would like to move to a different location. Will I return to Russia? As long as I can play in the NHL, I will keep developing here.”

Waddell told Portzline that he’ll only move Chinakhov if he sees fair value in a trade; he won’t dump the young winger for a minimal return just because he wants out. If that offer doesn’t materialize by training camp, Waddell still expects Chinakhov to report to the club but will presumably continue trying to find a new home for him.

It’s not particularly clear what those misunderstandings with head coach Dean Evason were, but his usage down the stretch likely has a lot to do with it. Chinakhov averaged a career-high 15:43 of ice time per game last season but became a frequent healthy scratch at the tail end of the campaign, sitting out 12 of the Jackets’ final 13 games.

That, combined with missing three months due to back problems, limited the 24-year-old to 30 appearances. He scored seven goals and eight assists for 15 points, seeing his points per game output drop from 0.55 in 2023-24 to 0.50 last year.

Injuries have been a consistent factor for Chinakhov since making the jump to North America, stunting the 2020 surprise first-round selection’s development. He’s still put up respectable averages of 16 goals and 33 points per 82 games in his four NHL seasons, including a 44-point pace over the last two years.

He’s certainly an everyday NHL player. Still, with his production pace topping off at that level at this point in his development, combined with his injury history, things don’t bode well for the Jackets to recoup the first-round value they invested in Chinakhov five years ago in a trade.

They should still be able to command a decent return, whether that’s a package of mid-value picks and prospects or a player-for-player swap to take a change of scenery candidate back the other way. If the latter ends up being the route Waddell pursues, the Maple Leafs and Blackhawks could be speculative partners with young forwards Nicholas Robertson and Lukas Reichel available.

Image courtesy of Jeff Curry-Imagn Images.