Canucks offseason trade target: Yegor Chinakhov

Shortly before the Vancouver Canucks traded Dakota Joshua to the Toronto Maple Leafs, reports came out that Columbus Blue Jackets forward Yegor Chinakhov had requested a trade.

Now, the trade request by Chinakhov and Joshua is completely unrelated; however, there is now a hole in the Canucks’ top-nine forward group on the wing that Chinakhov could potentially fill.

The Player

The former first-round pick in the 2020 draft is a skilled, fast winger with a high-end shot. Playing in only 30 games this past season, he missed a significant portion of the year due to injury, but still managed to register 15 points through those 30 games, scoring at a 41-point pace over an 82-game season.

Chinakhov’s game still has some holes, and he can be seen as a liability in the defensive zone. However, the 24 years old has a lot of time to learn to play a more complete 200-foot game at the NHL level. 

The Russian winger’s combination of speed and skill, mixed with a 6-foot-1, 200-pound frame, is encouraging to see. Despite his flaws, the addition of Chinakhov would not represent a big risk for the Canucks, as they hope he can take that step in his development to blossom into a top-six winger.

He’s shown some production at the NHL level, already with a career 34 goals and 37 assists for 71 points in 175 games played. Despite the Blue Jackets rebuilding for most of Chinakhov’s time in Columbus, he has yet to fully earn the trust from his coaches to graduate to top-six minutes.

That being said, the left-shot forward has yet to play a full season, with a career high of 62 games and has only reached the 10-plus goal mark once in his young career. (16 goals in 2023-2024.)

The Fit

The immediate fit for Chinakhov in the Canucks lineup is replacing Joshua on the third line. Playing on a line with someone like Nils Höglander, who has the speed and skill to create offence with Chinakhov, could be a great way for the Canucks to add to their depth scoring. These two wingers paired with Teddy Blueger down the middle, who can play a defensive anchor role, could resemble the Blueger, Joshua, and Conor Garland line that dominated so often two seasons ago.

Chinakhov would also be a very good addition to one of the team’s power play units. His size and shooting ability would make him perfect for the bumper spot on the power play, using his reach and size to create space to then get his shot off from the slot.

With the current likely power play group, Chinakhov would most likely slot into the second unit at first, but could very quickly work his way into the team’s top unit.

What might it cost?

Chinakov, having requested the trade, may limit the return for the Blue Jackets; not only that, but he is in the final year of his contract with a cap hit of $2.1-million. He will be a restricted free agent next offseason, so whoever does trade for him would have control. However, a team taking a flyer on him may not want to pay a high price in case things don’t work out right away.

The cost for the Canucks to acquire Chinakhov would likely be as simple as a future second-round pick. If not even less than that. 

Given the cap space the team cleared after moving Joshua, bringing in a replacement for over $1-million cheaper, would still give the team some flexibility to bring in the centreman they’ve been targeting all offseason.

What do you think Canucks fans? Is it worth pursuing a trade for a player like Chinakhov? Or should the team use their remaining cap space solely on a centreman?