Is there a world where a Nick Robertson for Yegor Chinakhov swap could work?

Nick Robertson has been an ‘almost’ trade candidate for the Toronto Maple Leafs for a couple of years now. It’s a frustrating situation for all parties, because when you watch Robertson play, his skillset is something the Leafs desperately need. A young, affordable, homegrown goal-scorer is the type of thing that keeps contenders going, especially after said contender loses a star offensive player.

Despite this, Robertson hasn’t been able to show the consistency the team needs to consider him a part of their future. This is his third season in a row where the Maple Leafs are giving him an extended leash to stick on the roster, and while 14 goals in 56 games two years ago and 15 goals in 69 games last season isn’t anything to turn your back on, the issue has long been scoring those goals consistently instead of scoring in bunches and then going without a tally for a while. It hasn’t come any easier for Robertson in 2025-26, with one goal and two points in eight games so far. On top of this, he now has to compete with top prospect Easton Cowan, who projects to be ahead of him on the depth chart from a long term perspective even if he’s not a full time Leaf this season.

Meanwhile, on the other side of Lake Erie, the Columbus Blue Jackets are having a similar predicament with a rookie of theirs. 2020 first-round pick Yegor Chinakhov has displayed goal-scoring prowess at the NHL level, but like Robertson, he hasn’t strung enough of it together to earn the full trust of his head coach. Two years ago, he scored 16 goals en route to 29 points in 53 games. Last season, he only appeared in 30 games, but impressed in a small sample size with seven goals and 15 points in 30 games. To start the 2025-26 season, Chinakhov has two points in five games and has been scratched a couple of times.

Both players in question here have requested trades from their respective teams. Robertson did it prior to last season before rescinding it after the Maple Leafs essentially denied his request, and Chinakhov did it this summer after his agent revealed that he had minimal communication with Blue Jackets head coach Dean Evason regarding his playing time. The Leafs reportedly offered Robertson straight up for Chinakhov this summer, but the Blue Jackets denied the offer according to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman. This begs the question, is there a world where a swap of these two players could make sense, even after Columbus initially rejected the idea over the summer?

There’s two different ways to look at this. On one hand, if the Leafs were to pull this off, you could argue that they would just be replacing one problem with a similar, slightly more expensive problem. Like Robertson, Chinakhov is a gifted goal scorer but struggles with consistency and occasionally with play in his own zone. Pair this with the fact that Columbus wasn’t interested in a one-for-one swap, and if that stance hasn’t changed, the Leafs would have to add more than just Robertson. Columbus wants an NHL-ready player in return, and regardless of what your thoughts on Robertson are, he is an NHL player. You can’t be a 15-goal scorer and not be an NHLer. It may just be that Columbus feels that a one-for-one with Chinakhov and Robertson is a slight downgrade for them, in which case they would prefer to just keep the former.

On the other hand, there’s a legitimate argument to be made that both players just desperately need a change of scenery. You can tell that there’s frustration from both teams involving their respective players, not because they don’t want them in the lineup, but because they know that the potential is there. But how long can you hinge on potential before it eventually just becomes a lost cause? I would make the argument that Chinakhov has a higher ceiling than Robertson and could contribute more to the Maple Leafs, and for the latter, you could make that same argument from Columbus’ side.

Sometimes a fresh start carries a lot more weight than it may seem in the moment, and while Chinakhov wouldn’t (and shouldn’t) be the only upgrade the Leafs make up front, if they can get a rejuvenated player to add some secondary scoring to their lineup, it could be a helpful short term fix as the post-Marner era of the Leafs comes to fruition. The Leafs should tread water here, but it’s worth checking in to see if there’s some life to the possibility of a swap between these two, and if both teams get a motivated version of the player they acquire, it could be a sneaky beneficial move for both parties.