It’s late March, and the Blue Jackets are falling out of the playoff picture. After the high of the Stadium Series win, the Jackets lost eight of the past nine games, including a stretch with just one goal in four games. Something needs to change. The coaching staff decides that that something is Yegor Chinakhov.
After missing 39 games due to injury and barely missing that Stadium Series game, Yegor Chinakhov’s first game back was the start of that horrible eight-in-nine stretch, and it took eight games for him to get his first assist. He was scratched for most of the rest of the season. This is what Jackets fans remember from his season. What they forget is that, for his first 21 games, he was great!
2024-25 Stats
Games: 30
Goals: 7
Assists: 8
Points: 15
Plus/Minus: -6
PIM: 4
5v5 Corsi %: 57.2%
5v5 Fenwick %: 56.3%
5v5 O-Zone Start %: 67.0%
Contract
Last off-season, Chinakhov signed a two-year contract with a $2.1M AAV. As such, he has one more year left. He’ll be an RFA with arbitration rights next off-season.
High Point
This is the part of Chinakhov’s season it seems Jackets fans have forgotten. In the 21 games before his injury, he recorded seven goals and seven assists, was +2 playing 17 minutes a night, and had two stretches with three goals in four games. The longest stretch without a point was three games. Yegor Chinakhov was a legitimate force for the first quarter of the season, and was one of the main reasons the Jackets kept their head above water enough to make a run for the playoffs in December and January. The peak, though, was the second game, with Chinny assisting on two goals in addition to netting the eventual game winner.
Low Point
I have sources saying that missing 39 games, going scoreless in your next eight games, and then being scratched the rest of the season is… bad.
Report Card
I really don’t know what the call is here. On one hand, that opening stretch is definitely an A. A goal every three games and 0.67 points per game is fantastic for a 24-year-old getting paid two million a year. On the other hand, those last nine games, with a grand total of one assist, minus-8, playing under 13 minutes a night on average is literally unplayable. That has to be an F or D. On the whole? Let’s go with B- since the advanced stats were pretty decent.