Former Columbus Blue Jacket Egor Chinakhov - now with the Pittsburgh Penguins after requesting a trade - responded to the firing of his former coach Dean Evason, who he had a rift with during his time in Columbus.
It's safe to say that Egor Chinakhov's time with the Columbus Blue Jackets came to an ending that neither party wanted to reach.
After requesting a trade during the offseason, the 24-year-old winger was finally dealt to the Pittsburgh Penguins on Dec. 29. There were a lot of rumors surrounding Chinakhov's desire to start fresh elsewhere, many of which were linked to an apparent rift with former head coach Dean Evason.
Well, Evason was fired by the Blue Jackets on Jan. 12 and replaced by Rick Bowness, and Chinakhov was asked Saturday in Pittsburgh if he was surprised to hear the news.
"I don't know," Chinakhov said. "I just saw the news, and I texted the guys and how they think about it. And, I mean, I'm not surprised."
Rumors about the strained relationship between Chinakhov and Evason came to a head on Jul. 17, when the trade request was officially initiated publicly by Chinakhov and his agent, Shumi Babaev. Babaev's agency shared Chinakhov's request on social media.
"I had some misunderstandings with the coach during the season. 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," Chinakhov said via the agency's X post.
And the Blue Jackets, suffice to say, were not very happy about how the situation was handled publicly by Chinakhov or Babaev.
“I’m surprised his agent went public,” Columbus Blue Jackets general manager Don Waddell told Aaron Portzline of The Athletic. “But I’m not surprised about it because we’ve talked about it. He got back [from a back injury in 2024-25] and didn’t play well, and [Chinakhov and Evason] fell out of favour."
Waddell also added at the time: “When he came back, he was not the Chinakhov we were hoping he was, and he got healthy scratched at the end. That’s what happens with guys. He couldn’t handle that.”
Since being dealt to Pittsburgh for forward Danton Heinen, a 2026 second-round pick, and a 2027 third-round pick, the Omsk, Russia native has tallied three goals and four points in eight games, largely seeing time on the Penguins' second line with veteran star forward Evgeni Malkin.
And his new head coach has been complimentary of Chinakhov's work as a Penguin so far.
“I don’t think he gets enough credit for the way he works away from the puck," Penguins' head coach Dan Muse said. "He’s done a really good job there in terms of the tracking, the getting back. He’s got some detail to his game. You watch, and he’s changing at the right time, he’s driving wide, he’s drawing a number of penalties.
"So, I think the scoring’s obvious with him, but there’s some things that I’ve learned about him since he’s been here that, maybe, I didn’t know as much but really like.”
Chinakhov has 40 goals and 81 points in 212 career NHL games. His best season came with Columbus in 2023-24, when he registered 16 goals and 29 points in 53 games.
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