On Monday, the Pittsburgh Penguins made a somewhat unexpected move when they sent forward Danton Heinen, a 2026 second-round pick, and a 2027 third-round pick to the Columbus Blue Jackets in exchange for forward Yegor Chinakhov.
Chinakhov, 24, requested a trade out of Columbus over the summer, which forced their hand a bit. And after the 6-foot-1, 203-pound winger posted just three goals and six points in his first 29 games this season, it seemed unlikely that the Blue Jackets were going to get first-round value out of a player that - despite a lot of scoring upside - had not yet put it all together at the NHL level and has an extensive injury history. His best season came in 2023-24, when he had 16 goals and 29 points in 53 games.
So, on the surface, it may seem like the Penguins gave up a bit much in hopes that a disgruntled, unproven former first-round pick (21st overall in 2020) could kick it into another gear and be an impact player for them at the NHL level. Chinakhov may still be young, but his injury history is a bit concerning - in his first four NHL seasons, he played in 175 games and was on the shelf for 109 games - and he has been inconsistent.
But, that doesn't mean that the risk wasn't worth taking and that the cost will not outweigh the benefit.
When a team is in a position like the Penguins are with overflowing draft capital, this is the kind of chance move said team can afford to make. Prior to the Chinakhov trade, the Penguins had 17 picks within the first three rounds of the next three NHL drafts, including three second-round picks in 2026. After the trade, they only have 15 and two, respectively, but those 15 are still more than any other team in hockey over that time. They have two selections in the second and third rounds each of the three years at this point.
And it's not as if the Penguins are taking the same chance as they did on, say, Philip Tomasino, last season. Yes, Tomasino was in a similar boat age-wise and draft-wise - he was also a former first-round pick (24th overall by the Nashville Predators in 2019) - but Chinakhov has higher pedigree and what seems to be a much more translatable NHL toolset.
BREAKING: Penguins Acquire Chinakhov From Blue Jackets For Heinen, Two Draft PicksThe Pittsburgh Penguins have acquired Yegor Chinakhov from the Columbus Blue Jackets. At the end of the day, Chinakhov is a sniper, and he - at times - looked like Columbus's best player. When he was put into that role during his time in Columbus - prior to this season - he performed relatively well, as that 2023-24 season saw him get top-six minutes. He was also playing pretty well in that position during the 2024-25 season despite a back injury that ended up knocking him out for the rest of the season, registering seven goals and 15 points in the 30 games he played.
That injury is part of what, ultimately, led to his trade request, as he got surgery on his back in Russia despite Columbus's medical staff not approving the procedure. That entire situation - as well as an apparent rift between him and head coach Dean Evason - soured Chinakhov to the Blue Jackets, and the result for the 2025-26 season was a string of healthy scratches and inconsistent lineup deployment.
But if he can use his goal-scoring skillset as well as his speed to his advantage in Pittsburgh, that - combined with sensical deployment - may just bring out the goal-scorer in Chinakhov that the Blue Jackets always thought they were getting.
Make no mistake: This is something that had been in the works for a while for Kyle Dubas and the Penguins. Chinakhov was on their radar, and they felt it was the right time to strike a deal. And it's also the first glimpse into what could be a pretty interesting series of events for the Penguins' organization to move on to the execution phase of their rebuild into the summer of 2026.
Penguins Hit Home Run With This Great MoveThe Penguins' decision to sign this forward just keeps getting better. "No hesitation," Dubas said about the trade. "We have a lot of draft picks and we need to use them to procure high-potential young players."
And that, perhaps, was the most interesting bit to come out of all of this.
This is, really, the first time since the Jake Guentzel trade - aside from the prospect swap of Rutger McGroarty and Brayden Yager - that Dubas and the organization have "bought" on a player. Yes, they've made little deals here and there, but they've either been low-risk, late-round pick returns, swaps, or deals where they're taking on contracts and salary in return.
The Penguins spending assets that they took the time to collect is a sign that they're beginning to slowly but surely transition into that "execution" phase of the rebuild that Dubas has alluded to in the past. They have built out a pretty good prospect pool in the two-plus years that Dubas has been in Pittsburgh, they have their first-round pick in the next three drafts and could get more depending on how the Penguins manage the trade market, and they project to have $54.2 million in cap space this summer to splurge if they want to.
"Using draft picks to procure high-potential young players" could mean a few things. Yes, they can acquire that talent by drafting it, which seems to be a safe bet for, at least, the first-round picks. But the Chinakhov deal shows that they are, indeed, willing to leverage some of these assets to address areas of need and grab young talent that can help them in both the immediacy and the long-term. It could also be a precursor to another move where the Penguins recoup those lost assets - or, perhaps, get even more - by trading off a bigger name like Rickard Rakell, Bryan Rust, or Erik Karlsson, as long as they feel they have the necessary talent to fill those holes.
NHL Rumors: 3 Penguins Featured On New Trade BoardThese three Penguins have made a new trade board. And the more Chinakhov-type players they can land, the better chance they have of offsetting the losses of some of their bigger players that can still fetch a good return. That's - textbook - how you manage a quick-turnaround rebuild while simultaneously building for the future. You attempt to replace veterans with cheaper, younger talent, and you use the capital acquired from moving the veterans to either draft more talent or leverage in a trade for a bigger name that they can extend long-term.
When it boils down to it, Dubas made a potentially high-reward trade that he was able to make in the first place because of all the draft capital he has worked tirelessly to accrue. Whether the Penguins tank the rest of the season or find themselves in the playoffs at the end of it, the long-term future of the franchise is not going to be in jeopardy over a chance taken on a talented player in need of a change.
And - if Chinakhov plays to his potential - this won't even be a conversation down the line.
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