Blue Jackets trade Yegor Chinakhov to Penguins for Danton Heinen, picks
The Columbus Blue Jackets have traded forward Yegor Chinakhov to the Pittsburgh Penguins in exchange for forward Danton Heinen, a 2026 second-round pick, and a 2027 third-round pick, according to PuckPedia.
Chinakhov, 24, has three goals and six points in 29 games with the Blue Jackets to start the 2025-26 regular season. The Omsk, Russia product is under contract through the end of the current season at a $2.1 million NHL cap hit.
Heinen, 30, cleared waivers on Monday after recording one goal and two points in 13 games with the Penguins this season. The second- and third-round picks originally belonged to the St. Louis Blues and Washington Capitals, respectively.
After requesting a trade and changing agents over the summer, Chinakhov was scratched by the Blue Jackets for their 2025-26 season opener. The 6’1″ winger has skated in a career-low 10:18 of ice time per night with Columbus this year, taking 36 shots on goal in 29 games.
BREAKING: #CBJ trade Yegor Chinakhov to #LetsGoPens for Danton Heinen, a 2026 2nd round pick (STL), and a 2027 3rd round pick (WSH)
Chinakhov is headed to the Penguins.
The Blue Jackets are finalizing a trade involving Igor Chinakov. Columbus getting draft picks back.
The Blue Jackets originally picked Chinakhov in the first round (No. 21 overall) of the 2020 NHL Draft. It was an unexpected selection for many onlookers, given that Chinakhov was already four months away from turning 20 at the time, but he followed up the selection with an excellent year for KHL club Avangard Omsk, collecting 15 goals and 24 points in 53 games split between the regular season and playoffs.
After winning the Gagarin Cup with Avangard in 2020-21, Chinakhov made his debut with the Blue Jackets for the 2021-22 season. He had his strongest year in Columbus in 2023-24, collecting 16 goals and 29 points in 53 games with the club during the regular season.
In 204 career games over parts of five seasons with the Blue Jackets, Chinakhov has collected 37 goals and 77 points to go along with 42 penalty minutes and a minus-48 rating. He has not appeared in the Stanley Cup Playoffs during his career.
The Penguins currently sit one point outside the Eastern Conference playoff picture with a 16-12-9 record and 41 points through 37 games this season. The Blue Jackets are three points back of the Penguins in the same number of games played, which puts them in last place in the East.
More from Mike Gould
- Senators’ Linus Ullmark taking leave of absence for personal reasons
- Sharks’ Will Smith out week-to-week with upper-body injury
- Maple Leafs fire assistant coach Marc Savard
- Blackhawks’ Frank Nazar leaves game vs. Senators, will miss ‘approximately four weeks’
- The Seattle Kraken are running out of answers in another lost season