When the Pittsburgh Penguins acquired Egor Chinakhov from their divisional rivals, the Columbus Blue Jackets, right before the New Year, it was a move that could’ve easily flown somewhat under the radar. Chinakhov, an underperforming former late first-round pick, was traded for Danton Heinen and draft picks. At the time, it didn’t seem like an Earth-shattering deal by any means. Now, it seems like the Penguins made out like bandits.
Although we’re just two games into the 2026-27 season, Chinakhov, a 25 year old out of Omsk, Russia, is picking up right where he left off last season. As a result, he’s becoming a very valuable part of Pittsburgh’s forward group.
Impressive Out of the Gate
Last season, Chinakhov was unhappy in Columbus and his performance showed it early in the campaign. He had three goals and three assists in 29 games before being moved to the Steel City. From there, Chinakhov hit a level that he’d never before shown in the NHL. He set new career highs in goals (18), assists (18), and points (36) in 43 games with the Penguins, not even including his statistics in Columbus from before the trade.
Once you do factor those numbers in, he hit the 20-goal plateau for the first time in his career and surpassed 40 points for the first time as well.
Chinakhov has been an entirely different player since joining the Penguins. He’s been much more productive and his efficiency as a whole has been much higher.
A New Season
Although the Penguins have only played two games to this point in the 2026-27 season, Chinakhov has continued to impress. He’s currently playing on Pittsburgh’s second line alongside franchise legend Evgeni Malkin and Tommy Novak. The trio have combined for 10 points, although only two have been credited to Chinakhov. He scored in the Penguins’ season opener, when they trounced their archrival, the Philadelphia Flyers, 7-0.
Then, Chinakhov added his first assist of the season in Pittsburgh’s 6-5 overtime win over the Montreal Canadiens. In the second period, Tommy Novak scored with Chinakhov picking up the primary assist while Malkin got the secondary assist. He nearly scored a goal against the Canadiens as well, but the play was called back after a controversial offside ruling.
Importantly, we’ll now get the opportunity to see what Chinakhov can do in a full season wearing black and gold. He’s already been rewarded for his performance last season as well. The Russian winger signed a three-year contract extension to stay in Pittsburgh for the foreseeable future over the summer. His new contract is worth $18.75 million and carries an average annual value of $6.25 million according to PuckPedia, which could quickly become one of the NHL’s best value deals if he’s able to keep up his current pace.
While it seems unlikely that Chinakhov remains at a point-per-game pace across a full 84-game season, he could easily surpass the 30-goal mark for the first time in his career this season and possibly even eclipse 60 points. The winger has already impressed Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, now he just needs to show that he can perform at a high level consistently.
Pittsburgh Penguins’ Egor Chinakhov Continuing to Impress