More often than not, it seems like Chinakhov gets the job done. The 22-year-old Russian has scored nine goals in the last 17 games, many of them with a release that most goalies simply don’t have a chance against if he puts it where he wants to.
Chinakhov’s wrist shot routinely checks in around 92 to 93 miles per hour, as hard as most NHL players’ slap shots. His hardest slapper of 98.05 mph this year – which he registered on a goal against St. Louis – is the eighth best among NHL forwards this year according to NHL EDGE data, and his 13 shots of 90 mph or more ranks sixth among NHL forwards.
Simply put, it’s an elite shot being used by a player who is coming into his own. Chinakhov has added six assists in the last 17 games to give him 15 points in that span, giving the forward a 10-7-17 line 28 games this season. The Jackets knew he possessed elite skills when – surprisingly, to some, as many likely remember – he was chosen in the first round of the 2020 of the draft, but now with three seasons of NHL experience under his belt, Chinakhov is putting the tools together.
He appears to be a more confident player on the ice, but he’s also as humble as ever when asked if his production is leading to increased self-belief.
“Yeah, for sure, but I don’t know,” he said. “I just try to every game play in the team system. If I score, that’s good. If somebody scores, that’s good, too. I don’t care.”
But, as he admits, “When you score goals, you feel better every time.”
This year’s showing is a natural improvement in production from Chinakhov’s first two years, as he came over at the young age of 20 after being named the top rookie in the Kontinental Hockey League as a key contributor on an Avangard Omsk team that won the Gagarin Cup championship.
Learning the NHL game as a rookie and making the adjustment to North America both on the ice and off of it, Chinakhov had seven goals and seven assists in 62 games, but you could start to see his game coming last year when he had a 4-9-13 line in 30 games before his season ended with a high-ankle sprain when a Dallas player fell on his leg.
Chinakhov clearly had a monster offseason of training, coming back in excellent shape, but his start to the year was derailed by another injury. He missed the first 11 games of the season, but since coming back, he’s shown that he now belongs as a high-level player in the NHL.
“He's still a young player, right?” head coach Pascal Vincent said. “But it takes time. This is the best league in the world and you're facing the best players in the world, the best goalies, the best defensemen. So, it takes some time, and even though he missed a full year basically, or a lot of time last year, he's still a young player. This year, he feels more comfortable. He knows about the league. He's used to living in North America and in the United States. There's a lot of components to it.”
"He's more comfortable, he's more confident, and then you can see the skilled players like him, when they take it seriously like he does that it pays dividends.”
While Chinakhov is blessed – and has worked on – one of the league’s best shots, he brings plenty of other skills to the table. He’s an elite skater who sometimes looks like he’s playing with the speed burst button down, as his top speed (23.28 mph) and total of 20 mph+ speed bursts (111) are both among the top four percent of NHL forwards.
Add in his sturdy 6-1, 204-pound frame and he’s a coach’s dream as far as the physical tools go, and he also thinks the game well and is committed on the defensive end.
“He’s a powerful man,” Vincent said. “Yes, he can shoot the puck, but he’s two things. He’s a powerful skater; he’s strong on the puck. But his biggest quality, and we saw it from the first year, is his hockey sense. His brain is a computer. He reads really fast, and he’s way more reliable defensively than people think.
“And because of that, he’s creating chances, and now he’s got more confidence.”
The sky appears to be the limit, as Chinakhov’s development has reached a new level this season. And with plenty of room to continue growing, it’ll be fun to see what’s next.
“He's developing into a real good player, and we can see the confidence growing,” Vincent said. “But again, the work that's been done is coming from him, his training in the gym, his practice habits, which are just getting better and better. So he’s trending in the right direction.”
