World News – FI – Surprising everyone, the Columbus Blue Jackets used their first pick on Yegor Chinakhov

« I don’t know who Yegor Chinakhov is »

These are the tweets tonight from The Hockey News hopeful guru Ryan Kennedy and The Athletic’s Sean Shapiro

GM Jarmo Kekalainen and the Columbus Blue Jackets surprised everyone but themselves in the first round of the 2020 NHL Draft on Tuesday, selecting Chinakhov with the 21st pick overall

« We have our recruiters for a reason and that’s what we believe in, and their list is the most important thing » – Jarmo Kekalainen

“We have our scouts for a reason and that’s what we believe in,” Kekelainen said. “Chinakhov has very high skills”

While hardly anyone expected his name to be called out in the first round (or even the second round, for some), the Blue Jackets scouting team saw enough potential in elderly Russian-born Omsk. 19-year-old to place him in the top 10 of their Editorial Board

« He can see the ice, make plays Has good individual play and a great shot He has a lot of different qualities that we think will carry over to the North American game and the NHL, » Kekalainen said.

Newly named KHL Rookie of the Month for September, Chinakhov has maintained a good level of play In just a dozen games this season with Avangard Omsk, the 6’0  », 180lb winger has collected five goals and a pair of passes

For Kekalainen and the Jackets scouting team, it was confirmation that Chinakov, who was on the Blue Jackets’ radar in last year’s draft, was continuing to develop his game.

“When you draft the 18-year-olds most of the time the offseason makes a big difference,” said Kekalainen “We continued to see him better so that we could be more and more convinced of his abilities and his projection »

Prior to joining Avangard, Chinakhov scored 27 goals and 42 assists in 56 games with MHL’s Omskie Yasterby, averaging over a point per game.

(Chinakhov) tends to confuse opponents- Steve Kournianos, TheDraftAnalystcom

An elusive and astute skater to accompany an impressive shot, he quickly became a power-play threat for Yasterby last season Steve Kournianos of TheDraftAnalystcom writes that Chinakhov « tends to confuse opponents when he has the puck in the open ice. or in tight spaces, « adding that it » appears to perform stationary games such as back and forth »

Chinakhov won’t be in the Blue Jackets for the next two years, but that’s rarely the case for top 20 drafted players Everything indicates Chinakhov has an extremely high cap as an offensive threat in the NHL, and being given Kekalainen’s history of gemstone discovery, this has the potential to be one of his top picks to date

The 1st Ohio Battery is where Columbus Blue Jackets fans come together.As an independent site, we’re committed to providing Blue Jackets fans with the news and analysis they deserve, while being free

Yegor Chinakhov