Blue Jackets Hire New Strength & Conditioning Coach
- According to Aaron Portzline of The Athletic, the Columbus Blue Jackets have hired Barry Brennan as their new strength and conditioning coach. Brennan had previously served as the Blue Jackets’ conditioning coach from 2005 to 2010, before serving in the same role with the Atlanta Thrashers for the 2010-11 season, before becoming a team consultant for the KHL’s CSKA Moskva. He’ll replace now-former strength and conditioning coach Kevin Collins, who had been serving in the role since Brennan’s departure ahead of the 2010-11 season.
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East Notes: Robertson, Biondi, Gardner
Even if the Maple Leafs don’t plan on keeping winger Nicholas Robertson around long-term, they should do their best to settle with the restricted free agent before his arbitration hearing on Sunday, David Alter of The Hockey News opines.
He cites a recent example in Toronto, goaltender Ilya Samsonov, who had a one-year, $3.55MM deal handed down through arbitration for the 2023-24 season. Any trade value he had was tanked by his poor performance that year – something Samsonov admitted was influenced in part by the stress of the hearing – and he ended up on waivers and later left in free agency.
Players seeing their performance and confidence dip after an arbitration hearing isn’t a new phenomenon, and it’s something players are being more public about in the last few years. Hearing reasons laid out by your team for why you should be paid less than market value is an understandably unsettling experience. For the high-ceiling Robertson, who’s already had his development and confidence stunted by long strings of healthy scratches and limited deployment that led to a trade request last year, that’s not something Toronto can afford to saddle him with to continue getting positive value out of him, whether that’s via trade or with his on-ice play.
More news and notes out of the Eastern Conference:
- After going unsigned by the Canadiens, who drafted him in the fourth round in 2020, forward Blake Biondi will begin his pro career in the Hurricanes organization this season on a contract with the AHL’s Chicago Wolves. The 23-year-old recently spoke to NHL.com’s Kurt Dusterberg about the significant injury-related and personal adversity he faced during his five-year run in college with the University of Minnesota-Duluth and Notre Dame, but called the opportunity with the Wolves “a great path for me” to continue his development toward landing an NHL contract. The former Minnesota high school star scored 12 goals and 27 points in 38 games last season for Notre Dame.
- While Canada’s NHL goaltending stable has been relatively weak in the past few years, Blue Jackets prospect Evan Gardner is a name to watch in the next wave of prospects hoping to change that, writes Scott Wheeler of The Athletic. The 2024 second-rounder has put up a pair of spectacular seasons in junior hockey for the WHL’s Saskatoon Blades, leading the league in GAA and SV% in his draft year and posting totals of 2.46 and .917, respectively, in 74 career games for the Blades with seven shutouts. While he hasn’t logged any international experience for Canada, he’s on their roster for this week’s World Junior Summer Showcase and is looking to work his way onto their roster for the main WJC in the winter.
Market For Chinakhov Should Be Strong Enough To Net Blue Jackets An NHL-Proven Player
- For the second straight summer, the Blue Jackets are dealing with a public trade request. While there wasn’t much of a market for Patrik Laine a year ago, Brian Hedger of the Columbus Dispatch opines that this shouldn’t be the case this time around when it comes to winger Yegor Chinakhov, who made his request public last week. With Chinakhov making a much more affordable $2.1MM (compared to Laine’s $8.7MM) and being on the final year of his contract, he should have a decent market, one that should allow Columbus to land an NHL-proven piece coming the other way.
Chinakhov, Blue Jackets Have History Of Friction
While Blue Jackets winger Yegor Chinakhov only recently formally requested a trade, tensions between him and the organization have been building for some time, reports The Athletic’s Aaron Portzline.
As Portzline outlines, discontent between Chinakhov and Columbus has been evident for years, noting that early in the 2023-24 season, Babaev told The Columbus Dispatch that Chinakhov, “doesn’t feel the (Blue Jackets) trust him, and he wants to leave.” Then last season, Chinakhov struggled with a back injury and later told reporters that he and the team disagreed on the best course of treatment. This ultimately led to Chinakhov traveling to Russia during the 4 Nations Face-Off break to have a procedure that wasn’t an approved treatment in North America, Portzline reports. And while Chinakhov averaged a career-high 15:43 of ice time per game last season, he became a frequent healthy scratch at the tail end of the campaign, sitting out 12 of the Jackets’ final 13 games.
Portzline adds that the Blue Jackets expect Chinakhov to report to training camp if a trade does not materialize, and Chinakhov has stated he expects to honor his contract, which comes with a $2.1MM AAV. Given Chinakhov’s stated desire for top-six minutes and the Blue Jackets’ need for scoring, Portzline notes the irony in the two sides being unable to find common ground.
Blue Jackets’ Yegor Chinakhov Requests Trade
Blue Jackets winger Yegor Chinakhov has requested a trade out of Columbus, his agent, Shumi Babaev, relayed Thursday in an X post. General manager Don Waddell told Aaron Portzline of The Athletic that he’s aware of the request and has already begun trade talks.
“I had some misunderstandings with the coach during the season,” Chinakhov said. “Now I would be glad to have a trade. I would like to move to a different location. Will I return to Russia? As long as I can play in the NHL, I will keep developing here.”
Waddell told Portzline that he’ll only move Chinakhov if he sees fair value in a trade; he won’t dump the young winger for a minimal return just because he wants out. If that offer doesn’t materialize by training camp, Waddell still expects Chinakhov to report to the club but will presumably continue trying to find a new home for him.
It’s not particularly clear what those misunderstandings with head coach Dean Evason were, but his usage down the stretch likely has a lot to do with it. Chinakhov averaged a career-high 15:43 of ice time per game last season but became a frequent healthy scratch at the tail end of the campaign, sitting out 12 of the Jackets’ final 13 games.
That, combined with missing three months due to back problems, limited the 24-year-old to 30 appearances. He scored seven goals and eight assists for 15 points, seeing his points per game output drop from 0.55 in 2023-24 to 0.50 last year.
Injuries have been a consistent factor for Chinakhov since making the jump to North America, stunting the 2020 surprise first-round selection’s development. He’s still put up respectable averages of 16 goals and 33 points per 82 games in his four NHL seasons, including a 44-point pace over the last two years.
He’s certainly an everyday NHL player. Still, with his production pace topping off at that level at this point in his development, combined with his injury history, things don’t bode well for the Jackets to recoup the first-round value they invested in Chinakhov five years ago in a trade.
They should still be able to command a decent return, whether that’s a package of mid-value picks and prospects or a player-for-player swap to take a change of scenery candidate back the other way. If the latter ends up being the route Waddell pursues, the Maple Leafs and Blackhawks could be speculative partners with young forwards Nicholas Robertson and Lukas Reichel available.
Image courtesy of Jeff Curry-Imagn Images.
Blue Jackets Sign Dysin Mayo To Two-Way Contract
The Blue Jackets have signed free agent defenseman Dysin Mayo to a two-way contract, per a team press release. He’ll earn a $775K NHL salary and a $250K AHL salary with a $350K guarantee, according to PuckPedia.
The 28-year-old righty was initially a fifth-round pick by the Coyotes back in 2014. Mayo remained in the Arizona organization until just a couple of years ago, making his NHL debut and playing 67 games in the 2021-22 season after a lengthy pro career spent exclusively in the minors. He was traded to the Golden Knights in the 2022-23 season and has remained in the organization since, playing solely for the AHL’s Henderson Silver Knights since his acquisition.
While he was a solely stay-at-home threat earlier in his career, Mayo has produced more offense in Henderson than he did with the Coyotes’ former affiliate, the Tucson Roadrunners. He’s posted 25 and 19 points respectively in his two full seasons in Henderson, each the highest and second-highest point totals in a single season in his professional career.
Most of Mayo’s NHL appearances occurred during the 2021-22 campaign; he added only 15 appearances the following season for Arizona before dropping off the radar. He has 97 points and 344 PIMs in 426 AHL games, including an 8-11–19 scoring line in 58 games for Henderson last year with a minus-five rating.
Mayo will now provide some veteran defensive depth for Columbus’ affiliate, the Cleveland Monsters, while providing an injury replacement call-up option with some NHL experience.
Samuel Kňažko Signs In Czechia
The Columbus Blue Jackets are losing one of their organizational depth defenseman for the time being. According to a team announcement, defenseman Samuel Kňažko has signed a multi-year contract with HC Vítkovice of the Czech Extraliga.
Kňažko wasn’t the most well-known defensive prospect in the Blue Jackets system. The 22-year-old blue liner was selected with the 78th overall pick of the 2020 NHL Draft by Columbus, coming from TPS’s U20 SM-liiga program. He never displayed higher-level offensive talent, but he proved to be an efficient puck mover and more than capable in the defensive zone.
He came to North America for the 2021-22 season after transferring to the WHL’s Seattle Thunderbirds. Kňažko scored five goals and 20 points in 27 games with a +14 rating, with one goal and six points in 26 postseason contests. He even suited up in seven games for Team Slovakia during the 2022 Olympic Games in Beijing, helping Slovakia to a bronze medal.
Unfortunately, since he started playing in the Blue Jackets organization with their AHL affiliate, the Cleveland Monsters, his development has stagnated. Since the beginning of the 2022-23 AHL season, Kňažko has scored seven goals and 49 points in 149 regular-season contests with a -27 rating, and three assists in five Calder Cup playoff matchups. He only played in two games for Columbus over that stretch, going scoreless.
Carrying a bevy of defensemen in their pipeline and on their NHL roster, the Blue Jackets likely didn’t prioritize retaining Kňažko this offseason. He’ll join a Vítkovice team that finished 12th in the Extraliga during the 2024-25 season and was quickly eliminated in the wild-card round of the postseason.
Blue Jackets Still Looking For Goalie Depth
- The Blue Jackets’ only move goalie-wise this summer was moving out Daniil Tarasov who is now the backup in Florida, leaving incumbents Elvis Merzlikins and Jet Greaves as the presumed tandem. However, Aaron Portzline of The Athletic reports (subscription link) that Columbus is still looking to add a goalie. Their desired target is someone with some AHL experience but who can hold his own in the NHL if need be. Ideally, that would be a younger player but GM Don Waddell acknowledged that teams don’t want to give those ones up in a trade. A waiver claim might wind up being the outcome and while that would mean carrying three goalies, the Blue Jackets are prepared to do so if need be next season.
Blue Jackets Reportedly Nearing ELCs With To Prospects
- An impressive development camp may have led to a pair of entry-level contracts for the Columbus Blue Jackets. Although the team hasn’t confirmed the news, Mark Scheig of The Hockey Writers reported earlier that the Blue Jackets are working on an entry-level contract with defenseman Will Bishop and forward Nicholas Sima. Columbus drafted neither player, as they were invited to the team’s development camp from the OHL.
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Blue Jackets’ Pyotr Andreyanov Signs Five-Year Deal In Russia
Columbus Blue Jackets goalie prospect Pyotr Andreyanov has signed a five-year deal with CSKA of Russia’s KHL, per Aaron Portzline of The Athletic. The deal will carry Andreyanov through his age-23 season in Russia’s top flight. Andreyanov was recently selected 20th overall in the 2025 NHL Draft. Notably, the deal includes an NHL release clause after the fourth season, according to Mark Scheig of The Hockey Writers.
This move may come as a shock to many after Columbus selected Andreyanov about 20 spots earlier than many predicted. But sources available to ProHockeyRumors have indicated that the netminder’s plan to sign long-term in Russia was arranged before the draft took place, and comes with a clear intention to move to North America when the deal concludes. That’s excellent news for the Blue Jackets, who land another Russian phenom with this selection.
Andreyanov is lauded as one of Russia’s best goalies in recent memory. He posted a dazzling 23-6-6 record and .942 save percentage through 37 games in the MHL – Russia’s U21 league – this season. That performance gave mere decimals away from breaking the league’s save percentage record among draft-age goalies. That mark is currently held by New York’s Igor Shesterkin (.947).
Andreyanov earned that flashy season on the back of impressive athleticism. He was regarded by many as both the fastest and most controlled goaltender in the class, with an exceptional ability to track the puck and stay locked in between movements. He doesn’t get bogged down by traffic and shows the sly-grin determination to stop every chance that comes his way. Andreyanov is an exceptional goalie talent in many regards – and while his sharp and explosive movements can sometimes land him outside of his crease, there’s a shortlist of other Russians who would place above the CSKA Red Army netminder.
Columbus will add Andreyanov to an already stacked pipeline of goalie prospects. He’ll join compatriot Sergei Ivanov – a 2023 fifth-round pick – at the top of the Blue Jackets’ list. Ivanov posted a .911 save percentage with HK Sochi – often a bottom-ranked club in the KHL – this season. He had a much better save percentage of .943 in 38 KHL games last year. With Andreyanov and Ivanov in the system, the Blue Jackets could soon be relieved of their goalie concerns, once they convince top Russians to come overseas.