{"id":203589,"date":"2025-10-05T16:28:07","date_gmt":"2025-10-05T16:28:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/203589\/"},"modified":"2025-10-05T16:28:07","modified_gmt":"2025-10-05T16:28:07","slug":"metro-notes-chinakhov-capitals-brunicke-kindel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/203589\/","title":{"rendered":"Metro Notes: Chinakhov, Capitals, Brunicke, Kindel"},"content":{"rendered":"

Yegor Chinakhov<\/a> was vocal in his disapproval<\/a> of head coach Dean Evason\u2019s deployment of him earlier this preseason, and now it appears Chinakhov\u2019s disapproval has extended to the player\u2019s off-ice situation. According to The Athletic\u2019s Aaron Portzline<\/a>, Chinakhov has fired his longtime agent, Shumi Babaev and hired Rick Komarow of Maverick Sports Management. Portzline noted that Komarow is the agent of Chinakhov\u2019s teammate and fellow Russian Dmitry Voronkov, and also represents four other Russians on NHL contracts: Pavel Dorofeyev<\/a>, Danila Yurov<\/a>, Sergei Murashov<\/a>, and Nikita Novikov<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Whether this change in representation will include a retraction of Chinakhov\u2019s offseason trade request is unclear, though the core reasoning behind the trade request (Chinakhov\u2019s lack of ice time under coach Evason) has not changed. Per Portzline, Chinakhov spent most of the last week of practice \u201cskating as the extra forward\u201d and therefore appears to be unlikely to have a lineup spot for the team\u2019s season-opening game against the Nashville Predators. The 2020 first-round pick scored a career-high 16 goals and 29 points in 53 games under former coach Pascal Vincent in 2023-24, but saw his ice time decline under Evason. It\u2019s worth noting that the Blue Jackets\u2019 fortunes as a team have improved markedly since Evason\u2019s hire, meaning there is unlikely to be much organizational pressure for Evason\u2019s apparent stance on the player to change, making an eventual trade appear to be, at this point, potentially the most suitable outcome for all parties involved. It remains to be seen whether Chinakhov\u2019s swap in representation changes things.<\/p>\n

More notes from the Metropolitan Division:<\/p>\n

The Washington Capitals defensemen Matt Roy<\/a> and Dylan McIlrath<\/a> suffered injuries, head coach Spencer Carbery said yesterday. (via NHL.com\u2019s Tom Gulitti<\/a>) According to Carbery, the pair of blueliners is not believed to have suffered \u201csuper significant\u201d or long-term injuries, though their ailments (upper-body for Roy, lower-body for McIlrath) could keep them out for a week or two. The two players are still being evaluated, but should they end up missing a week or two of the season, Washington would need to find a player to fill Roy\u2019s second-pairing slot in the meantime \u2013 25-year-old Declan Chisholm<\/a>, who has some experience playing the right side, appears the likeliest candidate.
\nThe Athletic\u2019s Josh Yohe wrote yesterday<\/a> that the Pittsburgh Penguins\u2019 bevy of roster moves<\/a> indicates that teenagers Benjamin Kindel<\/a> and Harrison Brunicke<\/a> are set to make the team\u2019s season-opening NHL roster. While a potential waiver claim could change things, it does appear as things stand that the pair of top Penguins prospects will make their NHL debuts on Tuesday night in Madison Square Garden against the New York Rangers. As Brunicke\u2019s brilliance this preseason has been covered extensively<\/a>, the bigger surprise is Kindel, the team\u2019s top pick from the 2025 draft. It now appears as though the Penguins will get the chance to see how Kindel\u2019s game holds up against the physicality of NHL regular-season competition, though it remains unlikely he\u2019ll remain on the team\u2019s roster for the full season. A handful of games before being reassigned to the WHL\u2019s Calgary Hitmen remains the likeliest outcome here, which would still, of course, be a valuable and positive step in Kindel\u2019s development.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Yegor Chinakhov was vocal in his disapproval of head coach Dean Evason\u2019s deployment of him earlier this preseason,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":203590,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[86183,117172,392,117173,34105,117174,385,1790,99,1791,21650],"class_list":{"0":"post-203589","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-benjamin-kindel","9":"tag-charlie-lindgren","10":"tag-columbus-blue-jackets","11":"tag-dylan-mcilrath","12":"tag-harrison-brunicke","13":"tag-matt-roy","14":"tag-nhl","15":"tag-pittsburgh-penguins","16":"tag-sports","17":"tag-washington-capitals","18":"tag-yegor-chinakhov"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/203589","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=203589"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/203589\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/203590"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=203589"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=203589"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=203589"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}