Penguins roster move revealed after acquiring Yegor Chinakov

General manager Kyle Dubas recently made a trade with the Columbus Blue Jackets and acquired 24-year-old forward Yegor Chinakov in exchange for forward Danton Heinen, a 2026 second-round pick and a 2027 third-round pick. Now with the Penguins forward core being logjammed, the corresponding roster move was revealed by Penguins reporter Seth Rorabaugh.

Defenseman Ryan Graves is set to go on waivers and be reassigned to the Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins as it is not likely that any team claims him with his hefty contract. This roster move makes sense as Graves had been healthy scratched for a few games now and he was not getting playing time.

It makes sense to send him back to Wilkes-Barre so he can get playing time rather than sitting in the press box in Pittsburgh just watching games and not playing. Graves played a few games for the Penguins this season on their bottom defensive pairing but was not that noticeable.

Not being that noticeable describes how Ryan Graves' Penguins tenure has gone. When he was signed as a free agent a few short seasons ago, it was not expected to go this poorly, as the Penguins have shuffled him from Pittsburgh to Wilkes-Barre several times since he has been on the team.

With Chinakov now being added to the main roster, a decision had to be made as to who was going to be sent down or come out of the lineup to make room for him. Most fans speculated that it was going to be young forward Ville Koivunen that was going to come out of the lineup.

But for right now, that does not seem to be the case as Graves is set to go back to Wilkes-Barre Scranton and Koivunen seems to be keeping his roster spot. It remains to be seen which line Chinakov is placed on when he makes his Penguins debut, but Dubas made the hard choice after the trade.