Kirill Marchenko has rapidly grow to be one of many Columbus Blue Jackets’ most useful property, and his value to the group continues to develop as time goes on.
Earlier than we dive into what Marchenko has grow to be although, it’s essential to look again at what he was once.
A Distinctive Begin
When Marchenko broke into the NHL in the course of the 2022-23 season, his stat line created a buzz round him. Even when a participant is touted as a “pure goal-scorer”, there’s typically not a serious discrepancy between their aim and help numbers in a big pattern dimension. It does occur sometimes, particularly in smaller pattern sizes.
There are just a few examples of the sort of imbalance to this point this season, Brayden Level of the Tampa Bay Lightning and Cole Caulfield of the Montreal Canadiens. Level at present has a stat line of 16 targets and 9 assists; it was 16 targets and 5 assists till a four-assist recreation towards the San Jose Sharks. In the meantime, Caufield’s is barely extra balanced, however not by a lot, at 16 targets and 7 assists. Probably the most excessive instance can be Chris Kreider of the New York Rangers, who has scored 10 instances but simply recorded his first help on Dec. 6. All three have performed 26 video games or much less, and given their historic performances they’ll discover a stability in some unspecified time in the future.
When a rookie breaks into the league in that style although, it makes waves otherwise. Throughout Marchenko’s rookie season, he scored 21 targets but solely recorded a complete of 4 assists in 59 video games. He rapidly confirmed his goal-scoring expertise, scoring his first NHL aim in his fourth recreation towards the Los Angeles Kings in a 6-5 Blue Jackets win.
Traditionally, there have been some gamers with an identical begin however the majority of them had been within the early days of the league. Joe Malone, in the course of the 1917-18 season, for instance, had 44 targets and 4 assists in 20 video games, nevertheless, the principles of the sport had been very totally different at that time, and consequently, it wasn’t overly unusual for help numbers to be low. Probably the most related season to Marchenko’s rookie season in latest reminiscence can be Denis Gurianov with the Dallas Stars throughout 2019-20 when he had 20 targets and 9 assists, however it nonetheless wasn’t as mind-blowing as Marchenko’s begin.
New-Discovered Parity
Issues modified a bit in Marchenko’s sophomore season. Whereas he was nonetheless extra outstanding as a goal-scorer, he allowed his playmaking means to shine by a bit. He reached the 20-goal plateau for the second time in a row, setting a career-high of 23. This time round although, he assisted on 19 targets as effectively.
To this point within the 2024-25 season, Marchenko has continued down that very same path. He’s nonetheless main the Blue Jackets in targets with 10, however he’s second on the staff in assists as effectively. Trailing solely Zach Werenski, the 24-year-old ahead at present has 15 helpers, narrowly placing him forward of Sean Monahan and Cole Sillinger who’ve 14 every.
Regardless of Marchenko’s elevated playmaking, he’s nonetheless taking pictures on the identical price. He’s averaging 2.4 photographs per recreation, which equals his efficiency from final season. Throughout his rookie marketing campaign, that quantity was barely decrease at 2.2 photographs per recreation. His taking pictures proportion is sort of similar to his rookie season although, as he’s at present at 15.9% in comparison with 16% in 2022-23. He’s discovering methods to enhance his recreation, with out sacrificing what’s made him profitable prior to now.
The Blue Jackets additionally aren’t giving up many targets, or possibilities for that matter, when Marchenko is on the ice. Per Pure Stat Trick, they’ve scored 28 instances with him on the ice whereas solely conceding 13 targets to the opposition. Marchenko has spent nearly all of the season to this point alongside Sean Monahan and Yegor Chinakhov. Within the 12 video games they performed collectively, they scored eight targets and allowed solely three. Additionally they created 59 scoring possibilities, whereas solely giving up 33. They drove offense significantly and saved their opponents away from the defensive zone.
Associated: Blue Jackets’ Werenski Catapulting Into Norris Trophy Dialogue
Marchenko is taking part in extra minutes than ever for the Blue Jackets and he’s taking part in higher than ever as effectively. The as soon as pure goal-scorer has was a whole participant who’s on the verge of stardom within the NHL. Because the staff continues to enhance, he’ll rapidly develop right into a family identify across the league if he can sustain his present growth path. Within the meantime, he’ll need to accept turning into one of many group’s most essential, and full, gamers.
