The Columbus Blue Jackets and restricted free agent winger Kirill Marchenko agreed to a three-year, $11.55 million contract to avoid arbitration, according to NHL.com. Marchenko's contract is worth $3.85 million per season, and he was headed for arbitration with the Blue Jackets on Wednesday. General manager Don Waddell spoke on the move.
“Kirill Marchenko has been an important player for the Blue Jackets during his first two NHL seasons, and reaching an agreement to keep him in Columbus was important to us,” Don Waddell said, via NHL.com. “He has size, skill and the ability to score goals and will continue to be a big part of our core group moving forward.”
The Blue Jackets selected Kirill Marchenko with the No. 49 overall pick in the second round of the 2018 NHL Draft. He made his debut in the 2022-2023 season with the NHL team, playing in 59 games, scoring 21 goals with 4 assists for 25 points, according to Hockey Reference. He stepped up his production in 2023-2024 in 78 games, with 23 goals and 19 assists for 42 points, while also improving his +/- from -23 in his first season to -5 this past season.
If Marchenko continues to develop as a player, he will be on a good value contract at $3.85 million a year, and will be able to re-up with the Blue Jackets in three years. He is entering his age 24 season, so Columbus is highly invested in his development and hopes that he is able to cement himself as a cornerstone player. It will be interesting to see if Marchenko can become a staple on the Blue Jackets' power play at some point as well.
Kirill Marchenko's role with Blue Jackets
As currently constructed, Marchenko is projected to play alongside Sean Monahan and Johnny Gaudreau on the first line for the Blue Jackets. However, it will be interesting to see the roles that first round picks from 2023 and 2024 Adam Fantilli and Cayden Lindstrom have with the team in the next few years.
Both Adam Fantilli And Cayden Lindstrom are centers, so the Blue Jackets are betting on those two being an importand duo down the middle down the line. The hope is also that Marchenko continues to grow, while Johnny Gaudreau will get back to the level of play he was at with the Calgary Flames.
Expectations will not be high externally for the Blue Jackets, but the organization is clearly focused on building a young core to try to compete in the Metropolitan Division down the line.
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