As the 2024-25 season approaches, Marchenko is preparing for his third season in the league. The 2023-24 season may have been a bit more difficult for the 23-year-old Russian, as he and the rest of his teammates played under a brand new coach.
Statistically speaking, Marchenko nearly doubled his rookie point total.
In 2022-23, Marchenko made a splash with 25 points (21 goals, four assists) in 59 games. Last season, Marchenko had 42 points (23 goals, 19 assists) in 78 games.
And this, while he is experiencing a difficult start to the season.
Marchenko had three assists in his first two games but didn’t record a point until Nov. 2, when he scored his first goal of the season after being sidelined several times due to health reasons. That sparked a five-game point streak (three goals, two assists) and six points (four goals, two assists) in seven games.
The future looks bright for Marchenko as he continues to acclimate his game to North America and the NHL. As he prepares to play under his third coach in three seasons, here are three questions for Marchenko heading into the 2024-25 campaign.
What will his contract look like?
Columbus has never had a player go to arbitration. Jake Christiansen and Jet Greaves both signed contracts, avoiding arbitration. Marchenko is the only other Blue Jackets player with arbitration rights who has not signed a contract.
Athleticism Aaron Portzline shared the latest news Sunday, saying Marchenko and his agent, Dan Milstein, are pushing for a longer-term deal, and that Waddell is making a big effort to carefully evaluate the person and the player before handing over the money.
“I’m trying to get a feel for everybody who’s been here,” Waddell said. “There are some guys you don’t want to commit to long term, right?”
In case you were worried, there don’t seem to be any negative characteristics about Marchenko as a person or player.
“I haven’t heard a lot of negative things, that’s for sure,” Waddell said.
The salary arbitration meeting is scheduled for Aug. 4 if the Blue Jackets and Marchenko cannot reach an agreement before that date.
So there is still plenty of time left.
New coach, new year?
It’s rare for a player to have a new coach for every season he’s in the NHL. That will be the case for Marchenko, who is expecting his third coach in as many seasons.
According to Portzline, the Blue Jackets will hold in-person interviews with two candidates this week as the coaching search enters its final stages.
Former head coaches Dean Evason (dismissed by the Minnesota Wild last November) and Jay Woodcroft (dismissed by the Edmonton Oilers last November) are both in talks for the Columbus job. Waddell has a third person in reserve.
“We’re only recruiting two,” Waddell said. “I have a third (candidate) that’s kind of on hold right now, but we have the top two guys that we’d like to bring in person.”
Regardless of who it ends up being, Marchenko can be expected to only improve as a player and continue to produce the points he recorded in each of his first two seasons.
How the new coach implements his systems and sets his lines will provide plenty of insight into how everyone will perform two months out from training camp.
Whether it’s continuing the existing chemistry with Yegor Chinakhov and Dmitri Voronkov or playing alongside Johnny Gaudreau and Adam Fantilli, Marchenko should be a top-six player.
Continue going out?
His first year, Marchenko was third on the team with 21 goals. Last season, he led the team with 23 goals and finished third with 42 points.
Can Marchenko push his points total to 50 points this season? 60 points? Could Marchenko surpass the 30-goal mark?
Marchenko averaged 13:04 per night last season and led the team with 2.06 GA/60 while 5v5 per Natural Statistical Trick.
Under a veteran head coach, how will the Blue Jackets use their offensive weapons as the young players continue to develop, while the team understands that mistakes will happen on both ends of the ice?
Things got a little too loose under Brad Larsen and Pascal Vincent tried to set a more responsible tone for his players by reducing ice time and replacing them.
What will the team’s theme be under the new coach and how will they get the best out of young players like Marchenko?
