Prospect Report: Marchenko hits a hot streak in Russia

While we continue to wait for pro hockey to begin on the North American side of the pond, Blue Jackets prospects are still off scoring goals and making saves on the other side of the Atlantic.
Leading the charge, as he often does, is 2018 second-round pick Kirill Marchenko. Thought to be one of the team's top offensive prospects if not the best of the bunch, Marchenko has recently entered into a hot streak while playing with Russian power SKA St. Petersburg of the KHL.

The 20-year-old winger has been a mainstay on SKA's top line in recent weeks, including back-to-back performances with a goal and an assist apiece in wins Nov. 22 vs. Amur Khabarovsk and Nov. 24 against Barys Nur-Sultan. He added a goal today in a win vs. Jokerit to give him three tallies in the last five games, plus scored in the shootout.
Marchenko also added the shootout-winning goal Nov. 28 in a SKA triumph over a Salavat Yulaev Ufa team that had fellow CBJ draft pick Daniil Tarasov in net.
Tweet from @HeresYourReplay: 🚨 Kirill Marchenko - Shootout winner #CBJ3-2 SKA pic.twitter.com/nf7m0mYFqo
In all, Marchenko has nine goals and eight assists for 17 points in 24 games this year with the Bobrov Division-leading SKA squad. The sharp-shooting Marchenko places tied for second on the team in goals.
Tarasov, meanwhile, has returned to his homeland to play with Ufa after spending last year in the Finnish Liiga. The 21-year-old netminder was expected to make his North American debut this season but is in Russia thanks to the pandemic, and he has split his time with six games with Salavat Yulaev in the KHL and five more in the second-level VHL with Toros Neftekamsk.
The big goalie has been impressive at both stops, though, including 31-save shutout today in a 1-0 overtime victory against Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg. That was Tarasov's second KHL blanking of the year and improved his record to 4-1-1 with a 1.81 goals-against average and .938 save percentage with Salavat Yulaev at the top level. He also has a 2.16 GAA in the VHL with Toros.
The third-round pick in the 2017 draft has signed his entry-level deal with Columbus.
Also in the KHL, 20-year-old forward Dmitri Voronkov -- a fourth-round pick in 2019 -- continues to use his big body to earn key time with Kharlamov Division-leading Ak Bars Kazan. Voronkov has a 4-6-10 line and has won 56.1 percent of his faceoffs with the Snow Leopards in 26 games.

Chinakhov leads 2020 picks

The Blue Jackets selected five players in the 2020 NHL draft, a list headlined by another KHL sniper in first-round pick Yegor Chinakhov.
The 19-year-old winger with Chemyshev Division-leading Avangard Omsk was scoring almost at will when we last checked in on him, though as one might expect for a teenager playing in one of the best leagues in the world, his scoring pace has slowed down a little bit. Chinakhov snapped a six-game goalless streak Nov. 26 with a tally against Amur and now has an 8-7-15 line in 27 games, still impressive totals given the quality of the competition. He leads all U-20 players in scoring in the KHL this season.
Chinakhov also has gained experience in the Russia sweater at the international level in November. He took part in the Karjala Cup with his homeland earlier in the month and posted a pair of goals in three games as Russia posted an unbeaten record in the four-team international event.
The tournament for Russia was a prelude to the upcoming World Junior Championships scheduled to take place as usual this December and January in Edmonton. The Russians used their U-20 roster to compete in the event, and Chinakhov also has been announced as being on Russia's camp roster for the World Juniors, though the final team is still to be announced.
Among the other CBJ 2020 picks:
- Third-round pick Samuel Knazko continues to showcase a solid two-way game with TPS U-20 team in Finland, as the 18-year-old defenseman from Slovakia has four goals and nine assists for 13 points in 22 game as well as a plus-16 rating. - His teammate Mikael Pyyhtiä, a fourth-round pick, also boasts impressive offensive numbers for the dominant Turku side, as the 18-year-old has a 9-10-19 line in 16 games. He also has played two games for the senior TPS outfit but did not score in either game. - Fifth-round pick Ole Julian Bjørgvik-Holm, 18, spent last year with Mississauga of the OHL but is back home in his native Norway this year, with the defenseman posting a 2-6-8 line in 12 games with Manglerud of the Norwegian top division. - Sixth-round pick Samuel Johannesson has spent his entire season in the top level of Swedish hockey, as the 19-year-old defenseman has skated 14 games with Rögle BK and has a goal and an assist.

Prospect Notes

• He's not really a prospect, per se, but Emil Bemstrom turned in an impressive showing with HIFK Helsinki in Finland's Liiga before seeing his loan spell with the team end Monday. The 21-year-old forward who spent last year with the Blue Jackets will return to North America ahead of the anticipated start of NHL camps after posting an 8-9-17 line in 16 games.
• Goalie Veini Vehvilainen was expected to return to AHL Cleveland this year but instead also has been playing in his native Finland because of the pandemic. The two-time Liiga goalie of the year hasn't quite had the same success as he had in previous years with his hometown Jyväskylä squad as JYP has struggled this year, and so far Vehvilainen is 3-7-3 with a 3.18 GAA in 13 games.
• College hockey has begun, with 2017 fifth-round pick Kale Howarth leading the way thus far. Howarth notched the lone goal in UConn's 5-1 opening loss Nov. 20 to then-No. 7 UMass, then the junior notched the shootout winner in the series finale a day later. Minnesota defenseman Robbie Stucker (2017, seventh round) is yet to play for the Golden Gophers while North Dakota goalie Peter Thome (2016, sixth round) and the No. 1 Fighting Hawks are slated to open their season Wednesday vs. Miami.