SvoNotes: With skill and personality, Marchenko arrives in a big way

The first thing you figure out about Kirill Marchenko is that he likes to talk.
The second thing is that you might not always understand him, as the native of Barnaul, Russia, is still working on his English every day.
But the Blue Jackets rookie with the big smile and big shot has the kind of bubbly, energetic personality that you just can't keep down. Marchenko has already become a fan favorite and a teammate favorite in his first year in North America, as much for what he brings off the ice as on it.

"He loves to play," head coach Brad Larsen said after Marchenko's first career hat trick Saturday against Carolina. "You love talking to him, as much English you can understand that comes out of him. I enjoy it. He is so coachable, he wants to learn, and it is not just on the offensive side. He is coming to you with really good questions, he wants to see video on certain things so he can get better so he can be a two-way guy, but he is always smiling and always working.
"He is a really neat personality to have around, and you love to see him have a night like that because, you know, the smile just gets bigger. It's great."

It didn't take very long for Marchenko's new teammates to figure out what the 22-year-old wing brings to the table. Marchenko came to Columbus this summer for the team's development camp and stayed, working on his game in the capital city with a group of CBJ players that included Elvis Merzlikins, Gus Nyquist, Carson Meyer and Sean Kuraly.
The goal was to continue to acclimate himself to the highest level and ease the transition to the fastest league in the world. The added benefit was getting a chance to know some of his new teammates.
"You could tell right away that he had a big personality," Meyer said. "And even though his English wasn't great, he really wanted to make conversation. You could tell he was funny. Right away, he was a fun guy to be around, and it's just been fun to see him grow. I think in both locker rooms I've been in with him, everybody loves him because even though he doesn't have the best English, he loves to talk and he's a very nice guy, very down to earth and humble. He's a guy you can root for very easily."
After notching the hat trick, just the sixth for a CBJ rookie in franchise history, and adding a goal last night vs. Tampa Bay, Marchenko is up to nine goals in his first 17 games, the most ever for a Jackets player in that span at the start of a career. In fact, with 2.53 goals per 60 minutes in all situations, Marchenko leads the entire league among players with more than 100 minutes.
The 2018 second-round draft pick also had eight tallies in 16 games with Cleveland of the AHL, and it's no surprise he can fill up the net given his success the previous two seasons with SKA St. Petersburg of the KHL. Marchenko posted 27 goals in 80 games the past two years with SKA with despite often struggling to find ice time, as he averaged fewer than 12 minutes per game a season ago.
It's a long way to compare him to someone like Alexander Ovechkin, the Russian star who has moved into second all-time in goals in NHL history, but Marchenko said he has patterned his game after the Washington Capitals standout.
"When I was a little bit younger, I'd watch every goal," said Marchenko, who said he also would tape his sticks just like Ovechkin when he was younger. "I would just open videos on Ovechkin on YouTube and play it at 0.25 speed, slow motion, to see how he does one-timers and look at the technique of what he was doing, just trying to learn. It was a big help for me, really."

That has clearly worked out, with Marchenko now tied for fifth for goals among NHL rookies despite the fact he didn't make his debut until Dec. 6. Columbus has a bevy of young players with impressive offensive skill sets, but all of them are impressed by the way Marchenko can get his shot off.
"The way he can always change the angle, he gets the puck off super quick," Cole Sillinger said in the locker room after Marchenko's hat trick. "In the first period, I could kind of see him inside out and then do a kind of toe drag around the D, and (his shot) kind of startled (the goalie) right? So things like that, change the angle, comes off fast, comes off accurate, has an attacking mindset. I think that would allow him to put the puck in the back of the net, especially tonight."
Marchenko isn't all flash, though. He has a mind for the game, one he put to good use when he first arrived in Cleveland. He was placed on the top power-play unit to start the season with the Monsters, and he had an idea for a play that he thought might work. The best part, in the eyes of the Cleveland staff? The play he designed didn't end up in a goal for himself but for Brendan Gaunce.
"He saw something at the end of the power-play meeting and stayed behind and talked to Mark Letestu, our power-play coach, and I about it," Cleveland coach Trent Vogelhuber said on a recent episode of the Pipeline Podcast. "The next time we had a power play, it was a TV timeout and we went over it on the board with the rest of the group, and within five seconds, the puck was in the back of the net. He has a mind for the game that is pretty impressive."
But at the end of the day, Marchenko's favorite thing is to score goals, and he has a penchant for it. He speaks often about how much he wants to get on the board, never being satisfied with his production. Meyer pointed out that wins and losses are more important to Marchenko than scoring goals, yet it's also clear where his particular talent lies.

"We had a running joke a couple of weeks ago where we were doing power-play practice and Marchy passed the puck," Meyer said. "Somebody yells at him, 'Don't pass that, shoot that if you get that,' and he just heard, 'No pass,' so now he just keeps saying, 'No pass.' It's worked out."
The sky appears to be the limit, but Marchenko isn't resting on his laurels. He's constantly one of the last players on the ice during practice, taking extra time to work on his craft.
"He works as hard as anybody before and after and in practice," Vogelhuber said. "He wants to get better, and it's not just on the offensive side. He wants to be an NHL All-Star. He doesn't want to be just an NHL player. He's gonna push and push and push."
The sky appears to be the limit for Marchenko, who is settling in nicely at the NHL level. He has spoken about how much he's learning in his first season, with the hope of applying it and getting even better down the road.
He's not satisfied by his hot start, either. After a recent stretch in which he scored three times in four games, Marchenko could only speak of wanting more as he's getting more experience against the best.
"I have more confidence, of course," Marchenko said. "It's good for me. I like to score. But it's only three goals in four games. The best players in the league score seven goals in three games. I just have to keep working."

Berni Berni

In recent weeks, the Blue Jackets have made healthy scratches of defensemen Andrew Peeke, Marcus Bjork and Adam Boqvist.
It's part of the deal as the team is returning to something approaching health on the blue line, and Larsen has spoken recently about how he has tough decisions to make each night.
But it's worth noting a player not on that list. Tim Berni, the 22-year-old Swiss rookie, has carved out a lot of trust in a short time with the head coach. He plays a simple, poised game, and Larsen has clearly developed a lot of comfort in the pairing Berni shares with veteran Erik Gudbranson.
"He has a good nose for the game on both ends of the rink," Larsen said. "He bodies up with anybody. He doesn't win them all, but he's not afraid to go into there and body up against some big guys, and then he gets right back up and goes right back in. I love that about him. He plays a real fearless game, but he skates himself out of trouble all the time. He's poised under pressure. He has a good feel at both ends of the rink.
"He's a guy that's put himself on the map. Justin Danforth did last year, found a way to put himself on the map."
And finally, last night, Berni got a bit of a reward with his first NHL goal. It was a perfect finish off a pass from Patrik Laine, and it was a big goal at the time as it got the Blue Jackets back within a tally in the third period.

The game ended up being a loss as Tampa Bay's power play put it out of reach, but Berni was still happy to get on the board.
"It's obviously a cool moment," Berni said. "It's super fun to score my first one and get the team back at 3-2. Obviously I'd have liked to win when I scored my first, but it was fun. I definitely feel like I can add to the offense."
Berni is the fourth CBJ player to notch his first career goal this season, joining Marchenko, Bjork and Kent Johnson.