Wayne Gretzky’s all-time record for career goals scored has been surpassed by Alex Ovechkin, a feat once viewed as unthinkable by just about everyone who follows the sport.
Considering no NHL player has topped 70 tallies in a single season in more than three decades, Gretzky’s mark of 92 in 1981-82 seems much safer, but another dynamic Russian wing wouldn’t mind taking a run at it.
Kirill Marchenko has 31 goals this season, most by a CBJ player in six seasons, and it feels like he’s just getting started three years into his NHL career. Topping 30 is notable enough, but when asked how many goals he’d like to score in a season, Marchenko thinks big.
“Who scored the most NHL goals in a season?” Marchenko asked recently.
When told of Gretzky’s all-time mark from more than four decades ago, Marchenko had a quick answer.
“Ninety-three,” he said with his trademark smile. “It’s my dream. Ninety-three is fine.”
The line was vintage Marchenko – delivered with the lighthearted, joking nature and grin that have made him a fan favorite from the moment he stepped on the ice in Columbus, but also the answer of someone who takes his craft very, very seriously.
Marchenko wants to score goals – bunches of them, as many as he can, partly because it’s a lot of fun but mostly because he wants to help his team win. When he steps on the ice for practice or a game, Marchenko is dialed in, always looking for a way to get better, no matter how tiny it might be.
When he can't execute a move or shoots a puck wide in a game, he’s on the ice at practice the next day trying to perfect that skill so he gets it right the next time. If the Blue Jackets have an optional practice, you can almost bet on the fact he’ll be out there working on something to improve. And he’s the first player to get teammates together on the ice to either explain a drill or share an idea on how the Blue Jackets can get better.
“If I do something, I want to be the best at this,” Marchenko said. “I know right now, I am not the best in the league, and I want to be. I think everybody wants to be the best if you play hockey. You want to be the best of the best.
“I don’t want to stop. (Leon) Draisaitl has scored (52). Why can’t I score (52)? I can. I just keep working. I want to stay in this way and try to be better and help our team win more.”
Marchenko has certainly done that this season. Not only is he just the ninth player to reach 70 points in a season in Blue Jackets history, his plus-24 rating is one of the best ever for a CBJ forward. He’s taken the step from talented goal scorer to all-around player, someone the Blue Jackets know they can build around as they try to make the next step from in the playoff race to contending for the ultimate prize.
“He honestly is a complete player,” fellow CBJ forward Sean Monahan said. “He battles hard to get pucks back. He has a good stick. He has a really good shot and shoots the puck pretty uniquely to beat goalies with a straight shot without a screen.
“The biggest thing is he wants to be a difference maker. He wants the puck on his stick. He wants to score. He’s a guy that’s always trying to learn, change things up and improve his game. He’s just a lot of fun to play with.”
A Talent for Hockey
Given Marchenko’s passion for scoring goals and the effort he puts in to get better at his craft, you might be tempted to say he was born to be a hockey player.
But when he was growing up in Barnaul, Russia, that wasn’t necessarily the case.
“I wanted to be a soccer player,” Marchenko said. “If I go play in soccer, for sure (I could be a pro). I play in Spanish league. Or French league. No, no, no – Italy. Nah, Germany maybe. Just a top-five league for soccer, for sure.”
Marchenko’s humor and confidence aside, it does seem like he was at least destined to be an athlete. He decided to use a stick rather than his feet for a living because of his environment, as one sport was much bigger than the other in his native country.
“Soccer in Russia is not really great,” He said. “Hockey was big, and when I grow up, I go into hockey. I was just an energy kid. I loved playing all the sports – hockey, soccer, water polo a little bit, volleyball. My father and grandfather are volleyball players. I just love hockey right now. I try to do something with what was given to me.”
And it was clear from an early age that Marchenko would be able to do that. He was a high-scoring forward from the time he arrived in Russia’s U-16 and U-17 levels, making it to the country’s top junior league by age 17 and the top-level KHL by 18.
His size and goal-scoring ability made him a rising star, both at home – he'd go on to qualify for Russia’s teams at the IIHF World U-18 and World Juniors tournaments – and abroad, as NHL scouts zeroed in on Marchenko for the 2018 NHL draft. Columbus was the team that that made the pick, selecting Marchenko with their second-round pick at 49th overall.
For his next season in Russia, he was acquired by SKA St. Petersburg, one of the traditional powers in Russia, and spent four years in that organization. Wherever he went, goals and points followed, including 27 goals and 48 points in 80 games with SKA his final two seasons in Russia.
Marchenko then signed his first contract with the Blue Jackets and made an immediate impact. After getting some seasoning with AHL Cleveland, he made his NHL debut in December 2022, notching his first goal in his fourth game and his first hat trick just 15 games into his career. By the time his first season was over, he set a CBJ rookie record with 21 goals but notched just four assists, becoming just the third NHL player in the last 85 years to score at least 20 goals with five or fewer helpers.
His game has grown the past two campaigns, as Marchenko had 23 goals and 42 points a year ago – joking he had become a playmaker along the way – and this season has become the first CBJ player ever to start his NHL career with three straight 20-goal seasons.
Boasting a more diverse offensive game, increased strength in puck battles and more attention to detail in the defensive zone, Marchenko has posted a 31-39-70 line, making him the eighth CBJ player to top the 30-goal barrier, and he became just the fourth Blue Jacket to notch three career hat tricks earlier this year.
He hopes the best is yet to come. Marchenko said in the preseason he took only a couple weeks off this past offseason before getting back to work in the gym, and he watches such players as Connor McDavid, Nate MacKinnon, Nikita Kucherov and Martin Necas to try to keep adding to his game.
“I am still a young guy and I have a lot of room for growth,” he said. “And I feel it’s normal because every year, if this year I was worse than last year, it’s bad for me. If I grow up every year, it’s nice. I hope next year I am better."
A Growing Leader
But if there’s one place that Marchenko stands out when it comes to his preparation, it’s his attention to detail.
If Marchenko has an opportunity to score or make a play in a game and it doesn’t work out, he’s out before or after practice the next day working on the same situation to make sure he doesn’t miss the next time. He’s always fine-tuning an area of his game, working on getting it right until he’s close to perfection.
“It’s small things, small details on the ice,” he said. “I just focus on something where I can be better and where I can find more goals and goals for the team.
“I don’t work on the D-zone after practice,” he added with a laugh, “but I can find new moves on the power play or on like 5-on-5, some shots. I think it can be useful for the future, so it’s nice.”
Those on the team have taken notice. It wasn't hard to see the ever-present smile and chatter and the prodigious goal-scoring skills when Marchenko first arrived, but in the world of professional hockey, respect must be earned each day. As Blue Jackets players have spent more time around Marchenko, his work ethic and ideas about the game are what have impressed them most.
“He stays on late, he’s on early, and he’s always working on something,” veteran teammate Zach Werenski said. “He’s always super creative out there. He’s always having these ideas, whether it’s the power play or faceoffs or whatever it is. He has a very smart hockey mind. I think that mixed with his work ethic, it’s starting to pay off for him.”
Added Monahan: “I think out of all the guys I’ve ever played with, I talk to him the most about hockey. He’s such a smart guy and he gets ideas, he studies the game and sees things where he wants to learn, and it works for him and it works for the team. He’s so much fun. I sit beside him in the dressing room and we talk a lot.”
Of course, anyone in Marchenko’s orbit is going to talk – or at least listen – a lot. He is serious about getting better, but he always has something to say, usually of the comical or off-the-wall variety. Marchenko is always looking for a way to insert himself into a conversation and have some fun, whether it’s teasing teammates, stealing voice recorders or phones from reporters in the locker room or engaging with fans during pregame warmups.
“I think he’s just the same Marchy,” Werenski said. “He’s definitely more of a leader. He says more in the room for sure, speaks up more when it’s needed, and I think that’s great for him to feel like he has that voice in this locker room and guys respect him. Obviously the way he plays, he’s earned that, and it’s been fun to watch him grow as a leader. But him as a guy, he’s just the same Marchy.
“He’s fun to be around. It’s fun seeing him at the rink. I think the best part is just that mixed with his work ethic. It makes him a special player and a special person for sure.”
