Blue Jackets’ Kirill Marchenko to miss game against Capitals

Columbus certainly hopes Marchenko’s absence is a brief one. The 25-year-old Russian has eight goals and 14 assists through 22 games this season, for a team-leading 22 total points. Marchenko was also the Blue Jackets’ leading scorer among forwards last season, with 31 goals and 43 assists for 74 points in 79 games played. He was second on the team in scoring among all skaters behing only defenseman Zach Werenski, who finished with 82 points.

Marchenko, 25, was selected by Columbus 49th overall in the 2018 NHL Entry Draft. After getting drafted, Marchenko played four more seasons in Russia, splitting time between SKA Saint Petersburg of the KHL and the Russian minor leagues.

His first North American season came in 2022-23, which he split between the Blue Jackets and the AHL’s Cleveland Monsters. In 59 NHL games that season, Marchenko scored an impressive 21 goals, but only managed four assists for 25 total points. The following season, in 2023-24, he showed overall improvement with 23 goals and 19 assists for 42 points in 78 games.

The Blue Jackets currently find themselves in the middle of the amorphous Eastern Conference. With 25 points through 22 games, they find themselves just five points back of the conference-leading Carolina Hurricanes, but only four points up on the bottom-dwelling Toronto Maple Leafs. They’ll want Marchenko back sooner than later to help then stay closer to the top of those standing as the conference begins to take shape.

Columbus will finish up a four-game road trip with their game Monday against the Capitals.