The Columbus Blue Jackets have re-signed RFA Kirill Marchenko to a 3 year, $11.55M contract the club announced Sunday. The new deal will carry an AAV of $3.85M per season, and will keep the 24 year old in Columbus through the 2026-27 NHL campaign.
“Kirill Marchenko has been an important player for the Blue Jackets during his first two NHL seasons and reaching an agreement to keep him in Columbus was important to us,” General Manager Don Waddell said. “He has size, skill and the ability to score goals and will continue to be a big part of our core group moving forward.”
Marchenko and his agent Dan Milstein were set to go to arbitration with the Blue Jackets on Wednesday after contract talks had stalled. However, the last minute deal avoids that, and also continues the club’s streak of never having taken a player to arbitration since they became an NHL franchise.
The Russian forward notched career highs in goals (23), assists (19) and points (42) for Columbus last year, while appearing in 78 contests for the team. His production marks the 2nd straight year he’s hit the 20+ goal plateau after debuting in 2022-23.
Marchenko led the Blue Jackets in goals, power play goals, and ranked 2nd in shots on net last season. The 6’3″, 195lbs winger has blossomed into a legitimate top 6 forward for the group since being selected in the 2nd round (49th overall) in the 2018 NHL entry draft.
Photo: Jenn G. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.