Kirill Marchenko reveals major disrespect from the Columbus Blue Jackets

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Tom Banks
July 20, 2024 (6:09 PM)

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The Columbus Blue Jackets need young, talented players that can produce at the NHL, but now they've got one, they've decided to disrespect him in a big way.

The Columbus Blue Jackets have been deep in a rebuild, but with talents like David Jiricek, Adam Fantili and Kent Johnson coming through, the future is very bright. At 23-years of age, one would expect Kirill Marchenko to feature in that future, given back-to-back 20 goal seasons, but now it has been revealed that the team are yet to even begin contract talks with the Restricted Free Agent.

Kirill Marchenko told me he's never had a worthy offer from the @bluejacketsnhl and haven't had a conversation with Don Waddell #CBJ

The arbitration hearing between these two parties is set for July 31st, but with both Jet Greaves and Jake Christiansen both avoiding arbitration already this summer, it comes as a shock that the same hasn't happened for Marchenko. Sure, Waddell is just settling into his role in Columbus, but Marchenko should be everything this team is looking for, with the likely holdup being that his agent Dan Milstein is reportedly looking for a long-term deal, while Columbus may be looking short-term.

In two years in the NHL, Marchenko, who projects to play on the top line alongside Sean Monahan and Johnny Gaudreau has tallied 21 and 23 goals, and with a consistent top line role, he should only improve going forward. It's unclear what the teams plan is currently with Marchenko, but he has plenty of talent, youth and the production at the NHL level, so it would be a major shock if the two sides couldn't come to some type of deal before the arbitration hearing.