Marchenko:
This season has kind of gone how you’d hope it would for Marchenko. After three years as a top young player in the KHL, he began in the AHL, registered points in his first five games and immediately became one of the Monsters’ best players, earned the call-up to the big club (even ignoring the Blue Jackets’ injuries) and has continued to play his game while building the league’s most unique stat sheet with his 13 goals to zero assists ratio through 28 games.
Marchenko’s a strong and sturdy winger who plays the game with skill characteristic of a smaller player, with A-grade hands and touch with the puck which helps him fool goalies and defenders one-on-one or feather a shot into a specific location in the net from a tough angle when there isn’t an opportunity to blow the puck past a goalie (which he can also do). I’d like to see him leverage his size a little more but he’s never going to be a mean, imposing player and he has learned to use his length effectively in other ways, including through his shot when he really needs to turn on a puck and use his forward momentum to lean into a shot from an off-balance stance.
He’s good in the home plate area and off the flanks, and he has shown he can play at NHL pace. I don’t think he’s going to be a star, but this is the start of a career as a good NHL player (he projects to be that $5-million guy every team wants as a scoring complement with pro size to the really expensive tickets).
Dumais:
One of my favourite prospects in the sport and the most productive player in major junior hockey not named Connor Bedard over the course of the last two seasons, I will be more surprised if Dumais doesn’t make it as a playmaking top-nine winger at this point than I will if he does. That, in and of itself, is no small thing to be saying about a 5-foot-9, 18-year-old third-round pick. But that’s what he’s owed because of one simple fact: Players who’ve produced like he has historically almost never miss. He should win QMJHL MVP. He should be one of the top-six right wings for Canada at next year’s world juniors. I’m confident he’s going to produce in the AHL like he did in his first Traverse City Prospects Tournament (and everywhere else). And then he’s going to figure it out at NHL (
NHL News - National Hockey League Scores, Schedule, Standings, Stats, and Rumors - The Athletic) pace, despite questions about his size and skating, because he’s too good and too intelligent on the ice not to. Dumais’ extensions through his stride need some cleaning up (they can look stunted and drag at the toe caps), but he has become a tremendously hardworking player with a wide-ranging offensive game that allows him to create offence in a variety of ways. He’ll beat you with a quick give-and-go on one shift, a standstill pass or shot on the next, a dance to the high slot on the next, and quick hands and determination around the net on the next. He brings it every night. He tracks back and makes hustle plays. His shot is pinpoint accurate and gets off of his blade effortlessly in catch-and-release sequences. He’s really good along the wall and the back check on retrievals and steals. Though he’s not physical, he hunts pucks without fear and willingly engages in puck battles. He’s got A-level vision, hands, and anticipation. He’s crafty as anything. He routinely elevates his linemates and does things himself (as evidenced by the uptick in their production and the gap that he still maintains well above and beyond his peers). I’m willing to stick my neck out for him to become a top-six NHL winger if the Blue Jackets handle his development appropriately (which I’m confident they will).
How the hell is Liam Foudy over Tarasov after the season he has had
Not sure.
Tier rankings:
Jiricek
Mateychuk
Dumais
Marchenko
Ceulemans
Svozil
Luca
Voronkov
FOUDY (wtf mate)
Tarasov
Malatesta
Ivanov
Knazko
Berni
Richard