spintheblackcircle
incoming!!!
- Mar 1, 2002
- 67,427
- 13,263
I really think he is going to hit the ground running, he sounds like he is very focused on being the best NHL player he can:
theathletic.com
It was clear to see why St. Petersburg wanted to keep Marchenko. Only 21 years old, he was among their leading scorers, playing and thriving in their top six and showing serious breakout potential as a KHL star. When Marchenko declined to sign the contract, the consequences were immediate. After a game on Oct. 10, his playing time was curtailed dramatically. He barely cleared five minutes in a couple of games and was a healthy scratch on Oct. 17. This continued the rest of the season until it got worse in the spring. Just before the playoffs, Marchenko was sent to the minor leagues, even though he was the club’s fourth-leading goal scorer with 12-8-20 in 39 games.
“I’m a player. I follow orders,” Marchenko said, with some help from agent/interpreter Mark Gandler. “They sent me down. I decided to play my hockey, produce goals, improve myself, develop my game and do the best I can.
“I just wanted to enjoy the game without any negative thoughts.”
Former NHL forward Linden Vey counted Marchenko as a teammate and a friend while they played together most of the last two seasons in St. Petersburg.
“You could tell he was ready to come to North America,” Vey said. “He was always sitting with us import guys (in the KHL) and speaking English around us to get it better at it. He definitely improved a lot.”
There’s also this: SKA St. Petersburg’s home rink, the Ice Palace, has an NHL-size ice surface, not the Olympic-size sheets that many KHL teams and most European leagues use. Thus, Marchenko won’t have to adjust to a smaller rink, something Blue Jackets rookie Yegor Chinakhov struggled with this season.
“I like both (Olympic) ice and NHL ice,” Marchenko said. “On NHL ice, I can score more. On (Olympic) ice, I play pucks more, use the big corners, make a pass. But I like it better on NHL ice because I like more scoring. The style between the two leagues is a big difference. In Russia, it’s not as fast hockey as the NHL and it’s more defensive. NHL is faster to pucks, both forecheck and backcheck. I played against Canada before (in international tournaments) and I really liked this tempo.”
Blue Jackets Sunday Gathering: Kirill Marchenko never lost sight of NHL dream
A former KHL teammate said Marchenko has been "ready to come to North America."
theathletic.com
It was clear to see why St. Petersburg wanted to keep Marchenko. Only 21 years old, he was among their leading scorers, playing and thriving in their top six and showing serious breakout potential as a KHL star. When Marchenko declined to sign the contract, the consequences were immediate. After a game on Oct. 10, his playing time was curtailed dramatically. He barely cleared five minutes in a couple of games and was a healthy scratch on Oct. 17. This continued the rest of the season until it got worse in the spring. Just before the playoffs, Marchenko was sent to the minor leagues, even though he was the club’s fourth-leading goal scorer with 12-8-20 in 39 games.
“I’m a player. I follow orders,” Marchenko said, with some help from agent/interpreter Mark Gandler. “They sent me down. I decided to play my hockey, produce goals, improve myself, develop my game and do the best I can.
“I just wanted to enjoy the game without any negative thoughts.”
Former NHL forward Linden Vey counted Marchenko as a teammate and a friend while they played together most of the last two seasons in St. Petersburg.
“You could tell he was ready to come to North America,” Vey said. “He was always sitting with us import guys (in the KHL) and speaking English around us to get it better at it. He definitely improved a lot.”
There’s also this: SKA St. Petersburg’s home rink, the Ice Palace, has an NHL-size ice surface, not the Olympic-size sheets that many KHL teams and most European leagues use. Thus, Marchenko won’t have to adjust to a smaller rink, something Blue Jackets rookie Yegor Chinakhov struggled with this season.
“I like both (Olympic) ice and NHL ice,” Marchenko said. “On NHL ice, I can score more. On (Olympic) ice, I play pucks more, use the big corners, make a pass. But I like it better on NHL ice because I like more scoring. The style between the two leagues is a big difference. In Russia, it’s not as fast hockey as the NHL and it’s more defensive. NHL is faster to pucks, both forecheck and backcheck. I played against Canada before (in international tournaments) and I really liked this tempo.”
