Columbus Blue Jackets' top prospect Kirill Marchenko was named KHL's Rookie of the Month for the month of November.
The 6'2 winger, who was taken 49th overall in the 2nd round of the 2018 draft, posted 3-3-6 in 13 games as he appears to be a fixture for SKA St. Petersburg, one of the historically premier teams in the KHL, Russia's top professional hockey league.
Congrats to 2-time Rookie of the Week and now Rookie of the Month, 19-year-old Kirill Marchenko from SKA. pic.twitter.com/1vH9BM9CDi
— KHL (@khl_eng) December 3, 2019
The 19-year old has drawn praise from talent evaluators for his blend of size and skill. Here's The Athletic's Corey Pronman in September:
"Marchenko’s physical gifts are elite, there are few forwards his size who make these kinds of skill plays at the speed he can do them at."
The Blue Jackets are surely excited by his talent, and his numbers year-over-year show tremendous growth. In 2018-19, he posted 2-1-3 in 23 games for SKA's minor league team in the VHL (Russia's second-tier), while playing minimally in one game for the KHL team. This year, he proved himself too strong for the VHL, as he posted 9-3-12 in 14 games before getting called up in a more full-time capacity to SKA's KHL team.
Here's the first!
— KHL (@khl_eng) November 13, 2019
From now on 19-year-old Kirill Marchenko is KHL goal-scorer. pic.twitter.com/7sHTs6Gvpa
Blue Jackets fans can expect Marchenko to be a fixture for Team Russia in the 2019-20 World Junior Championships, beginning Dec 26th in the Czech Republic.
