Blue Jackets’ Marchenko, Johnson among candidates for top NHL rookie award
The odds of earning the Calder Trophy as the NHL’S top rookie are against them, but Blue Jackets forwards Kent Johnson and Kirill Marchenko are chasing it. After each finished with a goal, assist and two points in a 4-3 victory Saturday in Toronto, they went into a game Tuesday against the New Jersey Devils ranked within the top five in separate offensive categories.
Johnson was fifth overall in rookie scoring with 26 points (11 goals, 15 assists) in 50 games and Marchenko’s 14 goals in 30 games had him second only to Seattle Kraken center Matty Beniers, Johnson’s friend and former center at Michigan.
“I look a lot (at rookie scoring leaders) just because a couple are my friends and buddies,” Johnson said. “Just for competitive reasons, I like to see how they’re doing. So I keep up pretty good with it. At the same time, I’d love to be right there with them or get more points than them. It’s not my main focus, but it’d be cool to be up there for the award at the end of the year.”
As of Tuesday, Anaheim Ducks forward Mason Mctavish was second behind Beniers in rookie scoring with 11-1930 in 53 games. Winnipeg Jets forward Cole Perfetti was third at 7-22-29 and Minnesota Wild defenseman Calen Addison was fourth – one ahead of Johnson – with 3-24-27.
Marchenko, who started the season with the Cleveland Monsters in the American Hockey League, was 18th in scoring with 14-1-15 in 20 fewer games than Johnson and 23 fewer than Beniers.
He trails Beniers by three in goals after becoming one of only three players in league history to start their NHL careers with a 13-0-13 scoring line.
Marchenko isn’t paying much attention to the Calder race while sticking to advice given to him at last winter’s Beijing Olympics by former Blue Jackets center Artem Anisimov.
“He said, ‘If you want to play good, don’t (read) the news,’ ” Marchenko said. “That’s really helped. I have Instagram and I just click for hockey stuff and I try not to think or look at the Calder Trophy (race) because I want to focus on the game. If I think about (the) Calder, I don’t score goals. If I just think about having a good game, forechecking, winning battles, it’s better. But it is interesting. I know (the) first guy is Beniers. (He’s) a good guy, a good player.”
Johnson is skating on the second line, which includes Cole Sillinger at center. Sillinger was selected seven picks after Johnson in the 2021 draft and spent the entirety of last season with the Blue Jackets. He finished ninth among all rookies with 16 goals as the league’s youngest player and was 15th in scoring with 16-15-31 in 79 games.
Sillinger, Johnson and Marchenko have spent a small amount of time on the same forward line this season and all are considered core pieces to the team’s effort to rebuild the roster for future success. Having two of them chasing the Calder Trophy is one way to mark their progress toward that goal.
“There are a lot of ways to track that by just watching the games and seeing how we’re playing,” Johnson said. “But, obviously, if you’re getting on the scoresheet a lot, it’s a good sign.”