The Weekly Dis
Marchenko stickhandles around a most sensitive question: Will he re-up with the Blue Jackets? A (partial) history of player departures from the City of Flight. Will it ever end? Also, Taha Habroune is a very chill customer. And the merch is here!
Kirill Marchenko, the Blue Jackets' leading goal scorer in each of the past three seasons, met the local media on Friday, Day 2 of training camp, and deflected multiple questions about his future commitment to Columbus.
Two and a half months ago, at the draft, ESPN analyst Kevin Weekes reported that Marchenko was not interested in an extension at the end of his current contract. Marchenko, 26, is entering the final year of a deal that carries a team-friendly average annual value (AAV) of $3.95 million. He's free to negotiate an extension that would kick in on July 1, 2027, but it seems clear that he sees his future elsewhere.
Friday was the first time Marchenko was available to take questions since April, when the Jackets cleaned out their lockers after missing the playoffs for the sixth year in a row.
Marchenko's personality is imbued with a delightful impishness. Before he stepped to the podium, he photo-bombed Cole Sillinger, and then floated to the periphery of the scrum (and pressed "stop" on the video I was recording).
When it was his turn, Marchenko stepped to the front of the clutch of reporters and said, "I forget all English in Russia. I know only words about hockey right now. Only hockey"
So I asked, "Where do you want to play hockey?"
And he said, "On the ice. ... On the ice. Puck, not ball. Puck hockey, ice hockey, and we'll see."
Then Aaron Portzline of The Athletic tried to pin down Marchenko.
Q: What can you say about your agent letting it be known to, I believe it was Kevin Weeks of ESPN and NHL Network, that you don't plan to sign an extension when this contract is up?
Marchenko: "I didn't see that."
Clearly, he was fibbing as he smiled.
Marchenko: "No, guys, it's, I don't know ... I told you, I play hockey, I can talk only about hockey. It's not my side, business side, it's on Don (Waddell, the Jackets' GM) and Dan (Milstein, Marchenko's agent). And they figure out everything. My goal is to be ready. On the ice."
Q: You get to decide where you want to play. That's within you. Is this where you want to be? Do you want to be in Columbus?
Marchenko: "It's too many good questions right now. I want to play hockey. It's what I can say right now. And I don't want to give you another ... a lot of things. And I just love teammates. Love to enjoy the practices, enjoy the coaches. It's my favorite thing in the world. I just do my job."
Q: Have any of your teammates asked you about where you're at?
Marchenko: "No, (they) asked me how many sticks you change. They asked me about new skates. We just talked about only hockey. Because always in the locker room it's hockey. We're hockey players and we just enjoy our work. Sometimes enjoy, sometimes when we do sprints without pucks, not enjoying."
Q: Don Waddell said you promised you'd work your butt off. Is that the promise you made to him?
Marchenko: "Again, I don't know what you read and where you read. I'm a Russian guy. I don't have a Twitter, don't have an Instagram, I don't have anything. I just don't read any media, any stuff. My goal is to be here at 8 in the morning, work on the practice, go back home, enjoy time with my wife, with my cat. And that's all I can do. And that's all I can say to you right now. And all different things go around me. It's only on Don (and) Dan. They figure out everything. ... "
There was brief interlude that might've been a tell. Asked if he liked playing for Rick Bowness last year, Marchenko said, "We've had a lot of coaches here, and we just needed to update for his structure." When I went back and re-watched the tape, that like – "We've had a lot of coaches here" – caught my ear.
Marchenko has played four seasons for the Jackets. Bowness is his fifth coach. And Bowness is 71 years old and has a one-year contract.
And on it went, round and round. Marchenko was asked what message he might have for Jackets fans, and he basically said he wants everybody to love everybody, and not think about the future. It's a lovely sentiment. Chip Brooks, a legendary Columbus bartender I know, says that all the time. "Everybody love Everybody." He sometimes shortens it to, "E-L-E, baby."
A lack of love, if you like, is a problem that runs through Jackets history.
They were a budget team in their early years, when the rent they paid for Nationwide Arena was onerous. Their attendance was excellent – from 2000-2009, they outdrew the Pittsburgh Penguins, and it wasn't even close. But they also sucked, and had to watch their payroll. The example that springs to mind is Ray Whitney, a Blue Jackets captain and pending free agent who wanted a four-year contract extension.
It was 2003, and Whitney was 30 years old. Doug MacLean rejected the term length while muttering something about having enough undersized forwards. Whitney went on to rack up 194 goals and 572 points over the next 10 seasons.
Since 2012, when a backroom deal was struck with the city, county and Nationwide, the Jackets haven't had to pay rent on the arena (in part because Nationwide got a 30% chunk of the team in the bargain). Enter Jarmo Kekalainen, and the "hammer" years.
Kekalainen once held to the maxim: When a player is an RFA, the team has the hammer; and when the player is a UFA, he has the hammer – and both sides use the hammer.
It is quite likely that Jarmo, now in Buffalo, has shed this axiom. Three reasons: One, his arms got tired; two, the cap ceiling kept rising, so every contract didn't have to be hammered into place; three, when you hammer away at RFAs, they don't like you and are reticent to commit long-term. Ryan Johansen, Josh Anderson and Pierre-Luc Dubois come to mind.
To be fair, Kekalainen got the Jackets to the playoffs five times in his 11 years in Columbus. Better than mediocre! When he was fired in the wake of the Mike Babcock fiasco, he left a well-stocked cupboard (including Marchenko).
The Jackets had 66 points in Kekalainen's last season. Under Waddell, they've gone from 89 to 92 points. Yet, after this summer of discontent, the roster and the fan base are in a state of agitation.
NHL GM Rule No. 1 is to take care of your best players. Like, try not to piss them off if you don't have to – and pay them.
As so many fans have pointed out:
Norris Trophy winner Zach Werenski has made it known that, if he doesn't see a winner in Columbus, he might not extend his contract when he is eligible to do so next year; the RFA No. 1 goalie, Jet Greaves, and RFA forward Cole Sillinger went to the brink of arbitration before they agreed to three-year deals; Marchenko, who has scored 102 goals in 292 games, is sounding an awful like Artemi Panarin did at the start of camp in 2019 (yikes) ...
And, of course, there is No. 1 center Adam Fantilli, another RFA who has yet to agree to a new contract, which also means he has yet to report to camp.
Other teams go through these things, every case is different and each has its nuances. Yet ...
Good god, will it ever end here? If Fantill will take a five-year deal like Connor Bedard did, just pay the man already. Roll up your sleeves, work it out and pay the man. He's your 21-year-old top-line center. Lock him up and let him loose. Let's go.
Taha is a very cool name, and he's a very chill customer
Taha Habroune is not in the conversation about the best athletes that Columbus has ever produced. At age 20, he shouldn't be – but maybe someday he will be.
Habroune grew up here. He was a Crew fan as a little kid. He came of age in the Crew academy. Now, he has a dozen relatives at every home game and, he admits, it's a surreal experience for him.
Dude is a baller. Full stop. He doesn't care who the opponent is, be it Lionel Messi or anyone else – Taha is coming, CBus style.
Friday morning, he did a presser ahead of the Crew's game at Montreal (tonight at 7:30). He talked about getting back into the starting lineup – at a new-old position, the No. 8 – after a week-plus of limited action and self-reflection.
I'm proud to know this local kid, if just a little bit. He's a badass. And the way he is trending, it won't be all that long before Europe comes calling. Video courtesy of Columbus Crew:
This week in Discasting
I'm in the process of selling the house and moving – if the creek don't rise, everything will be settled by the end of the month – and so I haven't had time to do the usual two (or sometimes three) podcasts a week.
I did, however, get to sit down Morgan Hughes, Face of Save the Crew and co-proprietor of Supporter Supply, at his place of business. We had a spirited soccer conversation about the U.S. Open Cup amid an MLS season of turmoil for the Crew. Among other things, I posed the question: Are Crew fans spoiled? Because it seems everyone wants GM Issa Tall fired – or they did, before the Crew beat Orlando City 2-1 in a USOC semifinal at Fertilizer Field Wednesday night.
Then, on Friday, came a major announcement: Supporter Supply is now the exclusive purveyor of Disrespected Media merchandize and, let me tell you, every shred of it is badass. Check it out:
Morgan actually begged like a dog to get back on The Crewcible podcast because he's embarrassed that Neil Sika, the Costas of Columbus, is now ahead of him on the appearance leaderboard. Of course, I'm half kidding there.
Good stuff here:
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