The Kirill Marchenko trade to the Maple Leafs didn’t just come together - it came together with real interest from around the league, and a few teams clearly pushed harder than others.
Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reported that the Columbus Blue Jackets never got a Marchenko offer that included anyone as appealing as Matthew Knies. That mattered.
Some teammates, Friedman added, believed Knies had grown tired of hearing his name in trade rumors. Toronto, for its part, valued Marchenko enough to take on the contracts of Miles Wood and Elvis Merzlikins.
There was also a shift in how Marchenko viewed potential destinations. A few months ago, there had been talk that he would have been fine with a move to Montreal, but he was unsure about Toronto. That changed, and the Maple Leafs were able to land him.
The Canadiens stayed in the mix until the end. Chris Johnston said on TSN’s OverDrive that Montreal was the other team that really wanted Marchenko, but it didn’t have a roster player like Knies it was willing to send back.
“The other team that really wanted him was the Canadiens; but didn’t have a roster player like Knies that they could send back or they were comfortable sending back.”
Montreal was also trying to bring in a third team to help absorb salary. Friedman said he thinks the Canadiens would have been willing to give Marchenko $12.5 million.
The market didn’t stop there. Friedman reported that the Bruins, Islanders, Seattle and Tampa were also interested, and there would have been others as well.
On the Columbus side, Aaron Portzline reported that Blue Jackets GM Don Waddell said he never got a straight answer from Marchenko about why he no longer wanted to play for the Blue Jackets. According to Waddell, all Marchenko and his agent, Dan Milstein, would say was that he “preferred to play somewhere else.”
The Islanders also checked in. Stefen Rosner reported that New York inquired about Marchenko, but Columbus didn’t want futures. The Blue Jackets’ ask would have likely been Cal Ritchie, and the Islanders would also have needed to know whether Marchenko would extend with them.
And in the end, the trade had the kind of deadline-day urgency that makes these deals feel like a sprint. The Blue Jackets posted a video saying, “Time was ticking, but Don sealed the deal with only seconds to spare!”
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