The Toronto Maple Leafs have given the Ottawa Senators one more name to worry about.
By landing Kirill Marchenko from the Columbus Blue Jackets yesterday ahead of the opening night roster deadline, Toronto added another forward who can score and create chances. That matters because the Maple Leafs were already loaded up front, and now the pressure on opposing defenses gets spread even thinner.
Auston Matthews, William Nylander, John Tavares and Matthew Knies were already a difficult group to manage. Marchenko only makes that job harder. He gives Toronto another top-six option and another piece who can lighten the load on the rest of the attack.
For Ottawa, that’s no small thing. The Senators will see the Maple Leafs multiple times this season, and those games were already going to be a challenge. Marchenko adds another layer to a lineup that can now be arranged in more than one way, which makes it tougher for the Senators to lock in on just one group or one matchup.
Toronto does not need Marchenko to carry everything by himself, and that’s exactly what makes the move troublesome for Ottawa. If he clicks, the Maple Leafs have yet another threat for the Senators to account for instead of allowing their attention to stay fixed on Matthews or Nylander.
That said, this does not suddenly turn Toronto into an untouchable team. Ottawa has its own offensive talent, and the Senators will have chances to test the Maple Leafs defensively. They’ve also made changes to their own roster and will be aiming to make life difficult for Toronto as well.
Even so, the addition of Marchenko shifts the balance a bit. Toronto didn’t necessarily need another scoring forward, but it got one anyway, and that gives the Maple Leafs more flexibility across the season. For Ottawa, it means one more dangerous player to track whenever these teams meet.
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