The morning after his biggest trade yet as general manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs, John Chayka explained that the opportunity to acquire 26-year-old winger Kirill Marchenko was one his team couldn’t pass up.
“I think the most simple way I can put it is there’s a lot of good players in the NHL,” Chayka said Tuesday morning, “(but) very few that can impact winning and can single-handedly dictate outcomes in games.
“We believe that Kirill is one of those players for us.”
The Leafs GM described Marchenko, whom the Leafs acquired in a blockbuster deal that sent Matthew Knies, among others, to the Columbus Blue Jackets, as a “unique talent” with size (6-foot-3 and 201 pounds) and skill who could score and create for others, as well as a right-shooting element for a forward group stuffed mostly with lefties.
Marchenko was signed to a six-year contract extension as part of the deal, with a cap hit of $12.5 million.
“To get the top scorer on a team in his prime and be able to lock him up through those prime years at a number that we think is effective for us,” Chayka said. “You put that all together, we thought it was a special opportunity.”
And the Leafs GM believes he is still growing into his potential.
“That’s the bet,” Chayka said of Marchenko, who registered 27 goals and 67 points in 76 games last season. “We all know what he’s done in Columbus, and it’s been leading his team and being an important player. No different than Columbus is making a bet on what Matthew will do in a different environment. We’re doing the same. We expect that with the centre group we have, and some of the linemates we think we can match him up, the situation we can put him in here, we think there’s more upside.”
The Leafs hope Marchenko can obtain his work visa and play in their season opener Tuesday night against the Montreal Canadiens. Leafs coach Jim Hiller declined to say where Marchenko would slot into the lineup if he is able to play.
Marchenko’s gear, including a blue helmet featuring the No. 86, has already found a spot in the Leafs home dressing room — in the stall that, until Monday, belonged to Knies.
Chayka acknowledged the team was trading away a “great player” in Knies but said: “You gotta give up quality to get quality.”
“All the things I said about him being a unique player in his own right are true,” Chayka said of Knies, who went to the Blue Jackets alongside Steven Lorentz, Emil Andrae and a second-round pick. “I was more focused on what we were acquiring.”
Chayka said he apologized to Knies for the months of trade speculation that ended in his trade to Columbus.
“I don’t think it was necessarily fair to him,” Chayka said. “This was the only thing we seriously considered as a management group.”
As for the other pieces acquired in Monday’s trade, Chayka said goaltender Elvis Merzlikins is one month into a four-to-six-month rehabilitation process following offseason shoulder surgery and that Miles Wood has been assigned to the AHL’s Toronto Marlies. Merzlikins had to waive his no-move clause, as Toronto was on his 10-team no-move list, according to a league source who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss contract details that aren’t public. Merzlikins plans to rehab at his home in Switzerland, which the Leafs have no issue with, the source said.