{"id":909905,"date":"2026-09-29T14:56:08","date_gmt":"2026-09-29T14:56:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/909905\/"},"modified":"2026-09-29T14:56:08","modified_gmt":"2026-09-29T14:56:08","slug":"toronto-maple-leafs-gm-john-chayka-elvis-merzlikins-out-three-to-five-months-miles-wood-to-play-with-marlies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/909905\/","title":{"rendered":"Toronto Maple Leafs GM John Chayka: Elvis Merzlikins out three-to-five months; Miles Wood to play with Marlies"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"c-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tsn.ca\/nhl\/team-page\/toronto-maple-leafs\/10\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.tsn.ca\/nhl\/team-page\/toronto-maple-leafs\/10\" target=\"_blank\">Toronto Maple Leafs<\/a> general manager John Chayka said Tuesday that newly acquired goaltender <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tsn.ca\/nhl\/player\/elvis-merzlikins\/8478007\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.tsn.ca\/nhl\/player\/elvis-merzlikins\/8478007\" target=\"_blank\">Elvis Merzlikins<\/a> is out another three-to-five months after undergoing shoulder surgery earlier this off-season.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Merzlikins was acquired Monday in the blockbuster that saw the Maple Leafs land centrepiece <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tsn.ca\/nhl\/player\/kirill-marchenko\/8480893\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.tsn.ca\/nhl\/player\/kirill-marchenko\/8480893\" target=\"_blank\">Kirill Marchenko<\/a> as well as forward <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tsn.ca\/nhl\/player\/miles-wood\/8477425\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.tsn.ca\/nhl\/player\/miles-wood\/8477425\" target=\"_blank\">Miles Wood<\/a> from the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tsn.ca\/nhl\/team-page\/columbus-blue-jackets\/29\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.tsn.ca\/nhl\/team-page\/columbus-blue-jackets\/29\" target=\"_blank\">Columbus Blue Jackets<\/a> for forwards <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tsn.ca\/nhl\/player\/matthew-knies\/8482720\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.tsn.ca\/nhl\/player\/matthew-knies\/8482720\" target=\"_blank\">Matthew Knies<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tsn.ca\/nhl\/player\/steven-lorentz\/8478904\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.tsn.ca\/nhl\/player\/steven-lorentz\/8478904\" target=\"_blank\">Steven Lorentz<\/a>, defenceman <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tsn.ca\/nhl\/player\/emil-andrae\/8482126\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.tsn.ca\/nhl\/player\/emil-andrae\/8482126\" target=\"_blank\">Emil Andrae<\/a> and a 2027 second-round pick. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Chayka added Tuesday that Wood will start the season with the AHL\u2019s Toronto Marlies. The 31-year-old winger, who posted eight goals and 14 points in 54 games with Columbus last season, is signed through the 2028-29 season at a cap hit of $2.5 million. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">The Blue Jackets had not previously revealed a timeline on Merzlikins, who had surgery in August. The 32-year-old netminder had a 14-11-3 record with the Blue Jackets last season with an .883 save percentage and 3.40 goals-against average. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Merzlikins is entering the final season of a five-year, $27 million contract that carries a cap hit of $5.4 million. He is scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent at the end of the 2026-27 campaign.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">It remains unclear if Marchenko will make his Maple Leafs debut as the team opens the season on Tuesday. Chayka said the team is hopeful he will face the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tsn.ca\/nhl\/team-page\/montreal-canadiens\/8\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.tsn.ca\/nhl\/team-page\/montreal-canadiens\/8\" target=\"_blank\">Montreal Canadiens<\/a> but his status remains to be determined as he works through receiving his work visa.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Toronto Maple Leafs general manager John Chayka said Tuesday that newly acquired goaltender Elvis Merzlikins is out another&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":909906,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[556],"tags":[16159,64,63,477967,398689,477968,575,85,113126],"class_list":["post-909905","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-apple-news","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-elvis-merzlikins-sports-hockey-player-player-nhl-api-8478007","tag-kirill-marchenko-sports-hockey-player-player-nhl-api-8480893","tag-miles-wood-sports-hockey-player-player-nhl-api-8477425","tag-nhl","tag-sports","tag-toronto-maple-leafs-sports-hockey-team-team-nhl-api-10"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/909905","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=909905"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/909905\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/909906"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=909905"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=909905"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=909905"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}