{"id":926904,"date":"2026-10-09T19:54:12","date_gmt":"2026-10-09T19:54:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/926904\/"},"modified":"2026-10-09T19:54:12","modified_gmt":"2026-10-09T19:54:12","slug":"how-maple-leafs-marchenko-is-making-presence-felt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/926904\/","title":{"rendered":"How Maple Leafs’ Marchenko is making presence felt"},"content":{"rendered":"

On the eve of the season, the Toronto Maple Leafs<\/a> traded their most valuable asset (Matthew Knies) for Marchenko, then signed him to a contract that will make him one of the NHL\u2019s most well-compensated forwards starting next season ($12.5 million per year).<\/p>\n

With the obvious caveat that Marchenko has played only five games, he has quickly made his presence felt with the Maple Leafs. Toronto\u2019s new top-line left winger has four points and is doing what general manager John Chayka hoped he would.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ve got to be able to dictate play consistently and sustainably if you do want to win the majority of your games, and (Marchenko) does that. He has a history of doing that,\u201d Chayka said on Real Kyper & Bourne<\/a> last week. \u201cWe felt like it (would make) a material difference to our outcomes to have another player like that.\u201d<\/p>\n

During Knies\u2019 time in Toronto, he was seen as more of a complementary player who benefited from his association with Auston Matthews. Marchenko, meanwhile, demonstrated an ability to drive play at a high level while with the Columbus Blue Jackets.<\/p>\n

\"\"\/<\/p>\n

In that regard, Marchenko has already made a positive impact for the Maple Leafs in the early going. Toronto has generated 57.5 per cent of the expected goals (xGF%) at five-on-five during Marchenko\u2019s minutes, winning the inner-slot shot (8-3) and high-danger scoring chance (16-10) battles.<\/p>\n

A lot of that has to do with Marchenko\u2019s top-end speed and puck-transporting ability. He ranks among the league\u2019s forward leaders in slot carries (22), rush scoring chances (nine) and 20-22 m.p.h. speed bursts<\/a> (19) in all situations.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of times, a player can skate really well, they get the puck, and they slow down a little bit,\u201d Maple Leafs coach Jim Hiller told reporters. \u201cHe\u2019s one of those guys (who) seems to accelerate with the puck. I know he loves having the puck. \u2026 He\u2019s a shot threat, and he distributes, so there\u2019s lots there for us.\u201d <\/p>\n

Marchenko, a natural left winger who played primarily on the right side<\/a> in Columbus, has settled into Knies\u2019 old spot alongside Matthews and Jack Roslovic. It is hard to argue with the underlying results so far. They have heavily tilted the ice in Toronto\u2019s favour, posting a 63.8 xGF% at five-on-five in 45:36 of ice time.<\/p>\n

Despite the territorial dominance, Roslovic\u2019s goal Thursday was the top line\u2019s first at five-on-five this season.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that\u2019s just the way it goes sometimes,\u201d Hiller told reporters about the top line\u2019s lack of goal production. \u201cThose are really good looks. Some have been crossbars and posts and stuff on top of that. Those are just really good looks. Those will start to go. If you create those types of Grade-A chances, they\u2019re going to go.\u201d<\/p>\n

Marchenko, who has scored once this season, is getting to the right part of the ice; more than 75 per cent of his total shot attempts have come from the slot (25 of 33). However, only 48 per cent of his slot attempts (scoring chances) have hit the net (12 of 25). Nine have been blocked. Last season, 57.1 per cent of Marchenko\u2019s scoring chances hit the net, leading to 24 of his 27 goals.<\/p>\n

Understandably, there is a ton of pressure on Marchenko to justify his contract before it even starts. Such is life in the fishbowl that is Toronto. So far, Marchenko\u2019s process appears to be in good shape and should eventually result in more offensive production.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce he gets settled in and the more time we get together,\u201d Matthews told reporters, \u201cthe chemistry is going to build more and more.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On the eve of the season, the Toronto Maple Leafs traded their most valuable asset (Matthew Knies) for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":926905,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[433],"tags":[49,48,448,82],"class_list":["post-926904","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/926904","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=926904"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/926904\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/926905"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=926904"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=926904"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=926904"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}