John Chayka reveals why the Maple Leafs targeted Kirill Marchenko

The Toronto Maple Leafs rattled a bit of the hockey world when they made a season-opening blockbuster trade to acquire star winger Kirill Marchenko from the Columbus Blue Jackets. And while it might be as obvious as getting a very good player, we now know the specific reason why the Leafs targeted Marchenko.

On the morning of the Leafs' season opener, general manager John Chayka addressed the media. While he would have done this anyways to field questions all about the start of the season and what expectations are and what other little minor details he can comb over for all of us, now there is a much bigger topic and Chayka got to go over why the trade was made.

More specifically, Chayka got into what he sees in Marchenko and what he adds to the Leafs roster.

"Obviously, it's a combination of size and skill. His ability to be a dual threat, make plays and score goals. Great shot, honestly, but he balanced out some of the handedness for us and just gave us different options on the power play and throughout the offensive zone, hopefully," Chayka told reporters Tuesday morning. "And again, to really get the top scorer on a team in his prime, be able to lock him up through those prime years at a number that we think is effective for us."

In a few sentences, Chayka really just laid it all out there. Marchenko is a powerful winger that has otherworldly skill on top of it. He is a playdriver more than anything and can score a whole lot of goals in the right environment.

That is a great player to have in a vacuum, but with the context of the Leafs giving up Matthew Knies in the deal, it provides an interesting wrinkle to Chayka's words.

Leafs getting a different look with Marchenko-Knies swap

By swapping out Knies for Marchenko, Chayka admits that handedness was a thing he was paying attention to and wanted to clear some room. It's such a small thing but considering just how detail-oriented Chayka works, it makes so much sense.

Knies was another left-handed shot among so many left-handed shots competing for that same role. Wirth the addition of Gavin McKenna and the hope that Easton Cowan can make a jump, those are two young lefties who were below Knies on the depth chart and should now be given more runway for a bigger role.

Now, if the top six looks as expected, the Leafs can line up with the same handedness for both lines. McKenna and Cowan on the left, Auston Matthews and John Tavares are two left-handed centers, and then William Nylander and Marchenko as two right-handed right wingers. It's a setup that can work well for familiarity and how they all work together.

And that's just at 5-on-5, now with Marchenko being right-handed coming on the top-unit power play, there can be the perfect trigger man on the left faceoff dot as Nylander works the halfboards, Tavares at the netfront, Matthews in the bumper, and Darren Raddysh at the point. The sticks all align so much tidier now.

Again, it's a minor detail but could lead to a whole lot of success and considering just how volatile this Leafs season could be, any little tweak or adjustment to be that much better, should be made.

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