The Toronto Maple Leafs are reportedly acquiring star winger Kirill Marchenko from the Columbus Blue Jackets in what should be an incredibly interesting early-season blockbuster trade. And now, we know more of the pieces involved.
Hours have passed since Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman first reported that the Leafs are going to be landing Marchenko, but it has been very quiet since then. Typically, the trade starts to spill out over the next several minutes but now we're left wondering who else is going to be involved and what this trade is going to look like.
We at least have some more answers.
Matthew Knies is heading to the Blue Jackets, Leafs get a goalie
It has been confirmed by TSN's Pierre LeBrun and other reporters, that part of the package that Toronto is going to be sending Columbus will be 23-year-old winger Matthew Knies. The Leafs have gone from almost moving him to an archrival team under past management (which would have been a terrible mistake) to now getting a winger who is in his prime and could certainly fit this team's new motive to get better offensively.
The proposed Leafs-Blue Jackets trade involves multiple pieces, including Knies and Marchenko, and it's not a done deal yet. Both teams still working through things. Plus Leafs negotiating with Marchenko's agent Dan Milstein.
— Pierre LeBrun (@PierreVLeBrun) September 28, 2026
As LeBrun mentions, both teams are still working on things and as others have reported, this all hinges on a contract extension getting done. Marchenko is a restricted free agent next summer and is going to want a pretty sizeable pay raise from his current $3.85-million AAV. It could certainly be adding another $10 million to that salary.
That is certainly the hold up currently. Team and player working through an extension as well as finalizing a contract.
But, we do have some more players to add to the trade.
I believe Toronto is taking Elvis Merzlikins if this goes through
— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) September 28, 2026
According to Friedman, the Leafs are also going to be acquiring goaltender Elvis Merzlikins in the deal.
While it might seem incredibly odd on its face, since the Leafs' tandem is set in stone with Sergei Bobrovsky and Anthony Stolarz, this is purely a financial move. Merzlikins is recovering from a massive shoulder surgery and it is doubtful that he's even going to be playing this season, which means this is purely for Long-Term Injured Reserve purposes.
Merzlikins has one year left on his contract at a cap hit of $5.4-million AAV. Under the new CBA, the maximum a team can go over the cap by putting a player on LTIR for the 2026-27 season is $3,973,228. But if a player is deemed to be out for the entire season, they can rule them out and get the entire cap hit in overages. So, if it is confirmed that Merzlikins is out for the entire season and they want to make that ruling official, then the Leafs can basically just be up to their old tricks and play with LTIR to get some cap flexibility.
At the time of writing, those are the only players we know that are involved. LeBrun has mentioned "multiple" players are involved and we doubt the deal is just Knies for Marchenko and a cap dump.
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