The Columbus Blue Jackets completed a franchise-altering deal on Monday, sending star forward Kirill Marchenko and two players to the Toronto Maple Leafs in exchange for forwards Matthew Knies and Steven Lorentz, defenceman Emil Andrae and a second-round pick.
Marchenko signed a six-year contract with a $12.5 million average annual value upon the completion of the deal, setting both franchises up with new roster outlooks moving forward.
Blue Jackets general manager and president of hockey operations Don Waddell joined First Up on TSN1050 to discuss how the deal went down, what has him excited about Knies and his thoughts on the new Leafs forward Marchenko.
“I was talking to a lot of teams, and made it really clear to a lot of teams we were talking to: ‘We don’t need prospects and picks, we need players. We need to replace some goals by Marchenko and we also need a defenceman,’” Waddell said of his negotiations with teams surrounding a potential Marchenko deal.
The 24-year-old Marchenko, who is coming off another strong season in Columbus in which he scored 27 goals and finished with 67 points in 76 games, was at the centre of trade rumours throughout the summer after it became clear that he was not interested in signing a long-term extension in Columbus. He was scheduled to be a restricted free agent at the conclusion of the 2026-27 season.
“It’s difficult [to trade a player of his calibre], but I was right up front with Marchenko and his agent, [saying] that we’re not trading him just because he wants to be traded. We gotta get the pieces that we feel are going to help the Columbus Blue Jackets,” Waddell said.
“Our goal wasn’t to just take prospects and picks. We came close the past few years, obviously missed the playoffs last year, and we didn’t want to take a step back. So throughout the whole conversation - not just with [Maple Leafs general manager] John [Chayka], but with other teams, too - we made it really clear what we were looking for.
“It’s always difficult to make that kind of big trade, but at the end of the day, we felt that this made a lot of sense for our hockey team and decided to pull the trigger.”
The trade, that also sent goaltender Elvis Merzlikins and forward Miles Wood to the Maple Leafs, came right down to the 5 p.m. ET deadline by which NHL clubs had to submit their rosters for the upcoming season. It took work from both sides to come to an agreement before then.
“[Chayka and I] talked Sunday,” Waddell said. “Monday morning we started exchanging some names and then, I gotta be honest, at 4:30 I thought it wasn’t going to happen. John and I kept talking, found a solution, and ended up getting the deal done right before five.”
Knies was also involved in trade rumours dating back to last season’s trade deadline, and Waddell is excited about adding the forward to his roster in Columbus.
“We put a lot of time into Matthew,” Waddell said. “I had all our scouts make sure we watched everything we could possibly watch. At the end of the day, we thought he’s a young kid - and the cost certainly plays a part, it doesn’t hurt that the contract is obviously good, we think.”
Knies is entering the second year of a six-year contract he signed with the Maple Leafs that carries an AAV of $7.75 million and is coming off a productive season where he scored 23 goals and finished with 66 points in 79 games.
“We thought that he could come in and be a player that we thought could compliment a guy like Adam Fantilli, a more up-and-down winger that can go to the net, can finish checks, and he’s got skill, obviously. We thought those pieces, with what we had already, would compliment what we have going on down the middle. So we made a decision to move forward.”
The Maple Leafs have placed Merzlikins, who waived his 10-team no-trade clause for the deal, on LTIR as he continues to recover from off-season shoulder surgery, while Wood has been sent down to the AHL’s Toronto Marlies to begin the season. Marchenko notched an assist in his Maple Leafs debut in Tuesday’s 3-2 loss to the Montreal Canadiens.
“[They’re] getting a really good player,” Waddell said of Marchenko. “These trades don’t happen without good players involved.
“Marchy’s a really skilled guy. Great one-timer. I know he had a golden chance [on Tuesday] in the first period, and he didn’t get all of it. Usually he’ll get that and it’s going in the net. He’s a very creative player and the hockey sense is very good.”
The Maple Leafs and Blue Jackets will meet in Columbus on Oct. 20 as the players involved face their former teams.
