Leafs acquire and extend Kirill Marchenko

[leafsjunkie]

Great see see and hear from you here, Nik. Hope to see you around more often.

I had often wondered where Nik went.

 

[YYZ]

I had often wondered where Nik went.

Yes, we have certainly missed all those 10,000 word diatribes on why you and your post are stupid and wrong.

 

[L K]

Knies for Marchenko I think should have been an even trade straight up basically. Lorentz for Woods is probably advantage Columbus. Woods has 1 additional year left on his deal and carries a $1.15mil higher cap hit. Woods has more of a track record with producing in the NHL though. Then we take on Elvis with some retention, which feels like us doing Columbus a favour more than anything. I wonder if what the long-term play is there... so far nothing has really suggested he'll be on LTIR all year so do the Leafs hope to flip him at some point?

That leaves Andrae and a 2nd rounder feeling like they're just in a void somewhere. Really don't get why those were included.

I agree that I don't get why the 2nd was included.

Knies for Marchenko. We were talking about him being the centrepiece of a Werenski trade in the summer. Marchenko is the better player. Knies is signed long term at a great cap hit. He's not overpaid today and if he grows into his deal he's a steal.

Lorentz and Woods are both useless. We know Lorentz was a nice guy and could kill penalties. Woods carries a bigger cap hit and is slightly meaner but overall still useless.

Mrzliskins - doesn't help or hurt us but taking on LTIR money made more sense than trying to move more bodies out on both sides. I think this is just a nothing event.

Andrae and the 2nd. I don't really understand. If the Leafs felt Blankenburg replaced the value of Andrae I get it. If keeping Rielly made Andrae irrelevant I get moving him. If they really like Rifai's camp and like the potential in Danford I get making it more possible that the team can tap them on the shoulder, I get moving on. But his value should have been more than a throw in. The 2nd is the same.

Now as for Knies. He was disappointing last year. Hurt or not, his game stunk a lot of the time. He put up decent points but it felt like he wasn't fitting in. Knies should have been a who can do well in Berube's dump system and he was pretty quiet. I don't want to read too much into training camp games but he looked slow and like he wasn't fitting in.

Who knows what was going on behind the scenes. Trade rumours are one thing. The Montreal docuseries made it pretty clear just how close he was to moving. Then the Werenski rumours got going in the summer. I don't know how committed to Toronto I would be after that.

Hopefully Kirill gets here quick and is able to play tomorrow but we are a better team with him either way and ultimately while losing Knies sucks, we didn't lose anything of on ice value beyond that.

 

[mr grieves]

I was promised a Werenski.

Marchenko's pretty highly regarded in The Athletic's player tiers., and the highlight reel is really exciting. But I'm a bit bummed they turned Knies, who, on paper, looks like a power forward unicorn that a lot of GMs would love to trade for, into another winger, albeit one who's better. I skipped most of last season so, mmv, but I liked Knies and would've felt parting with him for something in a more premium position (1D and 2C are the team's two biggest needs).

Still, excited to see how this whole thing fits together. It's a real DNA change.

 

[ZBBM]

Now I gotta change my spreadsheet and it's making me nervous.

 

[Peter D.]

Keeping Knies would obviously be nice, but to trade up is worth it. Extra pieces and all.

Plus, are we even sure Knies will be as good away from Matthews and playing with Fantilli? He was always a good player who hit the jackpot situationally. If he gets 60 and Marchenko puts up 35/75, which is a possibility, I wouldn't even think twice about this deal looking back.

 

[Nik]

Yes, we have certainly missed all those 10,000 word diatribes on why you and your post are stupid and wrong.

I've cut it down from 10,000 to 8.

 

[Zee]

Marchenko's pretty highly regarded in The Athletic's player tiers., and the highlight reel is really exciting. But I'm a bit bummed they turned Knies, who, on paper, looks like a power forward unicorn that a lot of GMs would love to trade for, into another winger, albeit one who's better. I skipped most of last season so, mmv, but I liked Knies and would've felt parting with him for something in a more premium position (1D and 2C are the team's two biggest needs).

Still, excited to see how this whole thing fits together. It's a real DNA change.

Funny I'm in the same boat as you. I pretty much ignored the Leafs last season as I saw pretty quickly the team and system were garbage. This is a lot change year over year, I guess we'll see if it works. I'm actually looking forward to it again.

 

[Bender]

Keeping Knies would obviously be nice, but to trade up is worth it. Extra pieces and all.

Plus, are we even sure Knies will be as good away from Matthews and playing with Fantilli? He was always a good player who hit the jackpot situationally. If he gets 60 and Marchenko puts up 35/75, which is a possibility, I wouldn't even think twice about this deal looking back.

I mean by all accounts that I've heard is Marchenkos the better player today almost unanimously. They have to, and I mean HAVE to be right about this for this to work but how many times have people referenced Sam Pollock in getting the best player in the trade? If Marchenko is the better, more versatile player then at least the ethos of getting better is there. They also have to be thinking the cap will be less relevant in the coming years.

 

[rjd]

I've cut it down from 10,000 to 8.

Did A.I. help you?