At one point this past week, it looked like the Boston Bruins were about to win the Kirill Marchenko sweepstakes. Elliotte Friedman mentioned Boston as a potential destination on his podcast, which is always a good sign, and then David Pastrnak and Nikita Zadorov started connecting with him on social media, something that seemed like it could be confirming everything. However, in the end, the Toronto Maple Leafs were the victors for his services.
The Maple Leafs gave up Matthew Knies, Emil Andrae, Steven Lorentz, and a second-round pick in the deal. They also took on the salaries of Miles Wood and Elvis Merzlikins, with neither player guaranteed to play a single game in a Toronto Maple Leafs jersey. The Blue Jackets already waived Wood earlier this week, and Merzlikins underwent shoulder surgery in late August.
Toronto paid a steep price for the Russian winger, and some fans are wondering whether a 23-year-old Knies will be even better than Marchenko in two years, when he is a similar age to Marchenko now. Another issue is that Knies is on a contract paying $7.75 million annually, while their newest acquisition just signed an extension that will pay him $12.5 million.
Any Bruins fan's mind immediately went to what kind of return Boston would've had to give up to acquire Marchenko, and whether it was worth blocking the Maple Leafs from getting him. One asset that would've likely been close in value is Fraser Minten, who has a similar AAV to Knies for the next seven seasons after this one and is young but an NHL roster player, which is something Don Waddell wanted.
Bruins' potential offer for Kirill Marchenko
Filling in the rest of the gaps would've been one of their extra defensemen, maybe Mason Lohrei or Jonathan Aspirot, a depth forward like Michael Eyssimont or even Sean Kuraly in a return to Columbus, and a draft pick, which they have plenty of. This isn't just sour grapes because the Maple Leafs managed to acquire him, but I'm not trading Minten's upside as a two-way center for Marchenko. And it was not wise to give up on Knies for him, either.
The concept of acquiring Marchenko was great when fans wondered if Lohrei, Matthew Poitras, and a first-round pick would've gotten it done. That was a deal fans could've gotten behind. However, giving up Minten or even Pavel Zacha wouldn't have made much sense.
It is unfortunate to see him land with Toronto and turn them into a team that could leapfrog Boston in the Atlantic Division, but the Bruins should be happy with what they are building and that they didn't get convinced to blow up their roster just to beat out the Leafs.
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