Kirill Marchenko traded to Maple Leafs and signs six-year, $75M deal

On the eve of the NHL regular season, the Toronto Maple Leafs have reshaped their core with a blockbuster trade for Columbus Blue Jackets winger Kirill Marchenko, then locked him up on a six-year, $75-million contract extension. The new deal keeps Marchenko under contract in Toronto through the end of the 2032-33 season and resolves months of uncertainty about his long-term future.

Leafs land Marchenko, Wood and Merzlikins in multi-player swap

In the deal, the Maple Leafs receive forwards Kirill Marchenko and Miles Wood along with goaltender Elvis Merzlikins. Heading to Columbus are forward Matthew Knies, centre Steven Lorentz, defenceman Emil Andrae and a conditional second-round pick in the 2027 NHL Draft.

Marchenko, originally a second-round pick by the Blue Jackets in 2018, broke into the NHL in 2022-23, posting 25 points in 59 games, including 21 goals. Over four seasons with Columbus, he has compiled 208 points across 292 games and led the club in goals in each of the past three campaigns. His most productive year came in 2024-25, when he scored 31 goals and finished with 74 points in 79 games.

The extension in Toronto follows a stretch in which his status in Columbus was the subject of steady speculation. Reports had suggested Marchenko was not prepared to commit to a new deal once his current three-year, $11.5-million contract concluded at the end of this season.

Merzlikins will also join the Maple Leafs, but he is currently sidelined indefinitely after undergoing shoulder surgery in the off-season. Over the past three years with the Blue Jackets, the 32-year-old netminder has appeared in 124 games, posting a .890 save percentage and a 3.34 goals-against average.

Knies headlines Blue Jackets’ return and arrives signed long term

The key asset going to Columbus is Knies, who was drafted in the second round by Toronto in 2021 and made his NHL debut late in the 2022-23 season. At age 23, he is coming off a 23-goal, 66-point season and has amassed 160 points over 240 career games with the Maple Leafs.

Knies joins the Blue Jackets at the outset of the second season of a six-year, $46.5-million extension that carries a $7.75-million average annual value and runs through 2031. Alongside Knies, Columbus adds depth in Lorentz and a young blueline piece in Andrae, plus future draft capital with the conditional 2027 second-round selection.

For Toronto, the move brings in an established goal-scorer in Marchenko and additional depth in net with Merzlikins, even as he recovers from injury. For Columbus, it marks a significant pivot toward building around a younger forward in Knies, reshaping both teams’ outlooks just as the new season begins.