Surprise: Nothing’s happening with Kirill Marchenko, according to Aaron Portzline

Charles-Alexis Brisebois
Surprise: Nothing’s happening with Kirill Marchenko, according to Aaron Portzline
Credit: Kirk Irwin/NHLI via Getty Images

The hot topic in the NHL right now is Kirill Marchenko and a potential trade.

Why? Because, according to an interview from Russia, it's a race between two teams—and the Canadiens are clearly one of them. Because David Ettedgui said the Canadiens were at the top of the list and that the Habs' front office was in full control of the situation.

And that's not to mention the fact that his agent has been fanning the flames on X on several occasions.

We can all agree that Marchenko's agent (who also represents the interests of key Russian figures within the Canadiens' organization, including Ivan Demidov and Alexandre Texier) needs to calm down.

Seeing him act this way doesn't look great, to say the least.

But in reality, we have to ask ourselves why he's acting this way. After all, his goal as a player agent is to protect his client's interests.

That said, his goal is also to ensure his client gets what he wants. Often, that comes through a contract. But sometimes, it can come through other means.

Is Dan Milstein trying to push things forward so his client can switch teams? If so, is this the right approach?

I'm wondering because, according to Aaron Portzline, who covers the Blue Jackets for The Athletic, there's “nothing new” happening with the situation. The reporter believes the Blue Jackets haven't received any calls regarding him since the start of the summer.

He leaves the door open for that to change, of course. But this contradicts what's been coming out for hours.

My sense is that everyone is using the media a bit to pull the blanket over their own side. And that's true regardless of who's right in this whole story.

It's not in the Blue Jackets' best interest for all of this to be out in the open. We saw how it affected the club in the Zach Werenski case.

But if the player wants to leave (for Montreal or elsewhere), bringing the matter into the open could put pressure on his current team. We'll have to wait and see, in any case.


In a nutshell

– Here we go.

– Well.

– Must-read.

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