Kirill Marchenko reportedly would have preferred to sign with Montreal rather than Toronto, according to Elliotte Friedman

DansLesCoulisses.com
Kirill Marchenko reportedly would have preferred to sign with Montreal rather than Toronto, according to Elliotte Friedman
Credit: Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images

Even though Kirill Marchenko was traded, the stories about him just keep coming.

And this time, it involves the Canadiens.

Appearing on the Real Kyper & Bourne podcast on Monday, Elliotte Friedman revealed that the Russian was set to sign a contract with the Canadiens this summer.

Ultimately, the deal worked out so that he ended up with the Maple Leafs because of the return requested by the Blue Jackets, who had the final say in the decision.

What's interesting is that Friedman wondered whether Marchenko actually wanted to join the Leafs and sign a contract extension.

From what he understood, a while back, Marchenko wasn't really interested in signing with Toronto. Of course, $75 million can convince a lot of people.

Meanwhile, the information Friedman gathered was that the Russian was ready to join the Canadiens, who were really keen to acquire his services.

And this information isn't new. From the way Friedman talks, Marchenko would have been happy to sign with the Canadiens since the beginning of the summer.

That's been a while, considering the evenings are starting to get pretty chilly.

Unfortunately for Kent Hughes and the Canadiens, the Blue Jackets were looking for an established player to replace Marchenko. On the Montreal side, the offer would likely have been based on prospects like Michael Hage or Alexander Zharovsky.


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