Kirill Marchenko will play tonight

All right.

It's now official: Kirill Marchenko will be in uniform tonight against the Montreal Canadiens.

He'll play his first game in the blue-and-white uniform of the Toronto Maple Leafs. It looks promising…

Kirill Marchenko will indeed make his Maple Leafs debut tonight against Montreal

— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) September 29, 2026

Everything is in place, then, for both teams to put on a great show. On one side, the Canadiens' young players are hungry for success… and on the other, the Leafs will want to prove they're not here to mess around.

And I wonder just how much having Marchenko in the lineup will motivate the rest of his teammates… 

I hate to be the one to say it out loud, but…

If I had money to bet, I'd bet that Marchenko is going to score (at least) one tonight. It seems like these things happen all the time—especially against the Canadiens: I tend to think the Russian is going to go all out to send a message to his new management, but also to the Canadiens'…

In any case, we can all agree that it's still exciting.

I'm also wondering who Marchenko will be playing with tonight… but one thing is for sure: the Russian will be in good company because there's plenty of talent in the Leafs' top six.

And that's what scares me a little, it seems…

Overtime

On the Daily Faceoff website, Marchenko is listed on the second line with John Tavares and Gavin McKenna.

The Habs will have to be careful when those three guys are on the ice if it stays that way…