Canadiens: Three players from the current roster were offered in exchange for Kirill Marchenko

Charles-Alexis Brisebois
Canadiens: Three players from the current roster were offered in exchange for Kirill Marchenko
Credit: Mark Blinch/NHLI via Getty Images

Kirill Marchenko is in Toronto—even though he wanted to play for the Canadiens.

Of course, we know the Canadiens couldn't reach an agreement with the Blue Jackets on the price to be paid for a trade. Everyone knows that, in fact.

The Maple Leafs, for their part, had Matthew Knies to offer. And Columbus didn't want just prospects.

But it's still interesting to note that, according to what Frank Seravalli reports in an article on casino/org, the Habs were still willing to give up current roster players.

In fact, the Habs reportedly were willing to part with three players from the current roster.

Seravalli mentions two forwards and one defenseman. There was also a first-round pick and another conditional pick, which could have turned into a first-round pick.

Pretty wild, huh?

What we do know, however, is that Juraj Slafkovsky, Cole Caufield, and Ivan Demidov were not options. Nick Suzuki and Lane Hutson weren't mentioned, but I imagine they were never even discussed.

I'm not at all surprised to hear this. Trading Slaf for Marchenko would have been like robbing Peter to pay Paul—but with clothes that don't fit as well as they used to.

So we now have a better idea of what the Canadiens were willing to do to land Marchenko, who reportedly received a lucrative contract extension. The team was willing to give up a lot, but not to touch its core.

That makes sense.

Following that same logic, one has to wonder what Dylan Larkin would cost. But since the Habs have lost some bargaining power and the player isn't an issue in Detroit right now…

But that doesn't change anything: the guy doesn't want to come to Canada.


In a nutshell

– Oh.

– Good news.

– Well done.

– Must-read.

– Phew.

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