After Jordan, Ontario’s John Chayka pulled off one last trade Monday afternoon before the start of the new National Hockey League season, the Toronto Maple Leafs open their 2026-27 season at home Tuesday evening against the Montreal Canadiens.
Chayka, the Maple Leafs first year general manager, dealt forward Matthew Knies to the Columbus Blue Jackets for a return package that included forward Kirill Marchenko.
The Leafs then signed Marchenko to a six-year $75-million dollar extension.
The Russian forward had 27 goals and 67 points last season. Knies had 23 tallies and 66 points in comparison.
The acquisition of Marchenko means Toronto will have at least 10 new faces in their lineup to begin their season including two-time Stanley Cup champion goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky.
Despite his resume, Bobrovsky’s numbers were not good with the Florida Panthers last season. The Russian netminder posted a 3.07 goals against average, and career worse .877 save-percentage.
Of course all eyes will be on 2026 first overall draft pick Gavin McKenna, and a healthier, more focused, Auston Matthews.
“It feels like everybody’s on the same page and ready to work, do what’s best for the team, and leave it all out there every single night,” said Matthews.
Chayka also brought in a new head coach in Jim Hiller.
“The uncertainty is we have a lot of new faces coming together. If we can get some chemistry and get everybody on the same page… we should have a good season,” Chayka said.
The Maple Leafs will play four straight home games to begin the season. Will the blue and white faithful jump on the bandwagon early? We’ll soon find out.
Down the Queen Elizabeth Way, and over the Peace Bridge in Buffalo, the Sabres are coming off their first playoff appearance in 14 seasons. Many wonder if their upswing will continue during this campaign.
Buffalo lost 33-goal, 66-point, forward Alex Tuch to free-agency, but think their young forward group can pick up the slack.
Tage Thompson is a proven goalscorer coming off a 40-goal, 81-point season, while captain Rasmus Dahlin is a top-five blueliner in the league.
Buffalo’s biggest off-season acquisition is fellow defenseman, 22-year old Olen Zellweger, who was picked up in a trade with the Anaheim Ducks.
Zelleweger had seven goals and 22 points last season, and is considered an elite skater with a big upside.
The Sabres biggest question mark is starting the season, again, with three goaltenders in Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, Alex Lyon and Colten Ellis
General Manager Jarmo Kekäläinen will have to pull the trigger on a trade – eventually.
“Now everybody wants our head because we did well last year, and they know that we have a good team, so they’re coming after us,” Kekäläinen said. “We better be ready.”
“We’ve earned those expectations with the way we played, but expectations, they’re not going to win us games,” added Ruff. “How hard we work and how hard we compete, that’ll be the difference. But we’ve put ourselves in a position where we’ve got a standard now that we really like.”
Buffalo opens its season Thursday night in Columbus. The Sabres home opener is Saturday against Chicago.
Rod Mawhood is a lifelong Niagara native who has had the pleasure of working in all three mediums – Radio, Print and TV – for over 20 years. His first announcing gig was with the then St. Catharines Stompers. Since then he’s worked in radio and TV in Toronto, and currently is the announcer for the Niagara IceDogs and Niagara River Lions.
Rod also covers the Buffalo Bills for FOX Sports and the Buffalo Sabres for NBC Sports.
