Big news breaking just around the time that NHL teams needed to lock in their opening day rosters:
As part of the deal, Marchenko is getting a new contract that will kick in next season, per his agent:
Losing Marchenko hurts. He is a great personality and was arguably the best CBJ forward over the last two years. He’s a great goal scorer and he drives play as well. But, for whatever reason, he had made it clear that he was not interested in playing for the Jackets beyond this season.
Matthew Knies is a younger player than Marchy, and is locked in for five seasons (including this one) at $7.75M AAV. He has 67 goals and 93 assists in 240 games for Toronto.
In addition, the Blue Jackets unload Elvis Merzlikins’ contract in order to make the cap work out. His recovery from shoulder surgery was going to cause him to miss much of this season, anyway. Miles Wood and his contract, a portion of which would have been parked in Cleveland, also is thrown in
More to come about the other pieces we’ve received…