TORONTO — Four days after the blockbuster that brought him to Toronto, two days after his second game in a Maple Leafs sweater, Kirill Marchenko took the ice Friday for his first practice with his new club.
The former Columbus Blue Jackets winger showed glimpses of his all-world skill in that first pair of short-notice tilts on Tuesday and Wednesday, stringing together some dangerous sequences with new linemates Auston Matthews and Jack Roslovic, and coming up with a few dazzling individual efforts, too.
Then came a chance to breathe Thursday, to get his bearings. The 26-year-old took his mind off the game, he said, relaxing at the hotel with his cat, Alex — a striped, orange Toyger who joined his family a year and a half ago — and began his search for a new house in his new city.
Friday morning brought a return to business, Marchenko taking the ice at the club's practice facility in Etobicoke, Ont., with an eye on building more chemistry with his new on-ice mates.
“I’m really happy,” the winger said from the club’s locker room at the Ford Performance Centre on Friday afternoon, fresh off a skate that saw him, Matthews and Roslovic deep in conversation on the bench between drills. “It’s giving me some confidence, feel the ice, and feel my partners together. Because two games, zero practice, it’s kind of tough. Now, I’m happy, happy to practice with our line today — we feel each other a little bit. It’s nice. It’s a little bit of chemistry here.”
Much has been made of Marchenko slotting in on the left side of the top line, in the spot formerly held by Matthew Knies, despite playing primarily as a right winger during his time in Columbus. But the shift to the left is, in fact, a return to Marchenko’s natural position, rather than an experiment.
“I am from Russia, guys. In Russia, I grew up as a left winger until 22,” he said. “It’s kind of my side for full life. Only in the NHL I start to play right. It’s a little different sometimes, but the game right now is so fast, it’s a lot of changes on the ice — sometimes I’m in the middle, sometimes on the right, it doesn’t matter for me. I’m just happy to play with these guys.”
That comfort level has been a welcome development for head coach Jim Hiller, who said Friday he likes the right-handed Marchenko playing on the left side.
“I actually prefer the players on their off-hands. Not all of them like to play that way, but the ones that do, I think have a lot of success,” the coach said, pointing out that such a shift opens up new possibilities on the wings. “There’s two things. Everybody’s so aggressive with pinching now, on the walls, and you can protect the puck a little bit better, you don’t expose it as much. And the obvious one is when you come in over the blue line with a little bit of time and space, it’s easier to cut in on your forehand and be a threat to shoot into the middle.”
The Scotiabank Arena faithful already got a preview of that aspect of the arrangement, Marchenko coming up with a few promising dashes down the left wing Tuesday and Wednesday, which saw him cut into the slot and test the opposing netminders.
“He’s so skilled,” countryman Sergei Bobrovsky said of the club’s newest recruit. “He’s got a long stick, he’s very coordinated, he sees the rink well. He skates pretty good, he uses his size. His shot is good too — with the long stick, he’s got a quick release. So he’s very smart offensively, and very skilled offensively. And his personality is great, too. He’s going to be a great addition to the locker room.”
Given all he managed to show through his first two games — amid a whirlwind move from Ohio, and having never skated with this team before — expectations are high for what the winger can do as he continues to get settled with his new organization. Some familiarity in the room, in Bobrovsky and in former Blue Jackets teammate Jack Roslovic too, is helping streamline that process.
“We already talked for three hours, and he helped me — he explained what’s going on here, how to drive to the practice rink, how to drive to the game arena,” Marchenko said, pointing out that even this is an adjustment, as Columbus held skates and games at the same rink. “Here is different. He explained to me all the small details, about the city, and traffic.
“But, actually, I lived the last couple summers in Moscow, so I know traffic.”
Whitehorse’s own McKenna, Cozens to face off in Saturday’s Battle of Ontario
While plenty of the chatter around Saturday’s meeting with the Ottawa Senators is focused on a certain Maple Leafs associate coach who happens to also be a Sens legend, the tilt will be a meaningful one for two other members of the Battle of Ontario, too — the first meeting on NHL ice for two of Whitehorse, Yukon’s favourite sons, Gavin McKenna and Dylan Cozens.
“I skated with him in Muskoka at the end of summer there, and talked to him a little bit about it — it’ll be super cool,” the Maple Leafs rookie said Friday. “It’ll be amazing for our community to have two Whitehorse people finally play each other in the NHL. I know there’ll be a lot of people from back home watching on TV, so it’ll be a special moment.”
“Obviously, I would’ve liked to see him go out west, probably,” Cozens told reporters in Ottawa last month with a chuckle when asked about McKenna’s arrival in Toronto. “But you know, seeing another kid from Whitehorse have the success that he’s had, it’s pretty awesome to see. I’ve known him for a long time, he’s really good friends with my younger brother. … It’s just pretty cool seeing a Yukon kid doing what he’s done.”
With his first two games under his belt, the 2026 No. 1 pick heads into Saturday’s game looking to put his first points on the board. He’ll have his family in the building once again, and plenty of hopeful onlookers back home in the Yukon, too.
“I’ve been getting a lot of support, a lot of text messages, people trying to pump me up and stuff,” he said of the response back home to his first two games. “Whenever I get a text from people back home, it’s super heartfelt, they’re all amazing people and they all support me. That community’s been amazing to me. They’ll always be my home."
Bobrovsky clears up confusion about joining McKenna’s rookie lap
Speaking of the teenage phenom, much was made of McKenna’s rookie lap Tuesday that featured a surprise guest. The young Leaf took the ice for his solo spin ahead of the club’s season opener against Montreal, but not before the veteran Bobrovsky strolled out onto the sheet for his usual routine, too.
While some wondered whether the netminder was perhaps upholding some superstition in taking the ice first, as he usually does, the 38-year-old suggested Friday it was an honest mistake.
“I just completely forgot,” Bobrovsky said. “I didn’t think about it, I completely forgot. I came to him and also told him.”
“I pretended that it’s my first game, too,” he added with a chuckle. “No, I didn’t mean to do that. It just happened by accident.”
The two-time Stanley Cup champion heaped praise on the young winger after Friday's skate, lauding the skill McKenna has shown through his first few weeks in the big leagues.
“He’s an excellent talent,” Bobrovsky said. “He’s a young kid, but what he can do on the ice — the ability to skate, to do things with the puck, how he sees the rink — it’s impressive. I don’t know how kids are doing that at 18 years old, that they can play hockey that well.”
Maple Leafs lines Friday:
Marchenko — Matthews — Roslovic
McKenna — Tavares — Nylander
Cowan — Paul — Sissons
Duhaime — Blueger — Groulx
MacEwan
McCabe — Tanev
Rielly — Raddysh
Ekman-Larsson — Stecher
Blankenburg
Bobrovsky
Stolarz
