Kirill Marchenko had a serious ultimatum for the Maple Leafs before ever playing a game

Newly acquired Toronto Maple Leafs forward Kirill Marchenko had an interesting request from the Leafs before he ever set foot in Toronto.

When the Toronto Maple Leafs traded Matthew Knies, Steven Lorentz, and Emil Andrae to the Columbus Blue Jackets for Kirill Marchenko, Miles Wood, and Elvis Merzlikins, there was one piece of business that needed to get done.

Of course, we are talking about Marchenko's contract extension. In the end, he signed a six-year deal worth $12.5 million per season.

According to Elliotte Friedman on "32 Thoughts," Marchenko gave the Maple Leafs two distinct options during negotiations. They could either sign him for five years for a bit less, or six years for a bit more.

They got the extension verbally done on Monday but it wasn't signed until Tuesday. [...] The Leafs were told they had two choices; 5x12M$ or 6x12.5M$ and they chose the 6x12.5 option

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Now, we know that the Maple Leafs chose the larger option, showcasing that the Leafs actually had a lot of trust in what Marchenko could be.

Marchenko after two games in Toronto

In his first two games with the Toronto Maple Leafs, Marchenko has played on the top line next to Auston Matthews and Jack Roslovic.

Unfortunately, he has not been able to get any points despite some nice flashes of brilliance here and there. Clearly, there is still some work that needs to be done here.

Having said that, if you are a fan of the Maple Leafs, you have to be impressed with Marchenko's skating and his ability to make plays.

Going forward, the Maple Leafs are just going to need their forward to finish around the net and hope that Auston Matthews finds his scoring touch in short order.

If neither of those things happens, there are some Maple Leafs fans who will run out of patience exceptionally fast.

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Matthew Knies makes a statement to John Chayka and the Leafs in Blue Jackets debut