Surprising team almost snatched Kirill Marchenko away from the Maple Leafs

Although the Maple Leafs walked away with Kirill Marchenko, there was another team who was kicking tires on the forward who no one would have expected.

In a stunning trade that is still being felt today, the Toronto Maple Leafs traded young power forward Matthew Knies to the Columbus Blue Jackets for a package centred around star forward Kirill Marchenko. So far, the deal has been pretty solid for both sides, but we need more time until we can really judge things.

Marchenko was reportedly wishing to head to Montreal this past summer but a change of heart led him to Toronto, and it was revealed that while the Canadiens had a keen eye on the former Blue Jackets winger, they didn't want to pay the cost Toronto did.

Marchenko could have been living it up on Long Island

But Pierre LeBrun revealed that the Habs weren't the only team involved in the Marchenko sweepstakes and it turns out that it's a team no one really anticipated - the New York Islanders.

LeBrun mentioned that the Islanders were kicking tires on Marchenko much like the Canadiens, but also didn't have that piece that put them over the top like Knies did for the Maple Leafs:

Right in there were the sneaky Islanders; The problem for the Islanders was pretty much the same as...the Canadiens. They didn't have a Matthew Knies-type player.

It's hard to say what the team would have given up considering that Knies was the one that pushed the deal through. Emil Heineman, Simon Holmstrom, and Victor Eklund could all have been in play, but none seemed to entice Blue Jackets GM Don Waddell as much as Knies.

A Schaefer-Marchenko combination could have broken the NHL

But if he did end up on the Islanders, one could imagine what he and Matthew Schaefer could have accomplished. With the combination of Schaefer's playmaking and entry ability coupled with Marchenko's driving and finishing ability, it wouldn't be out of the realm to see the two find instant chemistry.

It would almost be akin to the Eastern Conference version of Cale Makar and Nathan MacKinnon, where you have an elite playmaker from the back end to complement an elite force up front - though Marchenko is less inclined to be an enforcer like MacKinnon.

Though that's now just a 'what if' as the Maple Leafs now get the full benefit of Marchenko for the next seven years (this season, and a six-year extension). That locks him up through his prime and he could very well be the reason that Auston Matthews sticks around, especially if they keep being the best line on the team.

The Islanders would have been an interesting choice, and the Blue Jackets may have been a bit weary to trade him to a division rival. That, and the chance to land Matthew Knies gave them no other choice but to make a deal with John Chayka.

From how it's gone so far, it seems he made the right call.

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