Leafs GM John Chayka apologized to Matthew Knies about summer of trade rumors

In the fallout of the blockbuster deal between the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Columbus Blue Jackets, the Maple Leafs general manager is opening up about how things went down.

Speaking to the media Tuesday morning, John Chayka was asked about the deal that sent forward Matthew Knies to the Blue Jackets, with Kirill Marchenko as the big return piece to Toronto. Chayka stated that he apologized to Knies for what ended up being a tumultuous offseason.

“I apologized to him for the noise over the last several months,” Chayka said. “I don’t think it was necessarily fair to him. This was the only thing we seriously considered as a management group. You know, these things happen. He understands it’s something that happens. He’s a professional athlete and he’s a smart kid, but he took the news well. It’s a good young team he’s going to. I think it’s a good fit for him.”

In what was a crazy summer full of trade requests from notable American players, people in Toronto wondered whether Knies would be on the move, in what was a very busy first few months for Chayka and the Leafs’ revamped front office. As training camp began a couple of weeks ago, Knies even mentioned that he was “fortunate that I’m still here,” as he had even started to believe that he was going to be on the move before the 2026-27 season began.

Yet, his thoughts came to fruition.

The Leafs ended up sending forward Steven Lorentz, defenseman Emil Andrae and a second-round pick in the 2027 NHL Draft to Columbus. In return, Toronto received Marchenko, defenseman Miles Wood and goaltender Elivs Merzlikins, who is recovering from offseason surgery.

Chayka laid out the timeline of talks between him and Blue Jackets GM Don Waddell.

“These always take time in fields of this magnitude,” Chayka said. “These were early discussions. But you have a lot of discussions and you never know at what point it becomes here. It was only in the last several weeks that we started to get some traction.”

Chayka also thanked Knies and Lorentz for their contributions to the club over the past few years.

“We appreciate Columbus being good partners to see this through. There are a lot of good players in the NHL, very few who impact winning. We believe Kirill is one of those players.”

There’s concern Marchenko won’t be available to Toronto when the team opens the regular season Tuesday night against the Montreal Canadiens, as the Russian must get his work visa confirmed when moving from the U.S. to Canada. Puck drop for the rivalry matchup is set for 7 p.m. ET.