The Athletic had a tremendous piece about the dreadful season that Toronto endured off the ice this year and the organizational problems from top to bottom that have turned the top team that Kyle Dubas built into one of chaos and dysfunction. The whole thing is wildly entertaining as an outside observers to watch the bungles go down and worth the read.
The interesting/relevant part for the Penguins is the reporting about Toronto attempting to acquire Egor Chinakhov from the Columbus Blue Jackets. Dubas and the Pens would swoop in and complete the transaction, the Maple Leafs were among those interested.
At one point, the Leafs discussed a Nick Robertson for Egor Chinakhov swap with the Columbus Blue Jackets, but their offers fell short. They dangled a second-round pick around the league, looking for short-term help. They also contemplated re-acquiring Luke Schenn. However, save for a waiver claim on Troy Stecher in November, the Leafs GM made no moves to rescue his flailing squad.
According to league sources, the Leafs were consistently in on the final stages of trade talks like those for Chinakhov, but were never able to close deals that might have helped stem the bleeding. The skilled forward was eventually dealt to Pittsburgh in late December for second- and third-round picks and produced 18 goals and 36 points in 43 games as a Penguin on their top line.
Robertson ended up having a pretty decent season individually, setting career highs in goals (16), assists (16) and points (32) over 78 games. At 24-years old, he’s in the same age range as Chinakhov, 25.
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In that regard, it’s interesting how Robertson was valued, or perhaps better put wasn’t valued by Columbus. Robertson is a smaller player at 5’9”, 180 pounds and while skilled, isn’t quite a game-breaking type of talent that Chinakhov has showcased so often in Pittsburgh. Sometimes that lack of height can be a turn off for teams. It might sound a bit off that the Blue Jackets would take a second and third round pick from the Penguins instead of what is already a pretty decent NHL player but it seems that they didn’t want to exchange one player that was unestablished/floundering in Chinakhov for a fairly similar one in Robertson.
As always, the big picture matters because these moves aren’t completed with a narrow singular focus. A week before trading away Chinakhov, the Blue Jackets decided to acquire Mason Marchment from Seattle. That idea might prove to be riskier play in the longer term since Marchment, 30, is set to become an unrestricted free agent this summer if CBJ can’t sign him to an extension.
Lining everything up, the price Columbus paid for Marchment was about the same as what they immediately recouped by selling off Chinakhov a few days later. Columbus sent a second round pick (in 2027) and a fourth round pick out for Marchment, then were able to fetch a 2026 second round pick and a 2027 third round pick by trading away Chinakhov. In essence, instead of getting Nick Robertson, Columbus instead chose to recoup what they paid for Marchment by dealing off Chinakhov for draft picks in the sum of the two transactions.
You can’t really knock how that played out for Columbus this season. Sure, Chinakhov turned into a star in Pittsburgh, which hurts after the Jackets had five years and couldn’t unlock his game. But Marchment was no slouch himself, scoring 32 points in 39 games (16G+17A) with the Blue Jackets, doing most of his damage at even strength to post a +21 while playing almost 18 minutes a night. The overall deal for Columbus ended up working out for Columbus in the short term since it was clear they couldn’t/wouldn’t be getting anything out of Chinakhov.
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In the end, like much of this season, Toronto ended up left out in the cold. They got modest output from Robertson but missed out on upgrading their team, while watching the Penguins get one of their trade targets that instantly made a star turn. That about sums up Maple Leaf management lately— even when they’re on the right track they can’t get it over the finish line and the moves they have completed recently haven’t panned out.
The details make for a fascinating peak inside of NHL front offices and the types of trades team considered compared to the ones they actually make. For Columbus, that meant choosing to go with Mason Marchment over Nick Robertson when it came to cashing in on Chinakhov. That direction worked out wonderfully for the Penguins and Blue Jackets this season, in Toronto the whole situation lingers as just another instance of what could have been.
