With the NHL regular season kicking off next week, it’s high time that the trade rumor mill cranked up in full swing with the Boston Bruins and disgruntled Columbus Blue Jackets forward Kirill Marchenko right now.
The 26-year-old Russian power forward has made no secret of his desire to leave Columbus and enters the final year of a contract with the Blue Jackets that pays him $3.85 million.
Kirill Marchenko was asked if he wants to play hockey in Columbus.
— Mark Scheig (@mark_scheig) September 18, 2026
“I want to play hockey. It’s all I can say right now.”
Video below. #CBJ pic.twitter.com/XRiO6Adv1e
Marchenko is still a restricted free agent following this season and is coming off a massively productive stretch where the 6-foot-3 forward has averaged 29 goals and 70 points over the last two seasons. Marchenko has also been a certified Bruins killer in the recent past, creating offense around the Boston net front while using his imposing size and top 6 skill to good effect.
Kirill Marchenko mix
— Dimitri Filipovic (@DimFilipovic) July 21, 2026
~25 minute full video on the PDOcast Youtube channel: https://t.co/LMiRO8vxgS pic.twitter.com/wq4ClAY5DF
Elliotte Friedman stoked the rumor mill on his 32 Thoughts podcast this past week, mentioning Marchenko’s situation in Columbus and confirming he knew the B’s management group had “made an offer at one point” for the big Columbus forward this offseason.
"Montreal, everybody knows about, the Islanders I mentioned a couple pods ago,” said Friedman. “Toronto I think has really tried to keep their interest secret, but it’s kind of seeped out. I think Winnipeg at one point kind of looked into it. I heard Boston made an offer at one point. I had some people say Vegas, I had some other people say they weren’t sure it was Vegas. I have to think Seattle is around this. They’ve really been looking at trying to grab a top-end player, and they could make this deal.”
Could it have been earlier in this offseason when the B’s ultimately traded two first-round picks for JJ Peterka, or could this be a more recent development where they’re looking to move assets like Mason Lohrei, Matt Poitras, or Pavel Zacha, and others, along with the obvious draft pick/prosect package array?
What’s obviously clear is that the Bruins could use a Marchenko-type imposing player at the net front, and this particular player has