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Maple Leafs star Kirill Marchenko reveals important injury details to fan before team!
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- Maple Leafs star Kirill Marchenko reveals important injury details to fan before team!
The Toronto Maple Leafs lost one of their most productive forwards during Monday night's game in Calgary, and while head coach Jim Hiller offered no postgame update on the situation, fans got their timeline from an unlikely source.
A fan named Mikel Wilson posted on X that he ran into Kirill Marchenko at the Calgary airport on Tuesday afternoon. According to Wilson, the winger was flying home early and told him directly that he expects to be back in two weeks. Wilson also called Marchenko "such a nice guy" and shared a photo from the encounter.
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The post quickly went viral, racking up nearly 68,000 views and over 1,200 likes. One reply jokingly praised it as "boots on the ground journalism."
Marchenko's injury occurred early in the second period of the Leafs' game against the Flames. He got tangled up with Flames forward Yegor Sharangovich and took an awkward fall. He appeared to be favouring his knee as he made his way to the bench.
The Maple Leafs officially announced at the start of the third period that Marchenko had suffered a lower body injury and would not return. Hiller provided no further details on the severity after the final whistle.
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That left fans in the dark until Wilson's airport encounter filled in some of the blanks.
Marchenko has been one of Toronto's most impactful players since being acquired from the Columbus Blue Jackets in exchange for Matthew Knies on the eve of the season. He had been producing at a point per game pace, registering 14 points through his first 13 games as a Maple Leaf, including six goals and eight assists.
Before leaving the Calgary game, Marchenko had logged 7:05 of ice time and recorded one shot on goal.
It is worth noting that Marchenko's reported two-week timeline has not been confirmed by the team or any official source.
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Leafs fans will keep watching closely for official word from the organization. If Marchenko's own estimate holds, Toronto would be looking at getting him back in early November, a stretch where every point matters in a competitive Atlantic Division.
