Matthew Knies, Matthew Knies, and Matthew Knies is all Toronto Maple Leafs fans could talk about at the trade deadline. And with good reason.
With the Leafs’ season slipping away from their fingers, all that was left to decide at the deadline was how many players they’d ship out, and how many assets they would accumulate from those moves. When all was said and done, Toronto kinda-sorta managed to make something work at the deadline, but despite intense speculation around their $46.5 million winger Matthew Knies, he ended up staying put.
Maple Leafs Trade Rumors: Interest Ramps Up in Matthew Knies
The Leafs made a couple of marginal moves, primary among them being the trade that sent Bobby McMann to the Seattle Kraken. McMann has seven goals in eight games since leaving Toronto. Yikes.
As the deadline inched closer, speculation around Knies reached a fever pitch, with fans dreading what a deadline-day return would look like for a productive winger who just signed a $46.5 million contract extension last year.
As it turns out, the Leafs drew a line in the sand and stopped short of entertaining any offers for Knies. However, that doesn’t mean teams weren’t lining up to buy low on the winger. Two people with knowledge of the situation told NJ.com’s Ryan Novozinsky that the New Jersey Devils’ interest in Knies is “very real.”
The Montreal Canadiens were also linked with a Knies trade. Notably, the Habs were working on a seismic move towards the deadline, but couldn’t quite manage to pull that off. Insider Chris Johnston believes that move was separate from the interest in the Leafs winger.
“I don’t believe I think people are erring by connecting the two. The deal that went down to the wire, supposedly, that the Canadians were working on before the deadline, and then the fact that they had interest in Matthew Knies. I think it’s two separate things,” Johnston said.
He also reported that while the Canadiens checked in on Knies, those discussions didn’t go too far.
The truth of the matter is that the Leafs are woefully short on assets to use to swing any trades in what is shaping up to be a crucial summer for Toronto’s front office. They don’t have their own first-round pick from the 2026 draft (in all likelihood, it will land outside the top 5, ending up in the Boston Bruins’ kitty), and failed to get a first-rounder for McMann either.
With that in mind, Knies remains their most high-value trade chip if they wish to build around Auston Matthews and William Nylander this summer.
The Leafs’ entire defensive core (apart from UFA Troy Stecher) is under contract for next season, but they didn’t exactly fare well this year, and there’s no legitimate presence to make forwards think twice before going at their goaltenders. Their top six is also old and slow (John Tavares turns 36 this year), which means Brad Treliving (if he’s still in the job) will have a LOT to do, especially considering the fact that the free agency market is not full of difference-makers.
If they do intend to do business with the Devils on a Knies trade this summer, defenseman Simon Nemec could be a good starting point in the negotiations.
