Will the Toronto Maple Leafs and Montreal Canadiens revisit Matthew Knies trade talks this offseason?
The Chris Johnston Show: Chris Johnston and Julian McKenzie on the Toronto Maple Leafs and Matthew Knies trade speculation with the Montreal Canadiens, and if talks will be revisited under the Leafs new management.
** NHLRumors.com transcription
McKenzie: “But what do you make of the Matthew Knies story that surfaced around the last couple of days, where it seemed like there was a trade involving him that would have sent him to the Montreal Canadiens, but some timing may have got in the way of that. What can we make sense of the story with?”
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Johnston: “I mean, I’ve heard of, look, when trades don’t happen, it can be a little bit tricky business, because everyone involved in those discussions might view things slightly differently. But clearly, we’ve known, I don’t think it’s a secret that Canadians and the Leafs had serious talks about Matthew Knies at the deadline. I think Buffalo was another team that was in there inquiring on Knies.
You know, what’s interesting is, I’m not sure with the management change that this is a player that, that is going to be available again. You know, he’s still on the trade board because, you know, I don’t think we can rule it out entirely. But it doesn’t seem to me, the indications I’ve heard are not that the Leafs are anxious to move Matthew Knies.
I think you know at that point in time, remember, at least for trying to restock their cupboards. They were at that moment in early March of 2026, they were clearly going to miss the playoffs. They didn’t own their first round pick in 2026 unless it fell in the top five, which, lo and behold, it did, thanks to the draft lottery win. They didn’t have their 2027 pick, and now they don’t have 2027 and 2028 in terms of first-rounders. So they were really trying to find ways to see if they can make themselves better in this manner.
And so, what do I make of it? Definitely, there was talks there. There’s, some of the people that were part of those talks dispute maybe some of the characterization. I think by and large, though, the reporting is, it’s in the realm of accuracy in terms of the names that were discussed, and you know how it all went down.
But you know it’s, it’s going to be one of those interesting what ifs. I mean, maybe a little bit like years ago, the Leafs and the Blackhawks had a failed trade that would have brought Marc-Andre Fleury and Brandon Hagel to Toronto at the time. I believe Knies might have been, I believe Knies might have been involved in that one. I remember my colleague at TSM, Darren Dreger, reported that one.
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A little bit of a same vibe here, in the sense that I did the time for that deal might have already passed, if you know what I’m saying. Like, I don’t know, with how significant the changes have been, the Leafs front office. I’m not sure we’re going to see that, that one revived in any way, shape, or form, but we’ll just have to see how things go.”
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