Matthew Knies to Columbus: The strange end to a Maple Leafs success story
By Joshua Kloke
Matthew Knies’ voice wavers as he answers the phone.
News of the Maple Leafs’ first-line winger being shipped to the Columbus Blue Jackets has begun filtering out on social media. Just hours earlier, Knies was preparing for the start of another season in Toronto.
“It’s all moving so fast right now,” Knies said. “I’m trying to wrap my head around all of it.”
The words come quickly. Far quicker than they did when Knies would lean back in his dressing room stall with seemingly all the time in the world to chat. As he speaks, he gets another phone call. He has to move on — to the next place he will play hockey.
A little over 24 hours before the season’s scheduled start, the Leafs sent Knies to the Blue Jackets in a blockbuster trade. Once a centrepiece of Toronto’s Stanley Cup hopes, Knies is heading to Ohio with defenceman Emil Andrae, forward Steven Lorentz and a second-round draft pick. Coming back to Toronto are star winger Kirill Marchenko, winger Miles Wood and goalie Elvis Merzļikins.
Moving on from Knies’ bruising style and goal-scoring ability represents Leafs general manager John Chayka’s most daring trade since taking over in May. Knies is two years younger than Marchenko. Marchenko’s play-driving abilities are remarkable, yes. But Knies’ cap hit for the next five seasons is far more manageable — and could provide better value — than the $12.5 million AAV on the six-year, $75 million extension Marchenko signed with the Leafs on Monday.
The winner of the trade remains to be seen. For now, the move spells a strange and abrupt end to the Leafs career of a fan favourite.
Just days earlier, Knies returned with the team to his home state of Arizona for a training camp getaway. He was excited to do some team bonding. And maybe, if he was lucky, take a nap in his own bed.
Knies thought he would be able to relax. Though he had been dogged by trade rumours at the trade deadline and through the summer, Knies told The Athletic he had put those rumours to bed, once and for all.
“Playing the first preseason game, it’s out of your mind,” Knies said on Sept. 21. “I don’t think of (a trade) as a possibility anymore. I’m here now, they want me here, they kept me all summer for a reason.”
The reasons for keeping him seemed clear: Knies in Toronto was nothing short of a success.
His emergence as something of a late bloomer from a non-traditional hockey market made him easy to root for. When Knies was drafted in the second round in 2021, he did not fit the mold of what then-GM Kyle Dubas wanted. But the Leafs’ scouting staff saw a unicorn: a blend of power, size and strength that made him different from anyone else in their prospect pool.
Leafs fans swooned at the idea of having a 6-foot-3, 220-plus-pound power forward in the lineup. Knies was a throwback. And he had confidence to boot.
After a breakout sophomore season at the University of Minnesota, Knies jumped into the Leafs’ playoff lineup in 2023. He didn’t cower in the moment. He made a smart pass for the primary assist for John Tavares’ series-clinching overtime goal against the Tampa Bay Lightning that spring.
The following season, Knies approached cult status in Toronto. He laughed in the face of noted Leaf killer and Bruins star David Pastrňák in Game 5 of the first round, and shoved Pastrňák afterward, showing the kind of physical moxie many believed the team lacked. Knies added a greasy, net-front overtime goal to win Game 5.
He joined the Leafs’ top-six for good under coach Craig Berube, becoming one of the former coach’s favourite players. Berube was quick to praise him in front of the cameras. Knies scored 29 goals and 58 points in 2024-25. Signing him for six years at a reasonable $7.75 million cap hit was a win for then-GM Brad Treliving.
All signs pointed to Knies being a part of the Leafs’ core — and a continued fan favourite — for years to come.
During the 2025-26 season, the outlook changed.
Knies suffered a knee injury early in the season. Though his production actually increased from the previous season, there were long stretches when he wasn’t physically dominant.
Then the Leafs cratered. Treliving wanted to bolster the team’s prospect pool at the trade deadline. Knies, without trade protection, was one of Treliving’s best chips to dangle. Knies was heavily involved in trade discussions around the 2026 trade deadline.
A Knies trade to the Montreal Canadiens was done but not submitted to league offices before the league’s 3 p.m. ET trade deadline.
And so Knies’ future in Toronto remained in doubt. Trade discussions surrounding Knies continued even as Treliving was fired and Chayka took over.
Knies tried to escape the trade talk this summer. He headed to Italy and Greece with his girlfriend, Boston Fleet forward Ella Huber. Knies didn’t think much of Athens, but the nearby islands were a hit for him. The time away did a worrying mind plenty of good.
“I didn’t care much because I was trying to do my vacation,” Knies said of the noise following him this summer, before adding of that noise: “It kind of happens in this market.”
Though Knies said otherwise, the effects of those continued trade discussions were obvious. This preseason, Knies looked, acted and sometimes even sounded different. The player who could bust through a wall on a forecheck lacked the swagger he once showed.
Knies is the type to hang around the dressing room long after practice, making time for reporters and chatting with teammates with ease. This preseason, he appeared more reserved. Through two preseason games, he did not show many signs of being a dominant power forward.
The uncertainty continued to weigh on him.
“There were a lot of changes that need to be handled,” Knies said on Sept. 21 of a possible trade. “I knew that (a trade) was a possibility in the summer.”
New Leafs coach Jim Hiller has been mostly careful not to make many critical statements about his players through preseason. But he had strong words about Knies after a disappointing second preseason game.
“(Knies) wasn’t that dangerous,” Hiller said. “I think he only ended up with one shot on goal and took one to the net. I think he’s been OK. I wouldn’t say strongly one way or the other. I think there’s more there, for sure.”
Knies won’t get the chance to show more of what he could offer in Toronto.
With the season rapidly approaching, the Leafs likely did not want to let the saga drag on. The Leafs could see the same thing onlookers saw: continued trade rumours were counterproductive to Knies’ performance. Knies was trying to say the right things, but his play suggested he was still bogged down by speculation.
With his future now seemingly secure in a market with less media attention than Toronto, the noise around him will quiet. That could benefit his play.
Plus, he could learn from those close to him. Knies recently saw some of his closest friends on the Leafs sent packing: Bobby McMann, Joseph Woll and Simon Benoit made up a tight-knit crew who regularly dined together. Most of them came from similar backgrounds, having played in the NCAA.
That crew helped push the Leafs to the second round of the playoffs a little over a year ago. But so much has changed for Knies and the Leafs.
Like his friends, Knies will get a fresh start — even if few, including Knies himself, saw it coming a day before the puck dropped on a crucial Leafs season.