Matthew Knies' development, impact with Maple Leafs hitting another level

Article content

They have to be kicking themselves.

If National Hockey League teams were given another shot at the 2021 draft, knowing what they know now, there’s zero chance Matthew Knies would still be available at No. 57, where the Maple Leafs snapped him up deep in the second round.

Knies was the Leafs’ first pick that year and he might as well have been a first-rounder.

Among players chosen in 2021, only 10 have more than Knies’ 62 points. He’s ninth in the group in NHL games played with 123 and is seventh with 31 goals. Twenty-one players selected ahead of Knies have not played in an NHL game.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

Try refreshing your browser, or
tap here to see other videos from our team.

Play Video

Just one player taken after Knies — Tampa Bay Lightning defenceman J.J. Moser, who went 60th to Arizona — has more points, with 82 in 232 career games. Note that Moser, who is nursing a lower-body injury and has not played since mid-December, has played in 109 more games than Knies.

The Leafs have their big producers in a trio of stars in captain Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner and William Nylander. Provided Marner re-signs with the Leafs — and just about every observer thinks he will — that’s not going to change.

We don’t know that Knies will flirt with 100 points in an NHL season like the team’s superstars, but there’s no denying that his power and hands make him a unique player on the Leafs roster.

“Very fearless,” coach Craig Berube told reporters in Philadelphia after Knies scored the winner in the Toronto’s 3-2 win on Tuesday night. “Goes hard to the net, skates hard, he is hard to handle. That’s the way I look at it. He challenges D-men with his speed and his skill and he is heavy. He gets in there.”

At 22, Knies continues to realize how his 6-foot-3, 227-pound frame can impact the game, especially below the hash marks in the offensive zone. With further maturity and experience, Knies has the potential to reach a level where he dominates more often than not.

“He’s a house,” Leafs forward John Tavares said. “He’s a tough guy to move, physically mature for his age and has real soft hands. He has really shown that with his ability to handle the puck in tight areas and certainly around the net. It’s a nice combination for us and he has been a major contributor.”

When the Leafs picked Knies 3 1/2 years ago, he was coming off a couple of good seasons with Tri-City of the United States Hockey League. John Lilley, then the Leafs’ director of amateur scouting, credited amateur scouts Scott Bell and Tony Martino with bringing Knies to the club’s attention. Bell remains with the Leafs today.

Knies followed the draft with two fine years at the University of Minnesota and the Leafs had a greater idea that they were on to something when he made his NHL debut late in the 2022-23 season.

Knies’ 16 goals in 40 games are one more than he scored as a rookie a year ago, when he had 15 goals in 80 games. Already, he has become a master at deflecting the puck, perfecting a skill that he spends time working on in practice.

It’s what Knies said to reporters late on Tuesday, when he was asked about his game as a whole, that should lead to further optimism in Leafs Nation.

“It’s just becoming a lot more simple,” Knies said. “I’m winning a lot more puck battles and finding myself open around the net and that is the kind of player I have to be, right?

“Get open around the net and find ways to get pucks in and I’ve just found a way to do that. I just want to keep that going.”

Nearly every NHL team that passed on Knies in the summer of 2021 wishes for the opposite.

tkoshan@postmedia.com

X: @koshtorontosun