Matthew Knies keen to see who replaces Mitch Marner on Leafs top line

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Time to fret less about Mitch Marner’s lost production and look at who can step in on first-line right wing.

Left winger Matthew Knies certainly has a vested interest in the outcome with Maple Leafs training camp rapidly approaching. Will it be William Nylander working the puck alongside he and centre Auston Matthews? New guy Matias Maccelli? Might a left winger change sides? Is there a trade to come or a late addition to camp via a professional tryout contract?

“It’ll be a bit different without Mitch, but the acquisitions we’ve made (Maccelli, centre Nicolas Roy, thumper Dakota Joshua) have been looking good,” Knies said Saturday at an autograph session to mark his new promo deal with the Tylenol brand. “I don’t know what we’ll put together at the start of the season, but we have a lot of great players on our team.

“Any way that they (general manager Brad Treliving and coach Craig Berube) do it, hopefully we find a way that works and gives us (long-term) success.”

Knies fed off Matthews and the 102-point Marner last year in nearly doubling his regular-season goals total to 29 and continuing as the line’s power forward. He was reminded Saturday that few National Hockey League teams can replace a winger of Marner’s ilk on the top line with a 40-goal sniper of Nylander’s calibre, should the latter move up and away from his long association with centre John Tavares.

“Willy is pretty dynamic,” Knies agreed. “That wouldn’t be a bad thing at all.”

Almost four months after a rib-area injury in Game 6 against the Florida Panthers in Round 2 severely hampered him as the Leafs were eliminated, Knies has put in a solid summer of work. It paid off with an invite to the U.S. Olympic team orientation camp starting next week in Colorado Springs. Matthews, a certainty to make the team next year in Milan, Italy, will join the 22-year-old Knies among 44 conscripts.

“I’m supposed to be practising with Auston tomorrow (his Scottsdale, Ariz., teammate was in town with other NHLers for Hockey Night in Brampton earlier this week) and we’ll be flying together down to that camp.”

The American roster includes 36-year-old Patrick Kane, Marner’s new Vegas pal Jack Eichel and the Tkachuk brothers, Matthew and Brady, of which Knies had a few playoff run-ins during the two series against Ottawa and Florida.

That spunk is part of what set Knies apart last year. As Treliving and Berube keep trying to toughen up the Leafs for spring, the 6-foot-3, 227-pound Knies developed more backbone on his own. As much as his highlight-reel goals and net-front presence made a splash, he became more comfortable asserting himself with a fight or joining in some intense bench chirping.

“That is going to be a cool experience, just to meet a lot of those (Americans) to see what they do on and off the ice,” Knies said. “Pick each other’s brains. Hopefully, I get a strong start to the season and make that team.”
After Colorado, Knies will be settling into Toronto for the last of its pre-camp summer skates. The past months were spent in Minnesota, where he’d attended university, for intense workouts with Gophers grads including Jackson LaCombe and Drew Helleson of the Anaheim Ducks and Jimmy Snuggerud of St. Louis.

Knies stressed the importance of the Leafs getting a positive start and into a playoff mindset right away.

“I’m looking forward to camp and thus get to enjoy these last two weeks off because we want to go as far as possible,” he said. “Without Mitch … it’s going to obviously be different. Definitely weird in the locker room not seeing him at first.”

But quieter?

“There’ll be a new (dressing room) deejay,” Knies joked.

BECOMING A LEADER AN EASY PILL TO SWALLOW

For a team that’s caused its fans a long spell of torment, perhaps having a young Leafs star get on board with a pain medication sponsor works.

Matthew Knies, whose only other promotional deal has been with adidas, was officially welcomed to the brand at a downtown Toronto autograph session on Saturday where the first 100 fans who saw the online advert by Tylenol met him to get their No. 23 sweaters and other memorabilia signed.

Tylenol, the NHL and now its players association began a relationship a couple of years ago. Leon Draisaitl of the Edmonton Oilers is featured in a light-hearted TV commercial for Tylenol and Austin Matthews could follow suit.

It’s all part of the 22-year-old Knies’ growing NHL experience.

“Every day here, I learn more. Right from the first day living with (former Leafs captain) John Tavares’ family.

“It’s tremendous how much my game has matured and how I’ve learned to be a leader and a great teammate. How to manage injuries, the lifestyle of the NHL and the task at hand, 82 games, plus playoffs. It’s a lot. And now living alone has been cool.

“The older guys have helped me grow as a player and as a person. The next few years will be fun as well.”

Lhornby@postmedia.com

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