Done deal: Matthew Knies going to Montreal was just a matter of time, Friedman reveals why it failed
Matthew Knies will not be a Montreal Canadien. Elliotte Friedman confirmed this morning that the deal sending the Maple Leafs forward to Montreal, in exchange for prospect Alexander Zharovsky and two first-round picks, is officially off the table.
The timing killed it. Friedman said the trade was submitted at 3:01 PM, implying it missed a deadline window entirely.
He added that while Montreal may have wanted to revisit the deal, the new Toronto management has no interest in picking it back up.
«The reason it didn't happen, it was submitted at 3:01 pmI think it's possible Montreal wanted to revisit it but I don't believe it will happen (from the new Toronto management). I think that deal is off the table now.»
That detail matters. This was not two sides failing to find common ground. The deal was done, or close enough to done that it had a submission time attached to it. Then Toronto's front office changed, and so did the answer.
Think about what that package would have meant for the Habs. Two first-round picks plus a top prospect for a 23-year-old power forward.
Kent Hughes and Martin St-Louis are building something real in Montreal. The Canadiens finished 48-24-10 this season, good for 106 points and sixth overall in the league.
What Knies' numbers say about why Montreal wanted him
Knies put up 66 points in 79 games this season, 23 goals and 43 assists. On a Toronto team that went 32-36-14 and finished 28th in the entire league, that is quietly one of the better offensive outputs on a sinking roster.
His -30 rating reflects the team around him more than anything else. The Leafs gave up 299 goals this year. That is not a Knies problem.
But the L5 numbers are worth noting. No goals, two assists, a -8 rating over his last five games. That kind of finish is part of what makes you wonder how he'd look in a system that actually wins.
Montreal went 3-1 against Toronto this season, outscoring the Leafs by a combined margin across four matchups. The Canadiens were a better team in every game that mattered between these two.
Whether Hughes circles back to this kind of trade with whoever is now running Toronto's side of things remains genuinely unclear. The new front office may have completely different ideas about what Knies is worth, and what they want back.
Zharovsky stays in Montreal's system. The picks stay in Montreal's hands. And Knies stays a Maple Leaf, at least for now.
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YESTERDAY
JUNE 4, 2026
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| G | A | PTS | ||
| Brett Howden | 2 | - | 2 | |
| Shayne Gostisbehere | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Mitch Marner | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Mark Jankowski | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Seth Jarvis | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Jordan Staal | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Logan Stankoven | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Mark Stone | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Sebastian Aho | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Ivan Barbashev | - | 1 | 1 | |
| William Carrier | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Noah Hanifin | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Tomas Hertl | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Eric Robinson | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Andrei Svechnikov | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Frederik Andersen | - | - | - | |
| Rasmus Andersson | - | - | - | |
| Jackson Blake | - | - | - | |
| Jalen Chatfield | - | - | - | |
| Dylan Coghlan | - | - | - | |
| COMPLETE STATS | ||||