The blockbuster everyone's tracking just got a big update from Dreger
Matthew Knies to the Canadiens was real. It died the moment Toronto said the name Michael Hage.
Darren Dreger confirmed the whole thing Friday on the Morning Show with McKenna and Starr, putting sourcing behind a rumor that had floated since the deadline.
"Yes, there were conversations on Matthew Knies with the Habs," Dreger said. Did it get close to the finish line? "No, it didn't really."
Then the reason: "Michael Hage would've been a part of that and it wasn't gonna happen from Montreal's standpoint."
So there it is. Kent Hughes wanted the power winger badly enough to talk. He didn't want him badly enough to surrender the prospect everyone keeps asking for.
Dreger's full comments are worth hearing, because the finality in "wasn't gonna happen" tells you Montreal never wavered.
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Kent Hughes draws the same line in the Larkin talks
Notice the pattern forming here. Pierre McGuire said this week that any Dylan Larkin deal would require Hage. Now we learn Toronto's Knies ask started in the same place.
Two different stars, two different teams, one identical price tag. The league has decided Hage is the toll for anything Montreal wants, and Hughes keeps refusing to pay it.
You can see why the Leafs asked. Knies is 23, just produced 66 points, and plays the heavy north-south game Montreal has hunted all year, from the Ristolainen pursuit on down.
A young power forward who scores would have been the perfect complement to a skilled core that rolled to 106 points. The fit was never the question. The cost was.
Here's where I'll plant my flag: Hughes is right, and the league's persistence proves it. When every GM demands the same prospect, that prospect is worth more than whatever they're selling.
Teams don't ask twice for ordinary pieces. They ask twice for cornerstones.
The flip side carries risk too. Untouchable lists have a way of aging badly, and windows built on 100-point seasons don't stay open by themselves.
At some point a player comes along worth breaking the rule for. Montreal fans spent the week arguing whether Larkin is that player.
Hughes already gave his answer once. The summer will test whether he gives it again.
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YESTERDAY
JUNE 6, 2026
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| G | A | PTS | ||
| Mitch Marner | 3 | 1 | 4 | |
| Tomas Hertl | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Jordan Staal | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Shea Theodore | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Sebastian Aho | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Brayden McNabb | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Taylor Hall | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Jordan Martinook | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Andrei Svechnikov | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Jackson Blake | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Jack Eichel | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Brett Howden | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Seth Jarvis | - | 1 | 1 | |
| William Karlsson | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Eric Robinson | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Jaccob Slavin | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Logan Stankoven | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Frederik Andersen | - | - | - | |
| Rasmus Andersson | - | - | - | |
| Ivan Barbashev | - | - | - | |
| COMPLETE STATS | ||||