Matthew Knies needed one period Thursday night to make Toronto look bad, posting a goal and an assist in his first frame with the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Twenty minutes into his new life, the 23-year-old winger was already on the scoresheet twice. Not a bad way to introduce yourself to a new locker room.
-
Rick Bowness didn't have to wait long to see what Don Waddell went out and got.
And the investment is real. Knies carries a $7,750,000 cap hit that runs through 2030-31, which buys Columbus five seasons of a 6-foot-3, 227-pound winger just entering his prime.
He isn't the priciest name in the room. Adam Fantilli ($13,750,000) and Zachary Werenski ($9,583,333) still sit above him on the books.
The climb behind that contract is easy to trace. Knies went from 35 points in 80 games in 2023-24 to 58 the following season, then 66 points in 79 games last year.
The plus-minus told an uglier story. He finished 2025-26 at a -30 rating, which says plenty about what was happening in front of the Leafs' crease.
Jim Hiller's Leafs are stuck at 2.0 goals per game
Toronto sits 1-1-0 after a 3-2 loss to Montreal and a 2-1 win over the Islanders on back-to-back nights at home.
Auston Matthews ($13,250,000) and William Nylander ($11,500,000) remain the engine. The support behind them in the top six just got thinner.
Here's the blunt part. Moving a homegrown winger locked in through 2030-31 was a bad hockey trade for Toronto, whatever came back the other way.
The Leafs drafted him 57th overall in 2021. They sat through the development years, absorbed the learning curve, then shipped out the finished product.
It's like renovating a house for three years and selling it the week the kitchen gets done. Somebody else gets to cook in it now.
So who replaces that heavy, net-front presence on the left side?
Columbus also gets a forward with 27 games of playoff experience and 14 points in those games. That kind of spring mileage rarely shows up on the open market.
The Blue Jackets host Utah on Saturday. But the date fans will circle is Tuesday, October 20, when Toronto visits Columbus for the first time this season.
The Leafs' front office will be watching that one closely. So will a fan base that already has strong opinions about who should have been moved instead.
-
Did the Maple Leafs make a mistake trading Matthew Knies?
Also read on Markerzone.com:
The Canucks just made Brock Boeser's future a lot more complicated
