The Toronto Maple Leafs have been trying very hard to move Matthew Knies, according to Nick Kypreos on Real Kyper & Bourne Monday.
"I don't get the sense they'll stop," Kypreos added.
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That's a significant signal about a 23-year-old who scored 23 goals this season. GM Chris Chayka isn't shopping a fringe player. He's shopping someone who was supposed to be part of the core.
Knies posted 23 goals and 66 points in 79 games this season at a $7,750,000 cap hit. He finished a brutal minus-30, the worst rating of his career so far.
Toronto allowed 299 goals this season, worst in the Atlantic Division, finishing 32-36-14. A minus-30 from a top-six forward is a number that demands explanation, even from a struggling team.
Knies posted 2 points in his last 5 games. The production has slowed at exactly the wrong time for a player whose trade value depends partly on momentum.
Knies's $7.75M cap hit makes him a complicated trade chip
Auston Matthews sits at $13,250,000. William Nylander at $11,500,000. Knies represents real money tied up in a young player who hasn't taken the leap some expected.
Trading him would free up cap space and signal a real shift in how Toronto is building around Matthews and Nylander. It would also mean giving up on size and physicality in the top six that's hard to replace cheaply.
The question is what Chayka could actually get back. A minus-30 rating attached to a $7,750,000 cap hit is not the kind of asset that commands a premium return right now.
If this keeps building momentum, Toronto's offseason starts looking less like a tune-up and more like a real teardown of its forward group.
Should the Leafs trade Matthew Knies this offseason?
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