{"id":93224,"date":"2025-08-24T22:04:07","date_gmt":"2025-08-24T22:04:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/93224\/"},"modified":"2025-08-24T22:04:07","modified_gmt":"2025-08-24T22:04:07","slug":"maple-leafs-matthew-knies-could-be-beneficiary-of-marner-move","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/93224\/","title":{"rendered":"Maple Leafs’ Matthew Knies Could Be Beneficiary Of Marner Move"},"content":{"rendered":"

The conversation of which forward will step up for the Toronto Maple Leafs is beginning to grow as players reconvene for training camp. Toronto lost 100-point scorer Mitch Marner<\/a> to the Vegas Golden Knights, and failed find a suitable replacement on the open market. That will leave the task of filling Marner\u2019s shoes to one of the Leafs\u2019 current stars. Left-winger Matthew Knies<\/a> dubbed William Nylander<\/a> as the best bet in an interview with Lance Hornby of the Toronto Sun<\/a>. But following a true breakout performance last year, Knies could be the one best setup for another big step.<\/p>\n

Knies found his way in the Maple Leafs lineup with a career-high 58 points, split evenly, in 78 games. He found his way onto Toronto\u2019s top-line at the age of just 22, becoming the heavy play-driver behind Auston Matthews<\/a> and Marner. The star-studded company helped Knies reach a lofty 19.1 shooting percentage that will be tough to maintain, but his habits of driving hard into the slot will become a defining trait.<\/p>\n

That style compliments the similar heft and drive of Nylander, who has spearheaded one of the best second-lines in the league next to passer John Tavares<\/a>. Nylander reached a career-high 45 goals last season, after two seasons of scoring 40 goals. He\u2019s undeniably a star on the rise, though on the back of stepping up as the #1 of his own line \u2013 rather than playing along Toronto\u2019s other stars.<\/p>\n

That independent ability could convince head coach Craig Berube<\/a> to leave Nylander separate from the top-line. The Swedish star wouldn\u2019t commit to a role<\/a> when asked, saying his only plans for next year are to dominate the minutes he does receive. If Nylander doesn\u2019t elevate to the top-line, Knies will confidently move into the line\u2019s role of #2 behind Matthews. The responsibilities of that status will include teeing up Matthews, and burying the rebounds that his heavy shots generate.<\/p>\n

Even on the back of a sky-high shooting percentage, Knies seems well-equipped to match that bill. He showed might in all three layers of the offensive-zone, and is still incredibly early in his professional development. The help of a skilled passer, like Matias Maccelli<\/a>, or the reserved grit of a player like Nicolas Roy<\/a> could be enough support to let Knies dig in his feet as the star Toronto needs.<\/p>\n

A ramp into more responsibility is exactly what Knies is due for after flashing as a 30-goal hopeful last season. He faces a tough task in maintaining his performance from last season, and an even tougher test in finding ways to improve. But in a lineup looking for a big performance, Knies could be the one holding the most potential. Growing to the heights of 65, or even 70, points would maintain Toronto\u2019s mighty top-six, vindicate Knies\u2019 recent contract extension<\/a>, and undoubtedly cement him as the club\u2019s biggest draft steal in years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The conversation of which forward will step up for the Toronto Maple Leafs is beginning to grow as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":93225,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[556],"tags":[64,63,69086,575,7820,11477,85,2370],"class_list":["post-93224","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-matthew-knies","tag-nhl","tag-players","tag-pro-hockey-rumors-originals","tag-sports","tag-toronto-maple-leafs"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93224","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=93224"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93224\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/93225"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=93224"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=93224"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=93224"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}