The first week of an NHL season always has a way of making everyone too eager, and Toronto is no exception. Two games in, the temptation is already there to turn every hot start into a verdict. For the Maple Leafs, that urge only gets louder when former players open their new chapters with a bang.
Matthew Knies wasted no time making an impression with the Columbus Blue Jackets. In their season-opening 6-3 win over the Buffalo Sabres on Thursday night, he scored twice, including the game-winner, and added an assist. It was exactly the kind of debut that turns heads, especially for a player Toronto already knew could play.
Knies is 23 and coming off a 66-point season with the Maple Leafs, so this isn’t a case of Toronto giving up on a player who couldn’t help them. Columbus is also giving him plenty to work with, slotting him into top-line minutes next to Adam Fantilli and using him on the power play. That’s a strong launch pad for a young forward, and it would not be a surprise if he puts together a big season.
Still, the reason Toronto moved him matters. The Maple Leafs did not trade Knies because they thought he was a bad player.
They moved him because they believed Kirill Marchenko fit better with what they were building. Those are very different conversations, and Marchenko has barely started his Toronto stint.
One game, even one great one, is nowhere near enough to sort out who came out ahead.
Nicholas Robertson followed a similar path, only with a different kind of fresh start. He scored twice in his Pittsburgh Penguins debut on Wednesday, including Pittsburgh’s first goal and a shorthanded marker, in a 7-0 win over the Philadelphia Flyers.
He also fired four shots on net. That’s a pretty strong first impression.
Last season, Robertson posted 16 goals and 32 points in 78 games with Toronto, which counted as a career year but still left the sense that the breakthrough people had been waiting for never fully arrived. Now he’s in Pittsburgh and, like Knies, appears to be getting a top-line chance.
A new team can do that. Different linemates, a different role, maybe a little less pressure hanging over every shift.
And that’s where this gets interesting for the Maple Leafs. Toronto had its reasons for making both moves.
Columbus and Pittsburgh had theirs for taking the players on. Meanwhile, the Maple Leafs are left with the part that always comes next: proving the decisions made sense from their side.
Maybe Knies turns into a major piece for the Blue Jackets. Maybe Robertson finally finds the consistency people have been chasing.
Maybe both things happen. None of that automatically means Toronto got it wrong.
What it does mean is that Leafs fans now have two more names to track, and probably two more players to revisit every time the box score lights up. That’s part of the deal in Toronto. The guys who leave never really leave the conversation.
For John Chayka, the calendar still has plenty of time left. For Leafs fans, patience is another matter entirely.
After two games, the former Toronto forwards are already giving everyone something to debate. Now the rest of the season gets to decide what it all means.
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