One of the strangest threads running through the Toronto Maple Leafs’ offseason has been the steady stream of Matthew Knies trade chatter that just won’t disappear.
General manager John Chayka has already said moving Knies is “not probable,” while also making clear he would “evaluate everything.” That kind of answer leaves the door cracked open, and in NHL terms, that is all other teams need to keep poking around. So far, nothing has been strong enough to pull Toronto off its stance, and Knies is still in the lineup.
What keeps the rumor mill spinning is the sense that the Leafs may be waiting for the kind of offer that blows them away. Jeff Marek raised that idea during a recent appearance on the Toronto Sports Rush podcast with host E.J. Hradek, where he discussed Knies as one of the names Toronto could move before the season opener, along with defenseman Morgan Rielly.
Marek said the whole situation is still hard to understand, but he thinks there may be a simple explanation: Toronto believes Knies is one of the few players on the roster who could bring back an overpayment. He pointed to the 23-year-old’s blend of size, scoring touch and physical play, along with the possibility that he grows into a reliable 40-goal scorer. That kind of power forward is exactly the sort of player teams chase, which is why his name keeps surfacing.
Knies has also made himself more valuable with production that keeps climbing. He has posted back-to-back seasons of twenty-plus goals and 150-plus hits, and in 2025-26 he added a career-best 43 assists. On top of that, he carries a contract that makes him even more appealing to other clubs: five more years at a $7.75 AAV.
“The only thing I can come up with is, he's the one player on the roster that the Maple Leafs know a team will definitely overpay to get.”
Marek said the Leafs’ default position is to keep him, but if the calls keep coming, the situation could eventually reach the point where someone “significantly overpays.” That, in his view, is when Toronto would really have to think hard about dealing him.
“I think if you are the Maple Leafs, if you are John Chayka, you say to yourself, our default is we are keeping him, but teams keep calling, and we might just be able to get to a place where someone significantly overpays.”
Marek also said he would hold onto Knies because players with his profile are rare around the league. Hradek added that Knies’ value could be used to land a top two or three puck-moving defenseman.
There was also a bigger theory floated in the conversation: that Toronto may be “chumming the waters” by keeping the talk alive, setting the stage for a major shakeup if next season turns sour after about 40 games.
For now, though, Knies remains with the Maple Leafs, and Chayka still hasn’t gotten the kind of offer that would force a decision. The only real question left is how long Toronto can keep waiting for the kind of return that makes trading him worth it.
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