The Toronto Maple Leafs might not be close to seeing highly touted college prospect Matthew Knies suit up, but the Edmonton Oilers are nearing signing their own college prospect, Carter Savoie.
“This is what’s going to happen,” Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman said during the 32 Thoughts segment on Hockey Night in Canada on Saturday. “Toronto and Knies are going to meet over the next couple of days to discuss his future. He’s ready and they would like to have him. Here’s the issue: He’s got unfinished business.”
Specifically, Friedman said, Knies’ team, the University of Minnesota, “was knocked out of the semifinals of the Frozen Four, they’ve got a good team coming back next year and also adding potentially Logan Cooley, one of the top picks eligible for this year’s draft. So, I think the biggest thing is, does Knies want to come back again next year and win a national championship? That’s what Toronto is up against. I don’t think this is a situation at all where the Maple Leafs are worried that they cannot sign him long-term.”
Knies, 19, is a 6-foot-2, 210-pound left winger who starred in the Big Ten with 17 goals and 25 assists for 42 points in 44 games, adding a goal and three assists in three Frozen Four games.
Meanwhile, things look better for the Oilers, who are successfully wooing 5-foot-9, 192-pound left winger Savoie. A native of St. Albert, Alta., Savoie, 20, had 23 goals and 22 assists for 45 points in 38 games for Denver.
“One of the other things we’re following right now is University of Denver’s Carter Savoie,” Sportsnet’s Jeff Marek said during the same 32 Thoughts segment. “Question is, does he go back to his junior year or does he turn pro? We expect him to come out of college, forgo the junior year, it is certainly heading in that direction and that’s the expectation that at the end of all of this, Carter Savoie will be a member of the Edmonton Oilers.”
