'Got to turn the page': Knies still navigating shock of Maple Leafs trade

COLUMBUS — It’s been three weeks since the blockbuster trade that shook up the Toronto Maple Leafs’ locker room on the eve of the 2026-27 campaign. Three weeks since Matthew Knies got word, one night before Toronto's season-opener, that he’d been dealt to Columbus, bringing an end to a three-year run that saw the 24-year-old emerge briefly as a core piece in blue and white.

Nearly a month on, with seven games in a Blue Jackets sweater under his belt, Knies is still adjusting to life in Ohio after the abrupt change of address.

“Last night was my first night out of the hotel in Columbus,” the winger said Tuesday, ahead of his first meeting with his former club. “It feels like I’ve been on the road for quite a while now. You know, first home-cooked meal in a while — you don’t really think about that kind of stuff when you get traded, just how long it takes to get all of your belongings and stuff over here, getting my parents situated to be able to come watch the games, and family and friends. It’s different.”

Capping off a summer that saw the Maple Leafs revamp seemingly all corners of the organization, general manager John Chayka's biggest swing was no doubt the seven-piece deal that sent Knies to the Blue Jackets and brought Kirill Marchenko back to Toronto, ending a months-long spell in the rumour mill for both wingers.

A dominant debut at Nationwide Arena saw Knies collect two goals and an assist in an adrenaline-fuelled home opener a couple days later. The winger’s play has cooled since, as the reality of the needed adjustment period set in.

“This is my first time driving to the game, too — finding the parking lot, finding my spot. Little things like that. It takes some time,” Knies said. “It’s a long road, but I’m getting more settled. A lot of guys, a lot of people helping me, so it’s been good.”

His new teammates have begun to see a more comfortable version of the young power forward, Blue Jackets veteran Zach Werenski said Tuesday, the winger’s personality beginning to break through in the room. Still, while the Jackets side of that late-September trade brought an end to a prolonged dispute that seemed all but certain to end in a move for Marchenko, for Knies, the news hit like a crosscheck to the gut.

“We were coming home from practice, got home, kind of a normal day. I started to feel my phone buzz a little bit, and then it all happened within an hour. I was pretty shocked,” Knies said of the day the trade went down. “Going into training camp, going through all the pre-season games, I think just the timing of it all, that’s what shocked me a bit. 

“In the summer, it came up over and over. It just felt like it was something they needed to do. So, yeah. I’m here now, and that’s all I have to worry about.”

Tuesday night, under the Nationwide Arena lights, the pride of Phoenix, Arizona will get his first shot at facing the organization that traded him away, at lining up against the teammates he went to battle with for the past three seasons. That said, speaking with reporters after the Jackets’ morning skate, the young forward seemed more subdued than champing at the bit, more grateful to reunite with former mates than to prove something to the club that traded him away.

“It’s a little different. I’ve never experienced something like this, looking across and seeing a lot of familiar faces,” he said. “But I think a lot of guys will tell you: No friends on the ice, until after. Hopefully I’ll get to chat and say hi to the guys, and wish them well. I didn’t get to talk to a lot of the guys, with how abrupt everything happened.”

Most jarring will be the experience of lining up across from Auston Matthews, the centreman with whom Knies spent the majority of his tenure in a Maple Leafs sweater.

“It’s not going to be easy,” Knies said of his first game on the other side of the sheet from No. 34. “It’ll be pretty interesting. Playing alongside him for three years and now playing across from him, it’s different. But I think it’s going to be exciting, it’s going to be fun. I think he’ll say the same thing, in the sense that it’s not going to be easy against each other. We’ll see.”

The Maple Leafs arrive in Columbus fresh off a slump-busting win at home against San Jose, the club’s first victory in four games. Knies’ Blue Jackets, meanwhile, head into Tuesday night’s tilt on the heels of a disappointing 2-1 loss to Minnesota, the hosts having won just once in their past four games themselves.

Though he’ll try to keep his focus on helping Columbus get back into the win column, he said, to treat Tuesday’s affair like any other game, there will no doubt be plenty more on the winger’s mind as faces the Maple Leafs as a member of the opposition for the first time.

“I wish I could’ve experienced my time there a little bit longer. But, you know, it happens. Things like that happen,” said Knies, who counted John Tavares’ series winner against Tampa Bay as his favourite memory from his time as a Leaf. “I was excited to get an opportunity here — a lot of young guys to play with, a good core, one of the best defencemen in the league. It’s a fun place to be, a fun group of guys.

“I love those guys on that side. I care a lot about those guys. But I’ve got to turn the page a little bit, focus on the guys here, focus on winning, and focus on separating myself from them.”

‘It’s tough not to take it personally’: Blue Jackets prepare for tense reunion with Marchenko

If the feeling between Knies and his former Maple Leafs teammates seems akin to long-lost high-school pals reuniting after moving away for college, the feel on the other side of the trade bears little resemblance.

Spurring the chain of events that saw saw GM Don Waddell move to pluck Knies out of Toronto was Marchenko’s desire to leave Ohio and begin a new chapter elsewhere. The Russian phenom wondered Monday night about the reception he’ll get from the Blue Jackets faithful when he makes his return on Tuesday. His former teammates wonder too, but expect some displeasure to be rained down on No. 86 in blue.

“I don’t know, I guess that’s up to the fans, right?” Blue Jackets pivot Adam Fantilli said Tuesday. “If they’re offended by it, they’re going to react the way they’re going to react.”

“I know he was a fan favourite when he was here,” Werenski added. “I’m sure they’re a little upset with how it ended. I’m sure they’ll voice it if they are. It’s all part of the game. It’s part of what goes on, part of the business. As players, our main focus is just on getting two points.”

Points on the table aside, it’s clear there is pain still lingering from the winger’s decision to seek a new club rather than sign on long-term with the Jackets.

“It sucks,” said Fantilli, who was Marchenko’s centreman for much of the winger’s Columbus tenure. “Marchy not wanting to be here, it’s tough not to take it personally. Because I would’ve been playing with him all year, and he didn’t want to be a part of that. But it is what it is. For whatever reason, whether it was who he was going to play with, whether it was management, coaches, who knows. I haven’t gone in-depth with him on that. He has his reasons. 

“I’m happy we’ve got guys who want to be here. It would’ve been a nightmare having a guy that didn’t want to be here all year. So, I’m happy we got that trade done when we did, and we got guys that want to be here.”

The young centreman said he hasn’t spoken to his former linemate since the trade that sent Marchenko out of town. 

“Marchy was always good to me. We worked well together, we collaborated a lot, we talked a lot. I enjoyed playing with him. It’s upsetting the way he left, the way he wanted to leave,” Fantilli said. “We’ve got to move forward. I haven’t really thought about what I’m going to say to him. We’ll see where the game takes us.”

Maple Leafs shaking up blue line ahead of Tuesday's game

Toronto’s defence corps has been a work in progress since an early-season injury sent stabilizing veteran Chris Tanev back to injured reserve. 

With head coach Jim Hiller continuing to tinker with his pairs through the early going of the campaign, it looks like Tuesday’s tilt will see a swap at the bottom of the defence corps, as some extra time on the ice for Nick Blankenburg at Tuesday’s skate suggests Marshall Rifai will draw back into the lineup.

Projected lineup vs. Blue Jackets

Cowan — Matthews — Roslovic
Marchenko — Paul — Nylander
McKenna — Sissons — Lettieri
Duhaime — Blueger — MacEwan

McCabe — Raddysh
Rielly — Stecher
Rifai — Ekman-Larsson

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Akhtyamov