New Matthew Knies contract another early win for Maple Leafs negotiating

TORONTO — The playoffs are underway, Matthew Knies has been making his presence felt at the most important time of year, and one of the 22-year-old’s more senior teammates lowers his voice inside the Toronto Maple Leafs dressing room.

“I’m, like, captain of the Kniesy fan club,” the veteran reveals, half joking but fully serious. “You can’t tell anyone that, because I like giving him s---. But, yeah, I'm a huge fan of his. He’s a great player.”

A great player who won’t be going anywhere but up and down the ice in hard, straight lines for the Blue and White for the next six seasons.

Knies — the best and quickest-to-develop Leafs draft pick since fellow Arizonan Auston Matthews, his centreman — signed a six-year, $46.5-million contract extension Sunday, avoiding restricted free agency and any vague threat of an offer sheet. 

The power forward’s reasonable $7.75-million salary cap hit — which falls between that of Minnesota’s Matt Boldy ($7 million times seven years) and Dallas’s Wyatt Johnston ($8.4 million times five years) — should look increasingly like a bargain for the team as long as the cap rises alongside Knies’s performance, as projected.

The extension, negotiated by agent Matt Federico, will allow Knies to get his crack at unrestricted free agency and another significant pay bump in 2031.

He’ll only be 28 when this new pact expires, the same age Mitch Marner — the most coveted UFA of 2025 — is now.

If the six-foot-three, 227-pound, front-line power forward can build upon 2024-25’s 29-goal, 58-point campaign, which had coach Craig Berube claiming the youngest Leaf as the club’s most pleasant surprise of the season, look out.

“I still forget how young he is, because he hangs out with the older guys,” teammate Steve Lorentz said. “He’s very mature for his age. But he's such a good pro. He works hard in the gym. He’s an honest guy. He keeps himself light. Like, he’s just down to earth. And he doesn’t take the job too seriously — in a good way. For a young guy, it can get stressful at times, especially in a big market like this.”

Knies seldom looks stressed, but he does stress opponents with his dogged forechecking, immovable net-front presence, and improving special-teams contributions.

So high are Berube and GM Brad Treliving on Knies that when the Carolina Hurricanes reportedly suggested Knies be included in a potential trade for Mikko Rantanen at the deadline, the Leafs gave a hard no.

“Matthew is just realizing how big and strong he is, and he’s getting more comfortable,” Treliving said on March 7. 

“He’s sort of grown right in front of our eyes. So, he’s a big part of our team now (and will) continue to be moving forward. And he’s a unique player. You know, that’s a big, strong man at 22 years old.”

Berube has gone so far as to compare Knies to all-time American power forwards like Keith Tkachuk, Bill Guerin, and John LeClair.

The Knies extension is another tidy bit of business for Treliving, who negotiated equally well with John Tavares last week.

That Marner’s money is coming off the books helped Treliving and Knies push for six years as opposed to a less-expensive bridge deal.

And the fact that Treliving has more clarity on his cap picture heading into July 1’s free agency will help sharpen his attack on the open market. (Summer of Brad 2.0?)

Of course, negotiations always go smoothly when the players wish to stay put.

And Knies, who flourished under the prime opportunity given to him by Berube, repeatedly made it clear that he loves being a Maple Leaf and had no thoughts of leaving Toronto.

“I want to be here. I want to play here. That’s all that really matters to me,” Knies said on May 20, when he shot down the idea that he’d seek an offer sheet. 

“I love everyone in this locker room. There’s really a chance to win here. I think that there are the guys in this room to win.”

One of those guys is Knies himself.