What the Toronto Maple Leafs have in Matthew Knies
By Jeremiah Lee
Cons and Downside
Matthew Knies has a lot of tools to his game the Maple Leafs can benefit from, but this does not come without cons.
The main con looks to be his lack of accuracy in his shot, but this is something that he could fix. As I watch him play, I can see that he does have the puck handling and hand-eye needed to make the moves he does to find open ice. However, his shot could be placed differently. He doesn’t finish as many chances as he could have due to this, but I’m not too worried about it.
He could also work a bit on his offensive awareness which, again, I feel like will improve over time. He does create space, but sometimes his passes are messy and seem forced.
He doesn’t seem to check over his shoulder when he is behind the net which leads to missed SOG and chances.
With more patience and awareness, which, again, usually comes with time, I am sure that this will not be an issue. He needs to work on his offensive awareness and decision making, but his overall offensive skillset is quite good.
Another thing would be his lack of desire to lay the body. Yes, I am aware that his forte is stick checking and positioning (which I pointed out), this may not work out as well in the NHL.
His stick checking may easily be countered by players such as Connor McDavid and Patrick Kane. His use of the lower body to separate player from puck may be easily overpowered by players like Sidney Crosby, or bigger players like Leon Draisaitl and Jamie Benn.
This style of defense may also cause multiple hooking and tripping penalties. This is something he will have to focus on if his offensive skillset does not improve.