Toronto Maple Leafs Matthew Knies Set to Make NHL Debut
The Toronto Maple Leafs signed Matthew Knies yesterday and he is set to make his NHL debut tonight against the Florida Panthers.
The Toronto Maple Leafs newest Top Prospect was ranked #2 on our preseason list, but with the injury to Nick Robertson, combined with a great NCAA season, he is now the consensus number-one prospect in the organization.
Knies is a 6’3 power-forward who scored 21 goals and 42 this year in 40 games for the University of Minnesota.
He is expected to play tonight on the right side with Kerfoot and Acciari on the Leafs 3rd line.
Toronto Maple Leafs vs Florida Panthers
The Leafs will play Florida tonight, Tampa tomorrow and New York Thursday to finish out the regular season.
They have played the Panthers three times so far, winning twice and losing in OT once.
Currently the Toronto Maple Leafs are 5th overall by points percentage, and could still finish as high as second overall. The Bruins are having the luckiest season of all-time, so who cares about them, but it is impressive anytime you can make it to the final three games of the season with a shot at being second overall.
The Leafs also have 11 OT losses, and while that doesn’t lead the league, it still represents a suppressed record.
The Panthers are currently tied with the Islanders and one point ahead of the Penguins as the three teams fight for two playoff spots. Each team has two games left.
Ottawa is officially eliminated, but Buffalo hangs around on a technicality. The Sabres have four games left and can finish with a maximum of 93 points. The Panthers and Islanders hold the tie breaker over Buffalo, so each team has to get two points to eliminate the Sabres, even if they run the table.
One loss by Buffalo eliminates them.
If the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Panthers tonight, they would be throwing a a huge wrench into their plans, and consider the Panthers employ the Staal brothers, let’s hope that happens. Additionally, they also employ Paul Maurice who is the absolute worst, so there isn’t a team we’d rather see miss the playoffs.
Of course, like any good Leafs fan we’ll be cheering for the Sabres, if just for the outside shot at an eventual Toronto-Buffalo series, which would be amazing.
3 Leafs Who Have Not Earned Playoff Ice-Time. dark. Next
The Leafs will likely use Samsonov since this game has playoff implications, but with nothing for Toronto play for, who knows? The main reason to turn into this game is Matthew Knies.