The Toronto Maple Leafs have been incredibly busy this week, but could they get even busier by trading young power forward Matthew Knies? General manager John Chayka gave a major update on the trade rumours.
Whether it was making a deal with the Philadelphia Flyers to send Joseph Woll down south and clear some cap space, signing top free agent defenseman Darren Raddysh, or naming Jim Hiller as the team's new head coach, the Maple Leafs have been staying in the news. And that's just the things that have actually happened.
A major talking point has been the constant rumours of the Leafs potentially trading 23-year-old winger Matthew Knies. And in a media availability because he pulled off a sign-and-trade to transform Toronto's blue line, that topic came up. Chayka had to give an answer to all the rumours.
John Chayka says trading Knies is "no probable"
When asked about the Knies trade rumours, Chayka was fairly blunt while also being vague enough that we can't jot down his answer a sure thing. In classic NHL executive fashion, there isn't a hard yes or no, but rather an answer in a general direction. And this time, the answer seems to be that the Leafs aren't going to trade Knies anytime soon.
Maple Leafs GM John Chayka says he's going to evaluate everything when it comes to trade speculation, but says it's 'not probable' when it comes to trading a young, core player such as Matthew Knies.
— Arun Srinivasan (@Arunthings) June 19, 2026
Well, there you go.
It's the answer that has always made the most sense. For a team to look at Knies, who is a 23-year-old power forward who is bound to score 30 goals in this league for multiple seasons, and he's locked into a contract for five more years at a perfectly reasonable (if not bargain price) $7.75-million AAV -- that's just someone you don't trade.
Add in the factor that he's an absolute dog and one of the few players on this Leafs team that can score a goal and then get in the face of an opponent before roughing him up, and trading him would be a mistake Chayka would have to live with throughout his (possibly short) tenure as Leafs general manager.
As always, it would have only made sense if the Leafs were going to get an absolute haul for Knies. Something like a top-10 pick, the team's top prospect, and someone to help either replace him at forward or a top-four defenseman. Just something like that, which would be a crazy package.
Hopefully we don't have to think about what a trade would look like for years to come.
Add us as a preferred source on Google