Matthew Knies isn't worried. Despite losing a player of Mitch Marner's talents as the winger decided to forego signing with his hometown team to go play for a team that no one truly cares about, the young Leafs star is confident in the Leafs this upcoming season.
“I mean, it’s hard to replace a guy like that. He's kind of a big player for us, with production, the way he played, special teams,” Knies said on a recent episode of the 32 Thoughts podcast.
“We did a good job of acquiring some great players, some big players that play strong, add a lot of value to our team, a lot of depth. And I think we have a lot of players right now that can play many roles and step in for occasions that we need them to. So, I’m really confident in our group.”
It truly is a mindset change, as Knies summarizes. Sure, losing Marner is something that no team can really recover from with just one player but the Leafs decided to buy low on a strong playmaking winger in Matias Maccelli, acquire hard-hitting winger Dakota Joshua for almost nothing, and then what came back to Toronto in the Marner sign-and-trade with the Vegas Golden Knights was centre Nicolas Roy, who is maybe the perfect option to solidify the forward spine of this team.
Strong, hard hockey is going to be played in Toronto thanks to these moves and the addition of Macelli and maybe someone like Max Domi solidified next to Auston Matthews and Knies on the first line, and suddenly we're not missing that little all-star.
Knies continued to discuss this turnover and how the coaching staff may continue to develop. In the second year of Craig Berube leading the Leafs bench and with a roster overhaul, Toronto could look very different on the ice.
“As soon as (Berube) stepped in last year, he kind of changed it up a little bit. I think we played a lot harder, a lot tougher, a lot more physical. I think we're still making our strides towards that really good championship culture,” Knies said. “This (past) year was a good step for us, but I think there's still obviously more improvement that we need. And this summer, I think we did that.”
Knies will continue to grow in his all-situations role with the departure of Marner and now has an opportunity to truly become one of the best forwards on this team.
Last year, the 22-year-old winger scored 29 goals and 58 points in 78 games for the Maple Leafs while averaging 18:31 TOI.