The Toronto Maple Leafs should be glad they moved on from Matthew Knies when they did.
Knies’ explosion in his first two games with the Columbus Blue Jackets immediately triggered backlash from Leafs fans. That, and Kirill Marchenko’s relatively slow start, made the deal look bad right out of the gate.
Fast forward about 10 games, and Marchenko, injury scare notwithstanding, is a point-per-game player while Knies has fallen into the abyss.
The 24-year-old notched four points in his first four games, and then nada.
That situation has led to significant concern for the Columbus fans, and a sense of relief by Toronto.
Can you imagine the heat John Chayka would be taking if he hadn’t traded Knies?
Moreover, the outcry for a Knies trade would have truly risen in Leaf Nation. The problem, however, would have grown exponentially worse. Trading Knies at this point, following his devastatingly slow start, would have turned into an article of faith. Chayka would have had to convince some other organization that Knies just needed a change of scenery.
Columbus believed that. But that was before his rough start to the season.
Knies could still bounce back, but Maple Leafs made the right call
As much as I was against trading Knies, the bottom line is that his time was up in Toronto. All of the trade talk last season made his relationship with the Maple Leafs untenable. There was no real bouncing back from the situation he was in in Toronto.
That’s why Chayka was right to make the deal that he did, when he did it.
The problem would have only gotten worse had Chayka thought twice about the situation. In hindsight, the trade looks so much better.
Now, you have to think that Knies is a good player and will find a way to bounce back. But you also have to think that there’s a culture issue in Columbus. That’s partly the reason why Marchenko wanted out.
And it’s also partly the reason why the team is struggling right now. The Jackets are stuck in last place in the Metro Division, though they have played the fewest games in the group. But judging from comments by Columbus head coach Rick Bowness, finding a solution to the team’s issues won’t be easy.
For Maple Leafs fans, that’s not a concern. Columbus has to clean up their situation, and that’s that.
But insofar as the Knies trade, it looks like Chayka made a fabulous decision. And it might only keep getting better and better.
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