The Toronto Maple Leafs are visiting the Columbus Blue Jackets on Tuesday night and while it was once a completely normal hockey game, it is now steeped in narrative after John Chayka pulled off his early-season blockbuster.
Notably, the blockbuster boiled down to a swap of Kirill Marchenko for Matthew Knies -- a move that could be seen as fairly controversial since the former Leaf Knies is on a sweetheart contract and is that rugged and tough and physical winger that so many fans have been yearning for. But, Marchenko, as we have seen so far during his time in Toronto, is an extremely talented and dynamic winger that brings so much more than his speed and scoring touch to this team -- and it was also desperately needed.
Now as these two teams collide and Knies is getting ready to face his former teammates on the other side for the first time, he's apparently preparing a little bit of trash talk.
Matthew Knies is getting ready to have some trash talk with the Leafs
While on a podcast this week, preparing for the media firestorm that will be whichever beat reporters travel down to Ohio to try and get a juicy quote after the game Tuesday night, Knies revealed some potential plans for some on-ice chatter.
“There’s honestly a lot of them (to chirp). When you spend three years with some guys, it’s pretty easy to come up with some material," Knies said on Off The Roster earlier this week.
The Leafs is the only NHL team that Knies knew before his trade to the Blue Jackets, so of course there is a whole lot of material there. We're sure he won't go too personal, to cross any lines or burn any bridges to create some sort of bloodfeud between him and players he called his friends, but there will no doubt be some playful jabs.
All we hope for is that a hot mic somewhere picks up a couple of his prepared lines.
Knies says goodbye to the Leafs
While the game will be interesting for the narrative of visiting an old friend, it will also provide some sort of closure to the very short chapter of Knies in Toronto. Or, at the very least, the first chapter of the closure since his return to Toronto won't come until November 21.
He did get to say goodbye to his teammates when the trade happened, though.
“Almost all of them called to say their goodbyes, wish me well and say we’d keep in touch. My first call was Morgan Rielly," Knies said. "I spent three years with him, and he was one of the veteran players who helped me when I was a young player. Johnny T, Auston and all those guys called right after. It was sad saying goodbye because of how close you get over three years.”
It must have been a whirlwind. Since the timing of the trade was literally the day before the Leafs' season opener, some goodbyes had to be rushed. Knies spent all of training camp and the preseason with the Leafs, feeling secure that he wasn't going to be moved, and then was extremely shocked at the trade and had to hurry his way to Columbus while waving goodbye to his now former teammates.
Through seven games this season. Knies has two goals and four points while averaging 18:20 time-on-ice for the Blue Jackets.
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