The Toronto Maple Leafs were somewhat active at the trade deadline last week, but didn't do as much damage as some fans would have liked. And the reason might be that they were working on a massive blockbuster with the rival Montreal Canadiens on deadline day.
As the Leafs made their way through their pending unrestricted free agents -- dealing Bobby McMann to Seattle and Scott Laughton to Los Angeles -- there was word that over in Montreal, something big was brewing. After the deadline passed, more and more reports came out that Canadiens general manager Kent Hughes was working on something that would have stole the spotlight for the entire league.
And, well, an NHL insider claims that the team who Hughes was talking to for this blockbuster was the Maple Leafs.
Maple Leafs-Canadiens talking blockbuster trade at deadline
On Monday's episode of Kyper & Bourne, Nick Kypreos went and exposed that it was going to be an organization-altering move. Not just the Canadiens picking up someone like Nick Robertson with a hope to make the Leafs look bad for not getting all they can out of the scoring winger -- it was going to be seismic.
It was going to be a trade that would've sent Matthew Knies to Montreal.
“There is a sense that the deal [Kent Hughes] was working on was with the Leafs… I can tell you [Matthew Knies’] name was out there with multiple teams.”@RealKyper shares what he heard about a potential Leafs–Canadiens deal before the deadline with @jtbourne and @SamAMcKee. pic.twitter.com/q9zI1HGOWp
— Sportsnet 590 The FAN (@FAN590) March 9, 2026
"I'm just telling you what I'm hearing, alright? There is a sense, at least in my inner world, that the deal [Hughes] was working on was with the Toronto Maple Leafs," Kypreos said. "Alright, this is where we get to spitball now. ... Now, Elliotte [Friedman] was the first to report Matthew Knies' name out there. I had also heard it and I put him on my trade board at the end of the week. There is a sense out there that there perhaps was something brewing around that type of guy.
"I can tell you that his name was out there, with multiple teams," Kypreos said of Knies. "If that's the case, if you really, really think about it, outside of Matthews and Nylander with their no-move clauses, who was out there who could provide the Leafs with multiple top, top talent? It's Knies."
Kypreos was then asked by co-host Justin Bourne if it would be actual players, not just draft picks, coming back for Knies in this hypothetical-but-real trade discussion with the Canadiens.
"Yes, yes. Whatever it is. They have a ton. They have a lot, and that's the one guy -- if Treliving was working on something with Knies, he's the one guy that could bring you back that type of return."
This doesn't mean that this deal is not going to happen, either. Kypreos continued to mention that when he heard that the Canadiens talk about this deal, the overwhelming sense was that it could be a conversation that is picked up again in the summer.
What the return from the Canadiens could've looked like
It's really no telling what the possible players and prospects coming to Toronto in this trade would have looked like. As Bourne mentioned in the clip above, Michael Hage is Montreal's top prospect as he is currently dominating college hockey for the University of Michigan and should be an instant middle-six scoring center in the league.
There are other young players like defenseman David Reinbacher, and their most recent top pick in forward Alexander Zharovsky, who could've been part of this deal. And while some of them could eventually reach a similar impact level that Knies has for the Leafs right now, it would be Toronto waiting years and years and years for that to happen, as the rest of the core only gets older.
It would have been an interesting deal no doubt, and we're sure it will be a potential narrative as we head into the offseason a few months from now.