Elliotte Friedman confirms why the Maple Leafs traded Matthew Knies

Elliotte Friedman reported that the Toronto Maple Leafs really only had one reason why they traded away Matthew Knies, and it's all about him staying healthy.

Monday night came with the blockbuster news that the Maple Leafs traded Matthew Knies along with Steven Lorentz, Emil Andrae, and a 2nd round pick to the Columbus Blue Jackets for Kirill Marchenko, Elvis Merzlikins and Miles Wood.

It took the entire NHL world off guard, and the first one on the story was none other than Elliotte Friedman, who was certainly a busy man on Monday - where he also provided some extra insight.

It was only Matthew Knies' health that caused Toronto to pivot

Friedman appeared on the Real Kyper and Bourne Show, and explained there was no animosity between Knies and Toronto but rather they had reservations about his long-term health:

Nobody ever said this is a bad guy or this is a terrible person or we don't like him. The only concerns I ever heard about him were that he gets hurt so maybe that was an issue to them...I just think Knies got traded because they look at what they could get for him and they said we think that ceiling is higher.

Friedman later confirmed this in his written 32 Thoughts article heading into the 2026-27:

The only negative I ever heard about him was concern about the number of injuries he'd suffered in such a short time. That's it.

At first glance, you'd think Friedman was looking at the wrong player as Knies has only missed 9 games over the past three seasons, but it's deeper than just simply missed games, and there is some genuine concern.

Knies' knee issues at 23 are already a red flag

Last season, we learned that Knies had been dealing with a knee issue for the entire year, but decided to play through it for the sake of the team. Admirable, but also a bit worrying.

Knies is 6-foot-4, 230 pounds and that amount of weight is a lot on your joints, especially on his knees. He's going to be expected to skate fast and hard, but we already saw his speed dip considerably last year and he looked like he was skating in cement this preseason.

Jim Hiller is utilizing a more stop-start, up-tempo style that puts an emphasis on speed and quick transitions. If Knies can't keep up with the rest of the team, he's not going to be able to help contribute as much and the constant back and forth is going to wear his legs down even more.

It's not that he's a veteran with 500+ games under his belt, where those types of injuries are more frequent or at least at a higher risk of occurring. But if he's already a question mark years before he hits his prime, the question then becomes: Will he ever reach it if he can't stay healthy?

Toronto didn't want to risk having Knies potentially a question mark year after year as they hope he becomes a star. They felt like Marchenko was a better fit, though only time will tell. Either way, there's not much we can do about it now except see how things play out.

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