‘He found something that worked better for him’: Leafs’ Knies on Marner’s departure
LAS VEGAS – A bittersweet memory, shared in passing, perfectly epitomized how much had changed.
Matthew Knies was recounting a funny moment he had with now-former Toronto Maple Leafs teammate Mitch Marner during their road travels this past season. While they waited to board the team bus, a young fan came running over out of nowhere and grabbed Knies.
“He didn’t say a word, just came up and hugged me,” Knies said. “And the dad’s like, ‘He’s a hugger.’ And so from that game on, Mitch and I would pretend to hug each other and say, ‘Oh, he’s a hugger.’ ”
It was a warm inside joke between two linemates now turned cross-conference rivals. It also represented what was perceived as a relatively innocent interaction with a fan, when, months later, Marner would reveal he required 24-hour safety at his house following the Leafs’ blowout Game 7 home loss to the Florida Panthers in Round 2 of the Stanley Cup playoffs last spring.
So much has changed since then. There’s no way around it: the 2025 NHL offseason has been weird for the Leafs. And even though it was joyous on a certain level for Knies, who signed a life-changing eight-year, $46.5-million contract extension, even he admits it was weird, too.
There is simply no replacing Marner. His late-June departure to the Vegas Golden Knights via sign and trade seems to be morphing into more of a bitter divorce with each passing day, but none of that noise concerns his relationship with his ex-teammates. His off-ice impact came up first when Knies sat down at the NHL Player Media Tour Monday morning and was asked about the trade.
“It’ll be a little weird, I think, just to not see him in the locker room, and obviously he has a pretty loud voice and he ran the music and he did a lot for us,” Knies said.
Not that the adjustment comes as a total shock. With Marner’s unrestricted free agent status pending all last season and the news breaking that the Leafs asked him to waive his no-movement clause for a trade to the Carolina Hurricanes at the 2025 deadline, it was always a possibility Marner would walk.
“I wasn’t really too caught up in it. I didn’t really ask him much about it,” Knies said. “Especially during the season, I don’t think anyone was really bothered about it. I think he just wanted to make sure he was doing well and playing well. And that was the case for all of us, especially at the end of the regular season and playoffs. And then towards the end of it, we were just trying to figure out, I guess, what his plan was. He found something that worked for him a little bit better, and we all wish him the best. It was sad to see him leave, but it’s a business, and you gotta do what you gotta do.”
Even though he didn’t wear the C, Marner’s leadership impact was outsized. Nevertheless, Knies is confident the Leafs can replace it. For one, he points out, they have so many veteran leaders who don’t even wear letters, such as Chris Tanev and Oliver Ekman-Larsson. And as Knies comes into his own as a front-line left winger and power forward, fresh off a breakout 29-goal campaign, he’ll develop into a leader as well.
“Just me getting older and the team investing a little bit more in me now shows that I need to step up and play some more roles and probably play some key moments of the game, and take some of that ice time, too,” he said. “My experience and my previous play have shown that I’m capable of it.”
The on-ice void goes without saying. Marner is a 102-point scorer, eighth league-wide in points across his nine NHL seasons since debuting in 2016-17, an elite two-way right winger, a two-time first-team all-star who plays both special teams. He undoubtedly has struggled to produce at crucial moments deep in playoff series, with the heavy style of play nudging him to the margins, but Marner is a huge reason why the have Leafs made the playoffs nine consecutive seasons, establishing NHL’s longest active streak. There is no recreating his production one for one. But by trading for playmaking winger Matias Maccelli, landing third-line center Nicolas Roy in the deal with Vegas and acquiring Dakota Joshua from the Vancouver Canucks, Leafs GM Brad Treliving has tried to replace Marner in the aggregate, and Knies seems confident it can work.
“It’s pretty unreplaceable when you’ve got a player like that, but we did our best to get the most out of it,” Knies said. “And with Roy, with Maccelli, with Dakota, those guys add a different type of aspect to our team that we might have needed. So I think with the pieces we’ve added and the pieces we still have, and everyone gets one more year of experience and a little bit older – that’s very important for myself at a very young age to just get that experience – I still have a ton of belief in our team. And I think ‘Chief’ [head coach Craig Berube] did a great job in his first year. And I think [Treliving] just made the right moves.”
Marner’s revelation about fearing for his family’s safety put the Leafs in an awkward spot, wanting to support someone they still care about but perhaps also wanting to defend their franchise, fan base and how they take care of their players – to the point Treliving spoke on it last week. Every player handles and experiences the pressure differently – but least for now, count Knies as someone who sees the glass as half full. He leans into the market’s obsessive nature.
“You’re put under a microscope in Toronto compared to other places, but I find a way to enjoy it,” Knies said. I think it’s fun when the whole city’s invested in the team, the whole city wants to win. Yeah, it’s not possible to deliver every year, and the pressure is always building, but that comes with a lot of privilege, and I think it’s good for some people.”
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