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“If Matthew Knies isn’t signed by July 1, watch out”
Félix Forget
“If Matthew Knies isn’t signed by July 1, watch out”
Credit: Getty Images
When you think of the great draft picks of recent years, Lane Hutson’s name quickly comes to mind. The Habs defenseman, who had just broken all records in his first year on the Bettman circuit, was one hell of a late second-round pick in 2022.

Some teams are biting their fingers today, we agree.

A year earlier, the Toronto Maple Leafs also made a nice grab for Matthew Knies. The forward, who honed his game in the NCAA, is coming off a solid second NHL season, playing big minutes on a good team.

That said, Knies will become a restricted free agent on July 1, and we expect to see him get a nice contract… but we must remember that he is eligible to receive an offer sheet.

And during his appearance on The Shaun Starr Show, Marco D’Amico chatted about Knies… and he had this to say:

If Matthew Knies isn’t signed by July 1, watch out. – Marco D’Amico

What we understand is that, should Knies be RFA on July 1, there could be teams who would be tempted to make a hostile offer. There are brakes on all this, of course, but that’s the flavour of the moment in the NHL.

D’Amico makes it clear, however, that he’s not saying it’s necessarily the Habs who will stick their nose in (although the club could certainly use a player like Knies). For that matter, he’s not saying that Noah Dobson could sign a hostile offer sheet with Montreal either, even though it’s been circulating.

And for those wondering why Knies is eligible for an offer sheet, the reason is simple: since he played 10 games (season + playoffs) in his first year in the NHL, he’s accumulated a professional year, which means he now has three.

That’s the difference with Lane Hutson and Ivan Demidov, who won ‘t be able to sign an offer sheet: neither of them played 10 games in their first year on the Bettman circuit. Hutson played only two, while Demidov played only seven. In doing so, they burned a contract year without accumulating a professional year.

This means that Knies will give the Leafs more headaches than Hutson and Demidov, who will be condemned to sign their next contract in Montreal. Knies, on the other hand, can be courted by other teams… and a year after the Blues’ success at this level, Brad Treliving must be hoping that Knies will be under contract before July 1.

Although, if the Leafs want to extend the contracts of Mitch Marner and John Tavares, who are free agents in the making, maybe he’ll start to run out of money for Knies…


Overtime

– Lars Eller doesn’t look too happy in Washington.

– Tom Wilson is now sponsored by Reebok.

– Very cool.

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