Matthew Knies, the mystery player coveted by the CH on Friday (according to Nick Kypreos)

Marc-Olivier Cook
Matthew Knies, the mystery player coveted by the CH on Friday (according to Nick Kypreos)
Credit: Kevin Sousa/NHLI via Getty Images

You know, the famous mystery player coveted by Kent Hughes last Friday during the NHL trade deadline…

Well, we finally seem to have an idea of who it is, if we are to believe recent comments by Nick Kypreos, who was on Sportsnet this afternoon.

This will certainly not please the Canadiens' management, but oh well. 

Kypreos said it out loud: several people claim that Kent Hughes was late for his press conference… because he was working on a trade with the Leafs.

And that's when the informant mentioned the name Matthew Knies, who was also coveted by other teams in the Bettman circuit. He repeated that the idea of Knies being traded was circulating quite a bit and he spoke very clearly about the Canadiens in the matter.

Would the American have liked to be traded to another Canadian market after playing in Toronto since the beginning of his career? I wonder…

In an article published earlier today, Nicolas Cloutier mentioned thatwe almost fell off our chairs when we learned the name of the mystery player who had been the subject of speculation for several days. And the TVA Sports reporter was right if he was indeed referring to the young Leafs player.

On paper, a trade like that would have helped the Canadiens. Knies is a top-6 player, he's got grit, and he can play all 200 feet of the ice. We're talking about a guy who's built for the playoffs and is only 23 years old.

And in the long term, adding a player like that to Montreal is a dream come true… especially since he's in the first year of a six-year contract that pays him $7.75 million per season.

There is one very important thing to remember here:

Some said that if these discussions came to light, the deal would fall through (even though Kent Hughes said at his press conference after the deadline that he hopes to be able to revisit the issue this summer)…

So what does this mean for the future?

Brad Treliving's job is on the line, and he knows it. The basics of the trade have obviously been discussed… and perhaps getting several pieces in return for Knies could help him revive his club.

It would be expensive, very expensive for the Canadiens… but players like Knies are hard to come by in the National Hockey League.

And Kent Hughes certainly knows that very well. Knies is 6'3″, weighs 232 pounds… and has 145 points in 222 games since the start of his NHL career. He has been excellent in his last two seasons in Toronto:

(Credit: Screenshot / HockeyDB)

It's worth noting that it's not often that two clubs in the same division make a big trade like this. And the Leafs have always been the Canadiens' rivals…

That said, everyone in the media knew that the mystery player in question was Matthew Knies, but no one wanted to talk about it before Kypreos did. In Quebec, the information never saw the light of day… until today.

Now, it remains to be seen what will happen with this case…


In a nutshell

– Yeah.

– Easy.

— Wow!

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