The Toronto Maple Leafs' firing of Brad Treliving last week continues to fuel speculation over the future of core players, such as Matthew Knies and Morgan Rielly.
The Toronto Maple Leafs' firing of GM Brad Treliving last Monday served to resurrect the trade rumors about Matthew Knies.
Knie, 23, first surfaced in the rumor mill before the March 6 trade deadline. Soon afterward, reports emerged claiming the Montreal Canadiens were among the clubs interested in the young Maple Leafs power forward.
That speculation faded after The Athletic's Pierre LeBrun reported that the two sides discussed Knies but never got close to a deal. However, it flared up again when Sportsnet's Nick Kypreos claimed last week that the Canadiens and Buffalo Sabres were among the teams linked to the Leafs left winger.
According to Kypreos, Treliving sought three different asking prices for Knies. The first was two first-round picks and a high-quality prospect. The second was a first-rounder and two top prospects, and the third was three high-quality prospects.
He also claimed the problem for those clubs interested in Knies was how long it took for Treliving to set those prices.
During last Friday's episode of 32 Thoughts: The Podcast, Elliotte Friedman said he believed the Leafs and Canadiens discussed Knies, despite everyone involved denying it.
He doubted that the Canadiens would give up top prospect Michael Hage, but he believes everyone thinks they did because Keith Pelley, the president and CEO of Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment, mentioned Hage during his press conference last week.
Pelley also mentioned Sabres prospect defenseman Radim Mrtka, who was reportedly part of a trade offer to the St. Louis Blues for Colton Parayko last month before the latter used his no-movement clause to spike the deal. TSN's Darren Dreger claimed the Canadiens and Sabres weren't happy about Pelley mentioning their prospects because they've come up in trade speculation.
All this media chatter doesn't mean that Knies is available.
The next Maple Leafs GM could decide to hang onto the rising young star as part of the foundational players that Pelley envisions the club retooling with next season.
Nevertheless, Knies remains a hot topic in the rumor mill, and his name will probably keep resurfacing as a trade candidate until there's some clarification about his future from whoever replaced Treliving.
Meanwhile, Morgan Rielly's future in Toronto is also a topic of conjecture among Toronto pundits.
The longtime Maple Leafs defenseman has declined over the last two seasons. He has four more years left on his contract with an average annual value of $7.5 million and a full no-movement clause for the next two seasons.
Kypreos believes the Maple Leafs could explore options to move Rielly, but he doesn't expect they'll buy out the 32-year-old defenseman.
However, Terry Koshan of the Toronto Sun doesn't rule it out, noting that the first four years of a buyout would save the Leafs $4 million annually, with the final four years costing only $2 million annually against their salary-cap payroll.
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