Knies signed a six-year, $46.5 million contract with the Maple Leafs last June.
Matthew Knies is going through the motions of a down year with the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Toronto lost its seventh straight game on Saturday to the Tampa Bay Lightning. Not only that, they're dead last in the Atlantic Division, second-last in the Eastern Conference, and ninth-last in the entire league.
For the main group of players, such as Auston Matthews and William Nylander, they've never known difficult times in Toronto. It's a new feeling. And Knies, who's also been to the playoffs in every season since joining the Maple Leafs, is going through it, too.
"It's difficult. I feel like I haven't been in a situation like this," Knies said on Monday after Toronto's practice.
"It's difficult to explain it, really, to put it into words. We're just trying to work hard and work for one another, and it obviously hasn't been the case since coming back from break, it hasn't looked right, and everyone's frustrated about that."
Knies' season, much like a lot of his teammates, has been up and down.
The 23-year-old came out of the gate scorching hot, tallying seven goals and 28 points in the first 24 games of the season. But as the season has gone on, Knies' game has become inconsistent, and likely in part due to a lingering knee injury he's been working through.
Coming out of the break, the forward admitted he was feeling good — and he looked it throughout the first couple of practices. However, the more he's played post-Olympic break, the more you notice he's still likely fighting something.
"[I'm feeling] pretty good," Knies said.
"Not 100 percent, but definitely pretty good, and still feel like I can contribute and help. I'm confident in my abilities that I'm still eligible to be a dominant player and help out."
Then came the trade deadline.
Nicolas Roy, Bobby McMann, and Scott Laughton were all shipped out for draft picks over the next two years. All three were teammates Knies called "friends for life," but McMann in particular was someone Knies was tight with.
You could see it in one of the team's Blueprint videos, where it was Knies, McMann, Simon Benoit, and Joseph Woll all going out for dinner together in Columbus, Ohio.
"It's a crappy feeling losing some guys," Knies added on Monday. "You want to keep those guys. A lot of those guys I've played with a little bit, so yeah, it sucks to see them go, wish them the best of luck."
One of the biggest surprises of the deadline for the Maple Leafs wasn't the players they moved out, but the ones they reportedly put out there to see how other teams value those players.
Knies, according to Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman, was one of them.
"I heard some Matthew Knies, and that, to me, is the Maple Leafs seeing if there’s a massive offer they can’t turn down," Friedman wrote in a Sportsnet blog the night before the deadline. "That is the only way I see it happening."
Knies responded to his name being in trade speculation on Monday, saying it was a surprise to hear that sort of discussion.
"I didn't really look into it too much. I feel like, kind of, with this market, everyone's kind of almost a target," he continued. "Yeah, it is what it is. It's a business. You earn the attention here. But I don't want to look into it too much, I guess."
There are 18 games left in the Maple Leafs' season. Whether Knies plays in the rest of them remains to be seen. But despite pretty much being out of the playoff race, Toronto wants to finish the season off strong in hopes that this year is a one-off.
"I was here before it, but [the team] proved nine years in a row that they're a playoff team," Knies said. "You look around this room and see the talent, the skill base we have here. I think we'll be back and stronger than ever."