After rumors around last season's NHL trade deadline, some details regarding a potential trade between the Toronto Maple Leafs and Montreal Canadiens for Matthew Knies have surfaced.
After last season's NHL trade deadline, there were rumblings that the Toronto Maple Leafs and Montreal Canadiens were working on a trade involving left winger Matthew Knies.
At the time of the rumored deal, no details came to fruition. However, on Thursday, David Pagnotta reported the details of that offer. Pagnotta believes that the Habs would be receiving Knies, while the Leafs would get prospect Alexander Zharovsky, another top prospect and two first-round picks.
Pagnotta added that the top prospect was neither Michael Hage nor David Reinbacher.
On Friday morning, Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman piggybacked on Pagnotta's report, saying that he has heard something similar in terms of the details of Knies trade.
"I think the deal involved Knies," Friedman said on the 32 Thoughts podcast. "As I heard it, it was something similar to that."
In addition to essentially vouching for Pagnotta's report, Friedman explained why the trade didn't go through on deadline day last season.
"What I heard is the reason it didn't happen was it was submitted at 3:01," Friedman said. For context, the official deadline was at 3 p.m. ET.
Since this reported trade proposal, a lot has changed with the Maple Leafs. For instance, the GM who was looking to pursue this deal, Brad Treliving, is no longer with the organization after being fired on March 30.
With that change, and several different minds in Toronto's front office, Friedman doesn't believe that deal is on the table anymore.
"I think it's possible Montreal wants to revisit it, but I don't believe it will happen," he said. "I think that deal is off the table now."
Knies is entering the second year of his six-year contract extension, which sees him earn $7.75 million per season against Toronto's salary cap. He finished last season with 23 goals and 66 points in 79 regular-season games.
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