News of the Toronto Maple Leafs purported NHL trade deadline deal with the Montreal Canadiens involving Matthew Knies really isn’t all that novel. A report a couple of months ago here on Heavy first broke talk of the blockbuster trade.
That said, Thursday’s report by the Fourth Period’s David Pagnotta served as corroboration for the initial chatter. What Pagnotta’s report actually did was shed more light on the return the Maple Leafs would have gotten for Knies.
But what remains a mystery is why the deal never happened. According to Pagnotta, there were some “complications,” leading to the deal not going through ahead of the 3 pm deadline last March 6.
Now, insider Elliotte Friedman, on Friday’s edition of the 32 Thoughts Podcast, offered a plausible explanation for the Maple Leafs-Canadiens trade not happening.
According to Friedman, the trade email calling the deal in was submitted after the 3 pm deadline on March 6. Friedman stated that the email hit at “3:01 pm,” effectively making the trade invalid.
It’s worth pointing out that the timestamp on trade emails submitted to the NHL must show 3 pm at the latest. Emails with timestamps past 3 pm do not count.
So, it appears that a minor technicality was the reason why Knies never joined the Montreal Canadiens this season.
Friedman Doesn’t Believe Maple Leafs Will Revisit Knies Trade with Canadiens
Another interesting bit of insight pertains to Friedman’s thoughts regarding the two clubs circling back to the Knies trade.
While Friedman thinks the Canadiens will want to circle back to Knies, he doesn’t think that the current Chayka administration will have interest in moving Knies.
That’s an intriguing point. The purported deal in question happened during the Maple Leafs’ Treliving regime. They had a deal in place with the Habs. But now that John Chayka is in charge, the Leafs may not be too keen on moving Knies right now, at least not for the deal that Treliving had agreed to at the trade deadline.
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Toronto Might Have Other Plans in Sight
Thursday’s news of Detroit Red Wings captain Dylan Larkin requesting a trade has radically shifted the calculus for just about every team in the league. It wouldn’t be out of the question for the Maple Leafs to be one of the teams looking to land the gold-medal winner from the 2026 Winter Olympics.
If that’s the case, the Leafs might hold off on any other deal until they know if they have a chance at Larkin.
It’s also worth pointing out that teams missing out on Larkin might want to circle back to other deals, like Knies. For instance, if the Canadiens swing and miss on Larkin, would that motivate them to go out and push for someone like Larkin?
It’s a fascinating thought. The Larkin deal could be something that spurs other deals to go through. With not many options on the free-agent market, the trade market could become the focal point of activity heading into the 2026 NHL Draft.
The next couple of weeks could see a major push towards teams setting up ahead of the summer lull.
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