Matthew Knies of the Toronto Maple Leafs celebrates scoring a goal during the third period of Game One of the First Round of the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs against the Ottawa Senators (Photo by Mark Blinch/NHLI via Getty Images)

Maple Leafs’ Knies & Matthews Named to U.S. Men’s Olympic Orientation Camp

Originally posted on The Hockey Writers
By Spencer Lazary | Last updated Aug 19, 2025 7:50 PM ET

Today (Aug 19th), Team USA’s Olympic management group announced the 44 players that have been invited to the 2025-26 men’s Olympic orientation camp. For the Toronto Maple Leafs, they will have at least one player representing them for Team USA, with their captain Auston Matthews getting the nod as one of the first six players named earlier this summer. Matthews was joined by Quinn Hughes, Jack Eichel, Brady Tkachuk, Matthew Tkachuk and Charlie McAvoy.

However, now there could be a chance that they have two players playing for the Americans with the news that Matthew Knies has been invited to the orientation camp on August 26-27th. The two-day event is administrative based and doesn’t include any on-ice activities, so there won’t be any fan attendance.

Knies Joins Matthews At Camp

When the Maple Leafs drafted Knies back in 2021, there was hope that he would get to this level in his development and be one of the players named to represent his country on the world stage. Now, that hope has come to reality, well sort of. No, just because he was invited doesn’t mean that he will earn a spot on the roster. He could be one of the players that doesn’t make it and will need to try his hardest to make it next time. However, with how well he has played over the last season, and how he has matured and improved, there is a real chance that he could be hearing his name called as one of the players to wear the Red, White and Blue in February in Milan, Italy.

Knies, 22, had 29 goals and 29 assists for 58 points last season in 78 games. He also made a name for himself with his physical play and put himself in elite company with Washington Capitals forward Tom Wilson and Ottawa Senators forward Brady Tkachuk as the only three players in the NHL last season with 25+ goals and 150+ hits. That solidified his role as one of the game’s elite power forwards. That alone most likely put him on a lot of long lists for the USA Olympic roster. If he can carry that forward into the 2025-26 season, it could push him further up the list and earn him a spot within the bottom six on Team USA.

Matthews Will Likely Serve as Captain

Many fans were shocked by the news that Matthews served as captain of Team USA at the 4 Nations Face-Off. But it shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone that he is likely the favourite to serve as the captain for his country at the Olympics. He is arguably the best American-born player in the NHL and also is the captain of the Maple Leafs, which has to be one of the hardest teams to lead as it’s a pressure cooker market. He will be tasked with leading his nation to the gold medal at the 2026 Olympics, which will only allow him to grow more as a leader within the Maple Leafs’ locker room and hopefully put him in a better situation to handle big moments as they come up in Toronto.