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Matthew Knies, Toronto Maple Leafs (Photo by Kevin Sousa/NHLI via Getty Images)

Maple Leafs Need Matthew Knies to Lead the Fight Tonight

Originally posted on The Hockey Writers | By The Old Prof | Last updated May 16, 2025 2:40 PM ET

If this is the last time I write before a game that truly matters to this iteration of the Toronto Maple Leafs, I want to go out on a limb. Where will the Maple Leafs’ fight to win come from? It’s not going to come from the veterans. It’s not going to come from the stars.

One Last Thought, Before One Last Chance: Watch Matthew Knies

If anyone’s going to change the soul of this team — the emotional DNA of a group that too often shrinks when the moment swells — it might be the kid who plays like he’s already fed up. Not because he says the right things, but because he does the right things, shift after shift, no matter the score. If something changes tonight, it starts with him.

There comes a time in every franchise’s story when the leadership you paid for fails to deliver, and the leadership you never saw coming starts to reveal itself. For the Maple Leafs, that moment might be right now. And that leader will be Matthew Knies.

Because if anyone is going to drag this team into the fight — tonight, next season, or over the next 10 years — it won’t be the polished scorers or the soft-spoken professionals. It’ll be the 21-year-old who hits like he means it, celebrates like he’s on fire, stands in front of the opposition goalie as a target for his teammates, and treats effort like money that can’t be wasted.

Knies doesn’t wait for the game to come to him. He goes through it. That’s rare on this team. And it’s precisely what’s been missing.

What does drive look like? It doesn’t always mean shouting. It doesn’t mean drama. Drive means showing up angry at losing. It means digging when others glide. It means carrying yourself like this matters more than anyone else in the building.

Knies plays exactly like that.

This Was Never Supposed to Be Knies’ Team — But It Might Be Soon

He’s still a kid, not yet two full seasons in. But you watch Knies on the forecheck, or on a shift where nothing’s going right, and you see something Maple Leafs fans haven’t seen in years: conviction. It’s not the finish. It’s not the flair. It’s the refusal to quit.

Knies doesn’t need to score to be effective. He doesn’t need to be fed perfect passes. He brings energy, hits purposefully, and plays hard in places where many Maple Leafs disappear. That’s not just “compete.” That’s playoff character. And character is what transforms locker rooms.

This isn’t to say he’s the finished product. He’s not. But that makes this more exciting — he’s just starting. And already, he looks like the only one with a chance to change the emotional temperature of this franchise.

Knies Is the Shift the Maple Leafs Need

You can’t win with just skill. You can’t lead with silence. And you can’t pretend the same group will wake up on Friday and start caring more. Someone has to drag this team—not guide it gently, not inspire it in theory—into the kind of games that win championships.

That’s not on Auston Matthews, who leads with skill but not fire. It’s not on Mitch Marner, whose confidence seems fragile. It’s not on John Tavares, who has steadiness but a voice that’s too quiet.

Who else but Knies? He brings the tension this team needs to feel. He makes every shift a little less comfortable for the other team — and his own.

Will the Maple Leafs Become Knies’ Team?

It’s early. But it’s not too early to wonder. What if this team evolves into a group that reflects Knies more than the rest? What if the next 10 years aren’t about Matthews’ elegant scoring or Marner’s elite vision (if he stays), but Knies’ engine?

That might be the way forward. Because the Maple Leafs don’t need another star. They need a driver. A tone-setter. A fighter. And if anyone on this roster right now can grow into that role, drag this team into the fire, and demand they don’t get burned, it’s Knies.

Maybe not tomorrow, but maybe tonight. And although it seems that everyone is counting the Maple Leafs out, maybe, just maybe, this night will be remembered as the night Matthew Knies’ team was born.