At the NHL Trade Deadline in March, the Montreal Canadiens were not able to complete any trades. However, there has been plenty of speculation about a rumored blockbuster trade that even Kent Hughes referenced shortly .
On Thursday, David Pagnotta with The Fourth Period not only named the player the Canadiens were pursuing, but also what the trade package would have been. According to Pagnotta, the Canadiens were very close to trading with the Toronto Maple Leafs for Matthew Knies. In return, Montreal would have sent Alexander Zharovsky, another top prospect, and two first-round picks.
Pagnotta also notes that the other top prospect was not Michael Hage and David Reinbacher. The fact that neither of these players were going to be part of that deal is a huge win for the Canadiens.
Knies is exactly the type of player that the Montreal Canadiens would pursue and would have been a huge help for the team in the playoffs. He is a big forward who is only 23 years old but has been very productive already in his career with 160 points in 240 regular-season games. Knies also brings physicality with 505 hits over his NHL career.
The addition of Knies also wouldn't have been a short-term fix, the ones that Hughes tries to avoid, but rather a core part of this franchise moving forward, as he is under contract through the 2030-31 season.
Does the change at general manager for the Toronto Maple Leafs complicate things for the Montreal Canadiens?
The reason that the trade didn't get completed was that Montreal reportedly came to the Maple Leafs late in the day, according to Pagnotta's reporting, at the trade deadline, and there wasn't enough time to get it filed. In those scenarios, it feels pretty easy to pick the phone back up and see if both sides still agree to the deal.
Unfortunately, for the Montreal Canadiens, the Maple Leafs would fire general manager Brad Treliving at the end of the season. They have since replaced him with John Chayka, and it remains to be seen how this new general manager views Knies and the Canadiens' offer.
One of the challenges for Chayka is to prove to Auston Matthews that they aren't necessarily looking for a prolonged rebuild. If they trade a player like Matthew Knies, who is still very early in the prime of his career, it is tough to make that case.
While the Canadiens are probably going to want to revisit the trade discussions, because Matthew Knies would be a great fit on this roster, there are new complexities that have to be worked through that could complicate a potential deal.
