The Toronto Maple Leafs endured an embarrassing 2025-26 season, with a 30-point decline after winning the Atlantic Division, injuries to team captain Auston Matthews and winger William Nylander, and the haphazard handling of the club behind the bench by Craig Berube, which led to him being fired after two seasons. It’s hard to imagine things being worse, but GM Brad Treliving came within minutes of making a trade with the Leafs historic rival that could have been catastrophic and may have led to his ouster prior to the end of the season.
The Fourth Period’s David Pagnotta provided details on the rumored shopping of Leafs winger Matthew Knies, indicating that the Leafs were approached by the Montreal Canadiens just prior to the 3pm deadline, offering 19-year-old Russian winger Alexander Zharovsky, another top prospect and two first-round draft picks. The second prospect reportedly would not have been one of their former first-rounders, University of Michigan center Michael Hage or 2023 fifth-overall pick David Reinbacher.
Pagnotta indicated that Treliving and the Leafs accepted the deal, but were unable to file the trade with the NHL before 3pm. He also said there was a possibility that talks for Knies could be rekindled over the summer, but that speculation was shot down by Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman on Friday’s 32 Thoughts podcast.
Friedman confirmed that he had heard similar details to the deal and that the Habs possibly would still have interest in Knies, but that the new regime under GM John Chayka and Mats Sundin would not consider moving the 23-year-old winger.
The details of this deal and how close it came to pass have to have been factors in Treliving’s firing. The anxiousness to trade Knies appears to have been based on his lack of trade protection and the ability to get a sizable return, but the package coming back from the Canadiens was a future package and not the hockey deal that the Leafs GM said he was trying to make all season. In the days leading up to the deadline, Toronto traded centers Nicolas Roy, Scott Laughton, and winger Bobby McMann for a first, two seconds, a fourth and fifth round picks, which were all acceptable since they were on expiring contracts or had short-term left on their deals.
Knies played most of the season injured, posted a career-high 66 points (23 goals, 43 assists), and has five years left on his contract at $7.75 million. Putting him out on the market to see what teams would offer is one thing, but to take a package at the 11th hours that included a pair of first-rounders, which would likely be in the bottom half of the first round, and that did not include one of the Habs top prospects borders on criminal mismanagement.
The book on Treliving that opposing GMs seem to have followed is to reach out just before the deadline to take him to the cleaners. That was the case with the Brandon Carlo deal with Boston, where the Leafs scrambled to find a righty defenseman after striking out on trying to acquire Rasmus Andersson from Calgary, giving up center Fraser Minten, and only getting top-five protection on their 2026 first-rounder. Reportedly, Treliving nearly gave up youngsters Easton Cowan and Ben Danford for Brayden Schenn, but that deal fell through when Toronto could not acquire Schenn’s brother, Luke.
The point here is……if you think the Leafs are in deep trouble, just think what they would be like if Treliving had been able to make some of the other deals he wanted to make.
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