The Toronto Maple Leafs have signed restricted free agent Matthew Knies to a six-year, $46.5 million extension, which carries a $7.75 million average annual value (AAV).
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This comes just days before 2025 free agency opens on July 1, which allows Maple Leafs general manager Brad Treliving to turn his attention to other areas of need for the team.
Knies’ Extension Is the Perfect Price
There was some hesitation that the Maple Leafs would be overpaying for Knies because of how they had handled the previous members of the core. However, Treliving has shown with this deal that he was able to get Knies signed for the perfect price. Last season, he had a career year with 29 goals and 29 assists for 58 points in 78 games. In the playoffs, despite being injured in the series against the Florida Panthers, he had five goals and seven assists for 12 points in 13 games.
Knies, 20, was drafted in the second round of the 2021 NHL Draft and is coming off his entry-level contract that carried an AAV of $925,000, which will now increase significantly. The Maple Leafs now have a projected $13.7 million in salary cap space. However, with the salary cap going up over the next handful of seasons and the potential departure of Mitch Marner, they have more space to keep Knies at this bargain of a deal.
