Confirmed with Link: Leafs sign F Matthew Knies to ELC (3 years, $925k AAV)

[saffronleaf]

My post was tongue in cheek. It's unlikely he gets it in one fell swoop.

What I was commenting on is how surreal that would be: just finish school and already be positioned to make more money than most would make in 10-15 years of working, while digging one's way out of tens of thousands of dollars of student debt.......

there's no digging out anymore, just digging deeper

 

[LeafSteel]

there's no digging out anymore, just digging deeper

 

[Namikaze Minato]

 

[glue]

Any confirmation on if he is playing or not?

 

[Petrus]

ROR or AcciarI. Certainly not Willy. Lol

We want hard nose front net presence not the slick pretty boy stuff that Willy does.

 

[authentic]

We want hard nose front net presence not the slick pretty boy stuff that Willy does.

Yeah those goals he scores are a little too gorgeous for me

 

[IPS]

We want hard nose front net presence not the slick pretty boy stuff that Willy does.

Then you should watch some highlights and see how many goals he scores in front of the net.

 

[I am Canadian]

My post was tongue in cheek. It's unlikely he gets it in one fell swoop.

What I was commenting on is how surreal that would be: just finish school and already be positioned to make more money than most would make in 10-15 years of working, while digging one's way out of tens of thousands of dollars of student debt.......

Gotcha. To add unjustice to injury, I'm sure he has a scholarship and didn't have to pay for college either.

 

[Namikaze Minato]

Gotcha. To add unjustice to injury, I'm sure he has a scholarship and didn't have to pay for college either.

Totally off topic but I recognize your avatar from the new leafs video

 

[Martin Skoula]

I don’t get the Knies-O’Rielly 3rd line idea, what is that line’s job? Sheltered scoring is a waste of O’Rielly, shutdown against Kucherov sounds like a bad idea to throw a rookie into.

IMO it’s either an O’Rielly-Marner all purpose matchup 2nd line and a sheltered Knies-Kerfoot 3rd line or an O’Rielly-Acciari shutdown 3rd and Knies on a sheltered offensive 2nd line.

 

[IPS]

I don’t get the Knies-O’Rielly 3rd line idea, what is that line’s job? Sheltered scoring is a waste of O’Rielly, shutdown against Kucherov sounds like a bad idea to throw a rookie into.

IMO it’s either an O’Rielly-Marner all purpose matchup 2nd line and a sheltered Knies-Kerfoot 3rd line or an O’Rielly-Acciari shutdown 3rd and Knies on a sheltered offensive 2nd line.

A 3rd line with Knies-Tavares could definitely be an option as well. ROR-Marner for the guaranteed line matching problems, Matthews-Nylander as a primary scoring pair with a lot of offensive zone starts. Adjust the matchups accordingly if you're worried about Knies' inexperience.

 

[I am Canadian]

Totally off topic but I recognize your avatar from the new leafs video

Haha thanks for that! Really odd that they included that.

 

[TIGERCOOL]

I don’t get the Knies-O’Rielly 3rd line idea, what is that line’s job? Sheltered scoring is a waste of O’Rielly, shutdown against Kucherov sounds like a bad idea to throw a rookie into.

IMO it’s either an O’Rielly-Marner all purpose matchup 2nd line and a sheltered Knies-Kerfoot 3rd line or an O’Rielly-Acciari shutdown 3rd and Knies on a sheltered offensive 2nd line.

Depth down the middle has proven to win championships. Stretches opponents thin and wears them down. If you have the scoring depth to make ROR worthwhile on the third line, you have a look at it. Big "if", as Knies needs to be lights out in his 2 or 3 game showcase to earn that.

 

[Primary Assist]

It's about time we stop thinking about just the Leafs and consider what an All-Time NHL Lineup will look like in a few weeks:

Knies - Knies - Knies
Knies - Knies - Knies
Knies - Knies - Knies
Knies - Sundin - Knies

Knies - Knies
Knies - Knies
Knies - Knies

Knies

Healthy Scratches: Gretzky, Lemieux, Roy

 

[3headeddragon]

I don’t get the Knies-O’Rielly 3rd line idea, what is that line’s job? Sheltered scoring is a waste of O’Rielly, shutdown against Kucherov sounds like a bad idea to throw a rookie into.

IMO it’s either an O’Rielly-Marner all purpose matchup 2nd line and a sheltered Knies-Kerfoot 3rd line or an O’Rielly-Acciari shutdown 3rd and Knies on a sheltered offensive 2nd line.

For me it is an if we can re-sign O'Reilly for next year placement.

This year just get his feet wet on the 4th line for the 3 last games and see how he does.

 

[Dekes For Days]

I don’t get the Knies-O’Rielly 3rd line idea, what is that line’s job?

I think the idea would be to have a balance across the lines, and have a Selke-winning center there to cover for a rookie who might have defensive miscues going straight to the NHL playoffs from NCAA. I think you need O'Rielly to be with at least one of Knies, Bunting, or Nylander.

 

[Petrus]

Then you should watch some highlights and see how many goals he scores in front of the net.

Lol! I am being sarcastic! I love Willy’s game!

 

[Martin Skoula]

I think the idea would be to have a balance across the lines, and have a Selke-winning center there to cover for a rookie who might have defensive miscues going straight to the NHL playoffs from NCAA. I think you need O'Rielly to be with at least one of Knies, Bunting, or Nylander.

Isn’t the point of O’Rielly to take #1 shutdown minutes to open up Matthews and one of the other big 4 to Tampa’s weaker lines? O’Rielly coming out even with Kucherov does more for us than O’Rielly outscoring Paul.

 

[JT AM da real deal]

Keefer has always talked about having 3 productive lines for playoffs for 2 years now .. and an energy line .. well we've established da energy line now .. what's left to figure out is placing forwards on 3 lines .. from what i can figure out line 1 will be Matty/Mitch and line 2 will be ROR/JT and that leaves Willy/Kerfoot for line 3 i think .. assume Kn ies either goes with Matty or Kerfoot line .. and Bunting on other one .. likely Lafferty/Jankrock with ROR .. and then energy line of Reese/Kampf/Acciari

 

[TheDoldrums]

best player to wear 23 in any sport imfo

 

[Dekes For Days]

Isn’t the point of O’Rielly to take #1 shutdown minutes to open up Matthews and one of the other big 4 to Tampa’s weaker lines? O’Rielly coming out even with Kucherov does more for us than O’Rielly outscoring Paul.

When have they used O'Rielly in a pure shutdown role?
I'm sure they'll use him in specific shutdown situations, but we're also not always going to have last change.
Matthews and Marner are Selke caliber players themselves, and did fine outplaying the Kucherov line last year.
I think I'd rather split up Knies, Bunting, and Nylander into different lines, and have balance on the 2nd and 3rd lines, than have a shutdown line and a line that needs to be sheltered.

 

[Gary Nylund]

best player to wear 23 in any sport imfo

First player to have his number retired from all NA team sports.

 

[LaPlante94]

I don’t get the Knies-O’Rielly 3rd line idea, what is that line’s job? Sheltered scoring is a waste of O’Rielly, shutdown against Kucherov sounds like a bad idea to throw a rookie into.

IMO it’s either an O’Rielly-Marner all purpose matchup 2nd line and a sheltered Knies-Kerfoot 3rd line or an O’Rielly-Acciari shutdown 3rd and Knies on a sheltered offensive 2nd line.

Knies is a sniper and O'Rielly is a playmaker just like Kerfoot. The way the bottom 6 has been playing since the deadline Knies has to really earn his spot now because people instantly penciled ZAR out of the lineup once Knies got here but he's been great and then Lafferty was starting to get it and he's also been great lately. Knies plays PK at Minnesota so he's no liability on the defensive side of the game and has a very active stick that drives offensive players crazy. So that line has potential to be a good shutdown pair who should be able to put pucks in the net. If it's not then you can always go to a O'Rielly-Acciari shutdown line.

 

[al secord]

Knies might be that pp quarterback we've been searching for.

Todd Gill's number too? Kismet.

 

[horner]

Knies is a sniper and O'Rielly is a playmaker just like Kerfoot. The way the bottom 6 has been playing since the deadline Knies has to really earn his spot now because people instantly penciled ZAR out of the lineup once Knies got here but he's been great and then Lafferty was starting to get it and he's also been great lately. Knies plays PK at Minnesota so he's no liability on the defensive side of the game and has a very active stick that drives offensive players crazy. So that line has potential to be a good shutdown pair who should be able to put pucks in the net. If it's not then you can always go to a O'Rielly-Acciari shutdown line.

Most of his goals were scored in tight.
Going to the dirty areas.