Leafs prospect Matthew Knies appears poised to take on a prominent first line role for Team USA at the upcoming 2022 IIHF World Junior Championship tournament later this month. The 19-year-old is slated to skate on Team USA's top line with Logan Cooley and Matthew Coronato and figures to also be a fixture on the top power play unit.
The Phoenix, AZ native said that he appreciated Matthews reaching out to him, admitting to looking up to the Leafs sniper for a long time and really absorbing the message that Matthews was trying to send to him, which is that it's better to come over when he's ready than to rush any decisions and leaving school before he felt he was properly prepared.
Another scenario Knies touched on was how important it was for him to delay making the jump to the NHL in favour of returning to the University of Minnesota for one more kick at the can with that group. He also credited defenseman Brock Faber for being a huge reason why he decided to take one more year in University to work on some things and continue to develop. Knies said that Faber's decision to also return to Minnesota made him take a look at his own game and acknowledge that since a player like Faber, who could likely also play in the NHL immediately, decided to take a step back and focus on improving some of the details in his game, it made the decision to do so easier for Knies as well.
Knies is expected to sign his ELC with the Leafs upon completion of his sophomore season with the University of Minnesota this coming spring - unless of course he still sees some additional room for growth in his game and decides to go back for a third year. That, however, does seem somewhat unlikely given Knies' comments at Leafs development camp a couple of short weeks ago.
