We know that Auston Matthews was a massive Shane Doan fan, and also loved Danny Briere's game. Knies, however, had a bit of a more unorthodox answer when asked who his favourite player was growing up. He was a big Mikkel Boedker fan.
Boedker was a member of the Coyotes from 2008-09 until 2015-16, when he was traded to the Colorado Avalanche. Knies would have been 6 years old in Boedker's first season in Phoenix and he would have left Arizona when Knies was 13. Perhaps Knies' memory is a bit skewed due to his young age at the time, as Boedker was never a big-time goal scorer - though he did produce a career high 19 goals back in 2013-14.
Nevertheless, Knies has become one of the brightest young talents in the Leafs' system, so regardless of who he idolized growing up, it has helped him get to this point, so I suppose we should all be Mikkel Boedker fans right about now.
POLL | ||
13 SEPTEMBRE | 146 ANSWERS Matthew Knies reveals who his favourite player was growing up and it's not who you might think How many points will Matthew Knies record in his rookie season? | ||
30 or less | 18 | 12.3 % |
31-45 | 60 | 41.1 % |
46-60 | 48 | 32.9 % |
More than 60 | 20 | 13.7 % |
List of polls |