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The Toronto Maple Leafs' early elimination from the 2025 NHL Stanley Cup playoffs means that they can start paying more attention to dealing with players with expiring contracts — like star forward Matthew Knies, who is a pending restricted free agent.
In fact, the Maple Leafs are reportedly back on the negotiation table already with Knies shortly after Toronto got shown the door in the playoffs by the Florida Panthers.
“One key item atop Treliving’s priority list is getting Knies locked up to a new deal, and contract discussions are back underway after a brief pause towards the later part of the season,” per The Fourth Period.
In addition, it's been noted that Knies is targeting his new contract to be worth more than $7 million in terms of average annual value for three to five years. With Knies' potential and youth, it makes a lot of sense for the Maple Leafs to secure him to a multi-year contract to capitalize on his prime years.
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The Maple Leafs have ample space to accommodate a pay raise for Knies, who only had a cap hit of $925,000 in each of his first three seasons in the NHL. Selected in the second round of the 2021 NHL draft by the Maple Leafs, the 22-year-old Knies is among the chief priorities of Toronto in the offseason. The Maple Leafs currently have a projected cap space of $25.709 million in the 2025-26 NHL season, per Puck Pedia.
But Knies isn't the only pending free agent who commands the attention of the Maple Leafs in the offseason. John Tavares and Mitch Marner are both pending unrestricted free agents, as well as the likes of Max Pacioretty and Steven Lorentz.
Knies has become among the most productive Maple Leafs attackers over the last two seasons. He had 15 goals and 20 assists for 35 points in the 2023-24 campaign before racking up 29 goals and 29 assists for 58 points in the 2024-25 season. In the 2025 NHL playoffs, Knies posted five goals and two assists in 13 games.
The Maple Leafs finished the 2024-25 season with a 52-26-4 record for 108 points but once again failed to get past the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
