Knies growing into power game
Growth spurt quickly turned prospect from small and skilled to imposing
Believe it or not, there was a time in Matt Knies life when he considered himself undersized.
The Maple Leafs prospect was about five-foot-seven and maybe 160 pounds halfway through his under-16 year with the Phoenix Jr. Coyotes, just before the spring of 2018 when he was drafted third by the Tri-City Storm of the USHL.
“I was always the smaller, more skilled player,” Knies says. “I skated very well and I could handle the puck. And then, you know, the size came.”
By the time he showed up to TriCity’s training camp in the fall, he was six-foot-two.
“As the summer went on, and my parents were feeding me tons of chocolate milk, it took off from there,” Knies says.
Now Knies is six-foot-three, about 205 pounds, and one of the biggest players on the U.S. team at the world junior hockey championship.
“Great kid,” says U.S. coach Nate Leaman. “He’s a smart player. He’s a 200-foot player. Obviously, you see how strong is, how good he is at taking pucks to the net, how good he is around nets. He can make the plays on the rush.”
Knies had two assists for the Americans in the preliminary round. They will play the Czechs in one of Wednesday’s quarterfinals. He is a power forward in the making, the guy digging the puck out of the corner or creating havoc in front of the net.
“He does a lot of work and makes a lot of space for linemates,” Leaman says. “He’s good at getting in position, getting back on the hunt, pressuring guys, and chipping away at guys and getting turnovers.”
Knies has essentially taken a small player’s skilled view of the game and applied his considerable size to it. It didn’t come easy.
“As you get bigger, your co-ordination goes down,” Knies says. “It got a little harder skating, a lot of more weight to push around. But I gained that strength and that power, and I love to use it around the net. It definitely helped me. I loved adding size to my game.”
The Leafs chose Knies in the second round of the 2021 draft. Scouts considered him a Shane Doan-type power forward. It helped that Doan coached Knies along with Doan’s son, Josh, who was chosen 20 spots ahead of Knies by the Coyotes.
“It took some time to adjust,” Knies says. “Starting off being a smaller player, not being in the corners as much, not being in front of the net, trying to produce from the outside. And then completely changing my game to being around the net, trying to make that my office, make sure I put those pucks in the back of the net. It was a tough transition.
“But with the guys around me, all the coaches, they opened my eyes to it. Obviously, Shane was one of those players that was around the net. Could score. Bigger, stronger player. He hit. Was physical. He would harp on me every day, like, ‘You’re the strongest kid out here. Use it. Be the most dominant player.’ And that’s when my game took off and that’s when I started to be a better player. Once I realized what my body could do, I think that’s when I started to play my best hockey.”
Knies got his first taste of Toronto in July, at his first rookie development camp.
“It was wonderful, coming there for the first time, getting to see the city, meet everybody,” says Knies. “I think it exceeded my expectations. A wonderful organization, has everything, all the resources. Worked with Hayley (Wickenheiser, one of the Leafs’ assistant GMs) and some of the other staff to improve my game and see what I have to work on before I can make the jump.”
He made it clear he won’t be entertaining any thoughts of signing with the Leafs until after his sophomore year at the University of Minnesota.
“We have probably the best strength coach there is in college sports with Cal Dietz. He makes me feel completely different as a player,” Knies says.
“Much stronger and faster. We’re on the ice constantly with some of the top guys. So that’s only going to raise my game. We’re constantly around the rink, and on the ice, trying to improve ourselves and our team.”