Having grown up in Arizona, Maple Leafs prospect Matthew Knies was obviously a big Arizona Coyotes fan growing up, much like fellow Arizona product Auston Matthews. Knies, like Matthews, loved to attend Coyotes games growing up and idolized players on the team in hopes of one day making it to the NHL himself.
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.
