Brad Treliving Credits Star Maple Leafs Forward With Pushing For Extension
Photo credit: John E. Sokolowski | Imagn images
Maple Leafs GM Brad Treliving credited star winger Matthew Knies with really driving the bus when it came to pushing to finish his recent contract extension.
On Sunday, it was reported that the Maple Leafs agreed to terms on a six-year extension with forward Matthew Knies.
The deal was officially announced as free agency kicked off on Tuesday, with the 22-year-old upping his yearly salary substantially to $7.75M per season.
After handling a slew of other business as free agency opened, Brad Treliving spoke with reporters following his day 1 UFA activities, where he was asked about the Knies extension.
Treliving had said in his end-of-season press conference that he wanted to get a deal done as soon as possible, while Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman stated the Leafs set an internal deadline of June 30th - which the Leafs GM indeed met.
"That was a big piece of business for us," said Treliving about Knies' extension being done before July 1st. "We think Matthew is just scratching the surface in terms of what he's capable of. He was very committed right from the outset to be here, and wanted to be here."
Had Knies entered July 1st, he would have been a prime target for an offer-sheet, which both sides wanted to avoid.
The 22-year-old had a tremendous sophomore campaign for the Leafs tallying 29 goals and 58 points in 78 regular season games.
As the Leafs move on from Mitch Marner, they will look to Knies to pick up some of the offensive production and defensive contributions left by Marner.
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JUILLET 3 | 3870 ANSWERS Brad Treliving Credits Star Maple Leafs Forward With Pushing For Extension What are you expectations for Knies' goal total next season? | ||
| 25-30 | 1611 | 41.6 % |
| 31-40 | 2063 | 53.3 % |
| 41-50 | 196 | 5.1 % |
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