Intriguing Report Coming Out of Toronto as Insider Shares Updates on Leafs' Knies, Tavares

On Monday, Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman revealed that the Leafs set an internal deadline of June 30th to get pending restricted free agent Matthew Knies signed to a new deal to avoid any offer-sheet complications.

On Thursday, we saw Maple Leafs GM Brad Treliving essentially confirm Friedman's reports as he publicly stated that he would like to have Knies signed 'as soon as possible'.

In stating he would like to get Knies' extension done as soon as possible, Treliving was noncommittal on even offering a new deal to Tavares, although he echoed Tavares' comments from locker clean out day that they had held positive discussions.

On Thursday's episode of 'The Chris Johnston Show', Chris Johnston revealed that while it is still highly likely that Tavares returns to Toronto, the odds shifted a from a 90/10 split to a 70/30 split following Treliving's press conference.

As for Knies, Johnston noted that there are seemingly two options for the former second-round pick. A short-term, 3-year deal in the $4M-$5M range or an 8-year deal where Johnston suggested an AAV of around $8M.

Even a 4-year deal would be suitable for both Knies and the Maple Leafs as he would still be a restricted free agent at its expiration. Realistically, anything other than a five, or six-year deal is favourable for the Leafs. A five-year deal walks the 22-year-old to free agency, which is what happened with Mitch Marner and a six-year deal only takes advantage of one year of his UFA eligibility.

The Arizona native finished his second full season in the NHL tallying 29 goals, and 58 points in 78 regular season games and added another 5 goals and 7 points in 13 post-season games.