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Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews reacts to Team USA snubbing teammate Matthew Knies

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Mike Armenti
January 3, 2026 (10:24)

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Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews has made USA's Olympic team, but with Leafs teammate Matthew Knies left off, Matthews shared his thoughts on the snub.

This week, each of the various countries participating in the 2026 Olympic Games in Milan-Cortina announced their official rosters for the event, with the Maple Leafs having representatives on both Team Sweden and Team USA.

Naturally, William Nylander made Team Sweden, joined by a pleasant surprise in defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson. Auston Matthews made Team USA, which was already the expectation. However, another Leafs forward enjoying a tremendous season did not make the cut.

Matthew Knies surprisingly left off of Team USA's Olympic roster

Matthew Knies was left off of the roster for Team USA, despite his status as a bit of a "unicorn" in the NHL ranks. A power forward with that kind of speed, physicality and finishing touch doesn't come along often, and his 36 points in 37 games not being enough to have earned a spot is, well, flat out surprising.

As Knies' captain and linemate, Matthews has become very familiar with his game over the past couple of seasons. Matthews, too, was surprised to see his Arizona counterpart left off of Team USA's roster, but understanding the position that the management group was in, revealing as much during a recent interview.

"I mean, I think he's played great this year, and he's a great young and up-and-coming player. I think there's going to be guys that get left off that made a good case to be on it. I mean, there's just so many players from so many different countries that are great players that are having great seasons, and you kind of leave it in the hands of the general managers that are directing the team. I'll kind of leave it up to him, but obviously, selfishly, I'd love to see him be on the team."

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For Knies, there must be some disappointment there, but I'm sure that he, too, understands the difficult decisions that management faced leading up to the finalization of the roster.

When players like Jason Robertson are on the outside looking in with 48 points in 41 games, it does certainly show just how tough the decisions got for the organization leading up to the final few picks.

Now, Knies will be able to rest any potential bumps and bruises for a couple of weeks while a few of his teammates attempt to win gold for their respective nations in February.

Previously on Toronto Hockey Daily

Leafs' performance since the departure of Marc Savard truly eye-opening

Max Domi shares video of dad, Leafs legend Tie Domi, in first skate in 4 years

Where there's smoke there's fire: Leafs looking to acquire ex-Flame Mangiapane?

POLL
JANVIER 3 \| 477 ANSWERS Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews reacts to Team USA snubbing teammate Matthew Knies Do you think Matthew Knies deserved to be on Team USA's Olympic roster?
▢ Yes
▢ No, not over some of the others selected
▢ Tough to say for sure

Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews reacts to Team USA snubbing teammate Matthew Knies

Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews has made USA's Olympic team, but with Leafs teammate Matthew Knies left off, Matthews shared his thoughts on the snub.

Matthew Knies surprisingly left off of Team USA's Olympic roster

Do you think Matthew Knies deserved to be on Team USA's Olympic roster?