'It Feels Awkward,' Matthew Knies Drops Candid Remark Regarding Mitch Marner’s $96 Million Exit from Maple Leafs
The Toronto Maple Leafs will usher in a new era in the 2025-26 season. Mitch Marner‘s exit in July brought an end to the ‘Core 4‘ era of the Canadian team. One of his former teammates, Matthew Knies, is still trying to wrap his head around this massive move.
Marner was part of the ‘Core 4‘ of the Maple Leafs alongside Auston Matthews, William Nylander, and John Tavares. The forward, who joined his hometown team in the 2016-17 season, was in the final year of his 6-year contract that he signed in 2019.
The 28-year-old would waive off potential trade moves and decline some large contracts. At the end, the Maple Leafs and the Vegas Golden Knights agreed on a sign-and-trade deal.
After Marner penned down an 8-year, $96 million contract, he was traded to the Golden Knights. The Maple Leafs would receive Nicolas Roy in exchange of him.
Marner, who spent 9 years donning the blue and white of the Maple Leafs, will now wear the golden colors of the Golden Knights. While speaking about his exit, Matthew Knies claimed that it was hard to picture him in another jersey. He also expressed that Marner meant a lot to him personally.
It feels really weird, to be honest. It’s hard to picture him in a different jersey… I hope he enjoys himself and still has a lot of success because I think he meant a lot to our team and obviously (to) me. It just feels awkward.
Matthew Knies on Mitch Marner’s departure as per The Athletic
Marner was the leading point scorer for the Maple Leafs last season. In 81 regular-season games, he scored 27 goals and picked up 75 assists (102 points). In the playoffs, he had 2 goals and 11 assists (13 points) from 13 games.
The Maple Leafs once again suffered a brutal loss in the playoffs. After taking a 2-0 series lead against the Florida Panthers in the second round, the Toronto-based team slipped up and lost the series in Game 7. The huge 6-1 loss turned out to be Marner’s last game for them.
Mitch Marner reveals receiving scary online threats following Maple Leafs’ playoff exit
Mitch Marner recently opened up about his exit from the Toronto Maple Leafs. During this, the Canadian international revealed he received some scary online threats following the team’s playoff elimination against the Florida Panthers.
The Maple Leafs have come up short in the playoffs on several occasions in the past decade. Despite the amount of talent they have, the team has been unable to deliver Stanley Cup success.
Following several losses, the team’s top stars, like Marner and Auston Matthews, had been highly criticized by the fans for their performances. In an interview with TSN‘s Mark Masters, Marner revealed that he needed protection for his family after the Panthers dumped out the Maple Leafs from the second round, as several people started targeting him and his family.
We’ve got people sending us screenshots of a guy posting your address online saying that if people want to come pay us a visit and say, you know, their goodbyes, in a quotation way, here’s the address… It was a little tough, obviously.
Mitch Marner said
The ex-Maple Leafs star later expressed that this was something that they had been dealing with for the past two years. While he admitted that he had been part of the Leafs fanbase for a long time and understood their passion for the team, this action from them was unacceptable.
While speaking on the “100% Hockey” podcast, Marner’s agent, Darren Ferris, claimed that some people actually followed up on those “goodbyes.”
Mitch Marner is now hoping to put all that behind him and start a new chapter in his life. Since their Stanley Cup triumph in 2023, the Golden Knights have failed to reach the Western Conference Finals.
They suffered a first-round exit against the Dallas Stars in 2024 and were dumped out in 5 games in the second round by the Edmonton Oilers in 2025. Marner would be hoping to play a key part for his team and help them reach the top again.
Golden Knights Goalie Gunning for Canada’s Starting Role
Adin Hill is entering the first year of a six-year contract extension with the Vegas Golden Knights. The 29-year-old puck-stopper started a career best 50 games last year for the Knights and emerged as an integral piece of the Vegas organization. He also made his case to be an integral piece of Canada's 2026 Winter Olympics Roster.
The Golden Knights starter served as a backup to St. Louis Blues veteran and Canada starter Jordan Binnington at the 4 Nations Face-Off earlier this year, and the two are leading the race for the top role next winter. Hill faces a tough task trying to usurp the starting job from Binnington, a former Stanley Cup winner, but he's the challenger best equipped to do so.
Give More Than You Get
Hill was solid in nearly every aspect of goaltending last season. According to NHL EDGE, his save percentage in all offensive zone locations was above the league average, watermarked by a nearly perfect .978 save percentage on long-range shots on goal and a .897 save percentage on mid-range shots on goal. Both figures ranked above the 60th percentile of all NHL goalies last season. His goals-against average of 2.47 ranked in the 90th percentile among goalies.
Hill also was routinely making saves on quality scoring chances when the Golden Knights’ defense broke down. MoneyPuck’s model for expected goals calculated 135.53 expected goals were launched on Hill, but he only allowed 121 goals against. That resulted in his goals saved above expected finishing at 14.5, better than the figures posted by notable top netminders like Jake Oettinger of the Dallas Stars and Linus Ullmark of the Ottawa Senators.
Size Advantage
Hill stands at an imposing 6’4” and 215 pounds. He possesses the ideal size for a modern goaltender, and it’s a huge part of how his game succeeds. His long legs allow him to move laterally with ease and less effort, nearly eliminating the bottom half of the net.
It also makes him ideally suited to withstand the rigorous tournament the Olympics will surely be. Teams in the field like Czechia, Finland, Sweden and the United States have the forward depth to keep pushing and get to the high-danger scoring areas. One possible way to combat that is Hill’s large frame.
His size also eliminates angles for shooters. When he pushes off his post, he leaves the shooting forward with no net to see. This is exhibited by his save percentage on unblocked shots. Using MoneyPuck’s data on unblocked shot attempts from last season, Hill posted a low-danger save percentage of .973, a medium-danger save percentage of .888 and a high-danger save percentage of .730.
Why is that impressive? Each statistic exceeded expectations. The same model of expected goals from MoneyPuck predicted an expected high-danger save percentage of .679, an expected medium-danger save percentage of .877 and an expected low-danger save percentage of .971, meaning that Hill performed above expected in all three offensive zones. The only other goalie to start 40 games and also outperform the expected save percentage last year was Vezina Trophy winner Connor Hellebuyck of the Winnipeg Jets.
One Tweak Could Be the Difference
One issue I’ve noticed while observing Hill is that he can play a bit deep in his crease. It’s likely a byproduct of his hulking size in net, but it can be to his detriment. He can be susceptible to shot deflections because of this, and he also can give up an occasional juicy rebound.
By moving up a bit in his crease, he could eliminate this issue. Already a sturdy goaltender when it comes to fighting for position, taking that little bit more of space could cut down shooting angles even more, reduce the frequency of deflections beating him and rebounds.
If he can do that, Binnington’s starting job is far from a guarantee. The winning experience of the Blues goaltender is a huge advantage, but Hill’s own success in the NHL combined with a career-best season pushing him into 2025-2026 makes him the biggest challenge for Canada’s starting goalie job.
