Shortly after the NHL Trade Deadline, Montreal Canadiens general manager Kent Hughes talked about how they were working on a trade but just missed out. They believed it was a trade they could revisit this offseason.
Since then, there has been reporting that Matthew Knies was the target, and the Canadiens missed out by just a couple of minutes, as it was filed right after the 3 PM deadline. Unfortunately, the price has seemingly gone up, and to make matters even worse, Knies could end up going to a division rival.
According to Marco D'Amico, the Buffalo Sabres are offering the recently acquired fourth overall pick in a trade for Matthew Knies. He also notes the Sabres aren't the only team, as the San Jose Sharks are interested as well.
Word of discussions with Buffalo and the 4th overall pick.
— Marco D'Amico (@mndamico) June 24, 2026
San Jose also said to be of interest here as well.
Montreal remains interested, but hard to compete with the above teams. https://t.co/OAwk8WMzg1
Montreal Canadiens are in a tough position when it comes to Matthew Knies
There is no question that the asking price for Matthew Knies has gone up since the trade deadline. From the Canadiens perspective, they believed they had an agreed upon trade for the forward, and it is tough to justify offering more.
However, Montreal hasn't been able to make any improvements while the rest of the division has been active. The Florida Panthers added Brady Tkachuk, the Maple Leafs did a sign-and-trade to add Darren Raddysh, the Senators brought in William Eklund, and while the Sabres haven't added anyone to the NHL roster, they now have two first-round picks, a second-round pick, and a third-round pick to make additional moves.
The Canadiens had a great season that saw them get all the way to the Eastern Conference Finals but the path to just getting back has become tougher, let alone trying to get past a team like the Carolina Hurricanes. A player like Matthew Knies certainly, at the very least, keeps them in the conversation with these teams, if not moves them slightly ahead.
Knies is only 23 years old and entering the prime of his career, and has made steady improvements in his production from 35 points in 2023-24, to 58 in 2024-25, and then a career high of 66 this past season. He is a big physical forward who has had 150 or more hits in each of those seasons.
Would the Canadiens rather have the trade that was agreed to at the trade deadline? Absolutely. Unfortunately, the Maple Leafs have a new general manager and more teams pursuing Knies, so they need to be comfortable adding to the offer if they want to upgrade their roster with the physical forward.
Add us as a preferred source on Google