Newly acquired Columbus Blue Jackets winger Matthew Knies was praised by his new head coach, Rick Bowness, ahead of his debut for the team.
The Blue Jackets acquired the 6’3″, 223-lb Knies as part of a six-player trade with the Toronto Maple Leafs that sent sniper Kirill Marchenko north of the border.
While dealing Marchenko was a high price to pay, the opportunity to land Knies, a rugged power forward who can score goals and throw the body with the best of them, was a trade that the Blue Jackets simply could not turn down, and so the team went out and made the deal with Toronto, appeasing its veteran head coach Bowness, who can’t wait to coach him in Columbus.
Rick Bowness Praises Matthew Knies
Speaking to Columbus reporters ahead of Knies’s Blue Jackets debut, Bowness couldn’t contain his excitement about adding the rugged power forward to Columbus’s locker room, which already has several other big boys in Valeri Nichushkin and Dmitri Voronkov on the team.
“You can have size, but you have to be able to move. That’s Val and Matthew and (Voronkov); they can move. They’re going to be hard to keep away from the front of the net, and they cover a lot of ground when they forecheck,” Bowness said (via The Athletic).
“Knies is in that group now. There’s more to this kid (Knies), and we’re going to get it out of him. He’s going to keep getting better and better. He’s a big part of our youth group that’s going to help this team get to the next level.”
Adam Fantilli Calls Matthew Knies a ‘Nightmare’
Not only is Bowness excited about adding Knies to the team, but so are his teammates, as top-line center Adam Fantilli — who figures to be Knies’s center for the next five seasons — praised the player, calling him a “nightmare” to play against.
“Playing against him was a little bit of a nightmare. He was a moose in college. In the NHL he’s been a stud, too. I’m really excited to have him on our team,” Fantilli said about Knies.
‘Nightmare’ Matthew Knies Praised by Blue Jackets’ Rick Bowness