The Toronto Maple Leafs traded Matthew Knies to the Columbus Blue Jackets the day before the Leafs played their season opener.
It was the kind of setup that was bound to draw maximum attention, and it meant Knies had tons of immediate eyes following him to see how he’d do as he got rolling with a new team.
The irony is that it feels like all the Knies noise has died down, and it’s only been about two weeks since the trade happened.
That doesn’t mean Knies has stopped playing, though. It just means the NHL has settled into the rhythm of its season, with plenty of things to pay attention to.
There are surely still Maple Leafs fans who wonder how Knies is doing, though, so we’ll take a look at that here, as well as the main piece who came back for him, Kirill Marchenko.
How Matthew Knies is Doing Since Leaving Maple Leafs
Knies has now played five games with Columbus since joining the Blue Jackets. They are 2-3 in that span, including a shootout victory.
The winger began his Columbus tenure bursting out of the gates. He put up two goals and an assist in a season-opening win over the Buffalo Sabres.
The next time out, Knies notched an assist as the Blue Jackets lost to the Utah Mammoth.
Knies didn’t have a point but did notch three shots on goals in a shootout win over the Pittsburgh Penguins.
In game four, Knies was a minus-1 with no points in a loss to the St. Louis Blues.
And the Blue Jackets had an ugly loss to the Florida Panthers on Tuesday night by a 7-3 score — although Knies was plus-1 in 18 minutes on the ice.
So that’s two goals and two assists through five games, although Knies has gone the last three games without a point.
The weirdest stat on his board so far is hits — Knies has just 3 total through 5 games. He had 152 hits last season in 79 games.
It’ll take more time to see if Columbus has asked Knies to take a different approach to his physicality, or if he just hasn’t found his way to the right spots to impose his presence yet.
Kirill Marchenko With Maple Leafs
Marchenko is off to a quality start with Toronto. He has a goal and five assists through seven games.
He has assisted in four consecutive games, including one in the Tuesday night loss for the Maple Leafs in Utah.
Marchenko has also dished out nine hits through the seven games, and he’s averaging 19:03 of ice time.
For each of the past two seasons, Marchenko finished just off a point per game pace, and that’s right where he is so far with six points in seven games.
Here’s How Matthew Knies Is Doing Since Maple Leafs Trade