Sportsnet: Elliotte Friedman and Kyle Bukauskas on 32 Thoughts: The Podcast – The Hair and Hot Air episode, on the Toronto Maple Leafs and forward Matthew Knies in the last year of his deal and some teams asked about goaltender Dennis Hildeby last year.
** NHLRumors.com transcription
Bukauskas: “Hey, you wanted to touch on Matthew Knies. I mean, you mentioned that there weren’t a ton of NHL regulars in the lineup, but the fact that he was wearing an ‘A’ Saturday night caught your eye.”
Friedman: “Yes, that did catch my eye. And I’m wondering if they’re going to sign him. I think Knies is on the precipice of being a really long-term important piece of the Toronto Maple Leafs.
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He’s heading into the last year of his ELC and I think there have been some conversations about it. I don’t know how much or in-depth they’ve really talked about it, but there’s been some rumors that there have been some conversations.
Watching him with the ‘A’ on Saturday night. You know, there weren’t a lot of people they could have given it to, but they gave it to him, and that says a lot about how they see him.
And you know my rule, if you have a cornerstone player, and he’s 21 years old, then you go out and you sign them for as long as you can, because the price never goes down. He’ll be 22 in a couple of weeks. So just seeing him with the ‘A’ made me think of that.
And the other thing I thought about for Toronto is that Hildeby, who played the whole game, and won. Someone said to me he was by far the Leafs best prospect in the American Hockey League last year. And there’s nothing we’ve seen so far that disputes that.
I’m pretty sure they got asked about him last year, and I don’t think they ever considered it seriously. And you can see that they have, I think they have starting to have bigger future plans for this guy.”
Bukauskas: “So on Knies. I mean, you’re thinking some term right out of the gate could be coming …”
Friedman: “I would”
Bukauskas: ” … is that what I’m hearing?”
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Friedman: “I would, I absolutely would, if I was them. Like I said, cornerstone players. Price never goes down. And putting the ‘A’ on him says to me that they think very, very highly of him.”