Matthew Knies is injured, and the Maple Leafs are handling it terribly

The Toronto Maple Leafs have been a consistent contender for a number of years, and while they weren't able to go on a deep Stanley Cup Playoffs run, they've been one of the league's best regular season teams for a decade.

In 2025/26 however, they've fallen apart completely following the departure of Mitch Marner, and with very few assets moving forward, there's a chance that this team could look to head towards a rebuild.

One key piece that they do have for the future is winger Matthew Knies, who has shown himself to be a potential star of the future, tallying 18 goals and 57 points in 66 games this season at just 23-years of age.

However, he is reportedly dealing with an injury at this point, and despite being 29-28-12 and all but eliminated from post-season contention, the team are happy to let him play through it.

If this was a veteran or a pending free agent, it would be a different story, but at 23-years of age, Knies is locked in for six further years after 2025/26, meaning they should be looking to protect him, especially given their lack of other up-and-coming young stars.

Ultimately though, Toronto have been mishandling assets for a number of years now, and it's one of the major reasons why they're in the position that they're now in, and while he may not end up with a major injury, the risk just far outweighs the reward here, and it's something the Maple Leafs need to figure out.

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