OverDrive - Knies on the Maple Leafs' season, his performance and the Olympics radar

Episode Date: December 9, 2025

Maple Leafs forward Matthew Knies joined OverDrive to discuss the Maple Leafs' season perspective, the confidence of the lineup, his role on the lineup, the Olympics' possible spot, the parity throughout the league, the partnership with Amazon and more.

Hello? Hi, Mom. Casserol is a disaster. Did you follow my recipe? I sure did, except I used tofu instead of turkey, and I didn't have sage, so I used cilantro. So you didn't follow my recipe. Some calls are too good to miss.

Stay close this holiday season on Canada's best 5G Plus network. Visit a bell store or bell.ca slash holiday to check out amazing offers on phones and plans. Bell, connection is everything. How are you feeling? How are you dealing with this weather in Toronto right now? Not great, honestly. I need to do some shopping and get some extra coats and stuff.

I'm a little light. Just be honest, man. Do you hate it? When you live in Arizona, and you've got to come up here and deal with this, does it make you sick to your stomach? I don't know. I mean, I kind of like the...

You get all four seasons in Toronto. I feel like in Arizona, it's just one. So I enjoy it most days. but yeah, there is a few days that you'd wish to see the sun a little bit more. Absolutely. You've got to appreciate that all four seasons. It's hockey weather, and that's what you guys are doing. You're playing hockey, and you guys have played great recently,

and I guess we'll go right to a vibe check with you. How would you describe the moon in the room today compared to maybe where it was two weeks ago? Yeah, I think it's been good. I think there's a lot of confidence, and it feels like there's a lot of swagger in a room, too. You know, I think, you know, Hill the Beast back there is doing a great job. And, you know, we just have so many good players and so much depth that it's just a fun group to be a part of. And, yeah, I'm glad that, you know, we're starting to get in the wind column and put some points up. And so, yeah, it's good.

Everyone's feeling good. And, yeah, we're looking to kind of keep that going with this home stretch that we have now. Swagger in the room. Like, what is that? What does that look like? Take us inside the room. What does that mean when you guys have swagger in the room? Yeah, I think it's just confidence in our play, you know, the maturity.

I feel like yesterday, you know, we're up on zero, you know, the majority of the game. And then we come out with a 2-0 win, you know, that's a lot of swagger to kind of hold the team off and then finish the game in the third period and, you know, keep the team on their heels. I think that's playing with a lot of swagger. And I think just having the confidence in our room with the guys and, you know, again, like B stepping up in that. guys stepping up for injuries. I guess it's, you could tell that there's, you know, a lot of confidence in the room and it's good to see.

Matthew, is your role changed or is like the flow of the game? Sometimes when you play with the same guys, there's like a natural flow to it, and you played with last year Mitch and Austin. Without Mitch, does your role seem to change? Does it feel different on the ice without them out there? I don't necessarily think my role changes, you know, even compared to what line I'm on, I think it's, you know, I try to do the same and play simple hard hockey and you know try to provide in any way possible

whether it's special teams you know any you know situation or time of game you know I don't think really my role changes yeah it's obviously a little bit different about Mitch obviously he's an incredible passer and playmaker but I think we've had a lot of good players step up and playing big roles and I think you know I think Domes has done a great job on our line you know creating a lot of chances and and producing offense. So, yeah, I mean, it's hard. You know, I miss Mitch, but I think we have a great team and some great players.

But, yeah, and I think we're doing well. I think we're starting to catch our stride in chemistry now. And so, yeah, I think we're going to have a great team in the second after. You know, just personally for you, it looks like your assist totals are going to be, you know, smashed this year about what you've done in the past. So, you know, I recognize Mitch is in there, but are you, are there maybe looking, a little bit more to the middle tip dish, or is it just the way kind of the puck's gone this year

as far as maybe you being a better set up, man, than a shooter? Yeah, I say again, honestly, my role hasn't changed. I think it's just, you know, how it's falling right now. You know, I think obviously I want to find the background on that a little bit more, but, yeah, again, it's just how it's gone. And, you know, that just means that other guys are, you know, score and have the touch right now. And, yeah, I think everyone's kind of, you know,

been doing a good job producing, and, you know, creating offense. And so it's good to see that, you know, from all four lines and all three pairs of D, everyone's kind of chipping in. We're chatting with Matthew Nyes. The Leaf's coming off a big two-nothing win over Tampa last night. They got San Jose later in a week and then Edmonton on Saturday. Does it, you know, we keep talking about it outside of the game, you know, the difficulty for a lot of players in the league and a lot of teams to just stay healthy and stay fresh.

you know it's a condensed schedule it's an Olympic year we get to that in a moment because I'm sure you're on the radar for Bill Guerin and the USA team but how do you emphasize that or how have you approached it this year maybe compared to previous years you know the focus and being you know the ability to stay healthy and stay fresh yeah I think honestly through my short experience so far in the NHL you kind of learn that there's there's so many resources out there to help you at both our practice facility or a game facility there's so many you know people there to help with you know um any of the little little things you need so um you know there should be no reason that you should be able to keep yourself healthy and and and um you know ready to play and obviously things um things of that nature like injuries happen but uh yeah i think we just have all the resources to get you back there as quickly as possible and um you know we're pretty fortunate to have have the have the stuff we do and um you just got to take advantage of those on a daily basis and take care yourself, you know, you properly and, you know, just rest the body, I think, is important, you know, it's difficult. There's, you know,

a stretch of games where, you know, you're playing every other day, so just taking care of yourself and getting proper rest is vital. Has it felt any different this year being an Olympic year and understanding that, you know, there's a lot of American scouts in the stands and they're watching you, they're watching Austin, who's going, obviously. But how is it? You know, the Olympic kind of cloud hanging over the season affected you, if at all? I don't think it's affecting me at all. You know, I don't really look at it in that sense. It's kind of weird to think that Sir Scouts at your game in the NHL, you know.

I haven't really looked at it that way. I kind of just try to focus on my team here and focus on helping and winning. And I think that kind of stuff will sort itself out. You know, that's out of my control. I can only control, you know, my work ethic, my ability to help this team. So that's the things I'm going to focus on. When you look around the league, it seems like there's a lot of teams all kind of with a lot of parity. Everyone's kind of close, right?

Your four points out of first or four points out of last. What is there, is it the Olympics? Is it just maybe, you know, a lot of talent through this league? What do you attribute that to, Matthew? Yeah, that's a good question. You know, I think it's obviously been a little bit closer than the past, you know, two, three years I've been here. I think it's just, every team's just getting really good now. There's a lot of good players and it makes it difficult.

Like, I think our conference is, you know, extremely strong. I think every team has a reason to put themselves in the playoff spot. And so, yeah, I think it's going to be tight. You know, I think it's going to, you know, go down to those, you know, last few games. Like, it kind of has almost a little bit last year, but I think it's definitely going to matter this year with how close it is. But, yeah, I don't know. I don't really have a good answer for you.

It's just been really tight and some really good hockey games. Well, we discuss your biggest rival all the time. And, like, O and I are from here, it's always been the Habs. It's always been Montreal, like forever. And, you know, the last 20, 25 years, Ottawa's gotten in there, Boston, now the two Florida teams. You know, do you have a team in particular that sticks out? Like, when you play them, it just feels a little bit bigger than the others within your own division? I think, honestly, every team you mentioned just now from,

Tampa, Florida, Ottawa, Montreal. It all feels like a playoff game with those guys. You know, I think, you know, we've all seen them enough that, you know, you just kind of build that hatred. And, yeah, just every one of those games, you know, feels like a rivalry. So I'd say all four, honestly. Yeah, maybe throw Edmonton in there. You only see them a couple times, but McDavid and the boys are here on Saturday.

And, again, it's a big week you guys playing on Thursday. You got San Jose here. You got Edmonton on Saturday. but today is an off day, I presume, for you guys, and you're using your time really well. A big community day at Amazon's Y-YZ-4 Center, where, again, Matthew Nyes, has helped present a $15,000 donation of essential items

to local organizations, supporting families in need. Obviously, a really, really cool initiative. Tell us how you got involved and why it's important to you, Matthew, to get back. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, Eric reached out to me from the PA, and I think it was just about a month ago, And, you know, I said I was in, I think every year growing up when I was a part of just my minor league team in the Junior Coyotes, we'd always spend a day at the Salvation Army and just kind of pack and wrap gifts for, you know, for those less fortunate. And I thought that this was something very, very similar and tailored in the same aspect.

And, yeah, it just lined up perfectly that, you know, I could have some free time and get to help out. help out here and kind of just give back so um yeah i'm i'm happy with it it's been a good experience so far and uh yeah i'm you know looking forward to the rest of it here absolutely up at amazon's robotics powered fulfillment center so do you have like goggles on and gloves and work boots are you grinding right now or what's going on just gloves i was packing a few gifts um wrapping some stuff there's there's a lot going on here it's pretty loud but um yeah i'm trying to take it all in Outta boy. How's your wrapping abilities? Do you struggle with that or strong? It's horrible. It's horrible. It takes me a while to put together one box.

Yeah, I hear you. Just put it in a bag. Gift cards. Gift bags is the key. Exactly. Exactly. Well, congrats again on the win last night on a great season so far. And, you know, again, I think thank you from the GTA for giving back today. And enjoy the rest of the day. We'll do it again down the road. Thank you for this. Yeah, of course. Yeah, of course. Thanks, guys. Thanks for having me. There he is, Matthew Nyes. The lights are twinkling.

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