The New Jersey Devils have a serious need in the top six. Since trading Tyler Toffoli in 2024, the Devils haven’t found the right combination of wingers for Jack Hughes. Right now, head coach Sheldon Keefe is trying out Connor Brown and Jesper Bratt alongside Hughes. The owner of the Golden Goal has been incredible as of late, but he seems to be doing a lot on his own.
Brown and Bratt have been with Hughes for 12 games now, and they’ve been good enough. However, the Devils have scored just seven goals with this line on the ice in 123 minutes. They’ve allowed six goals on the other side.
It’s clear that the Devils don’t have the answer in-house. They need one more top-line forward, and the one they’ve been connected to most has been the Toronto Maple Leafs’ 23-year-old forward Matthew Knies. While we’ve heard connections to Steven Stamkos, Jordan Kyrou, Jason Robertson, and Blake Coleman, but Knies has been the most prevalent rumor.
The Devils would love to have a player on the team like Knies. He plays big, standing at 6’3 and 223 lbs. He already scored 29 goals last season, and he already passed 20 goals this season. Is he supposed to be at least slightly better than that? Probably, but the Devils would love to have someone scoring 20 goals at this point.
Only three players on the Devils have 20 goals at this point in the season. There’s an outside chance Hughes and Nico Hischier can hit 30 goals. It seems unlikely that Jack Hughes could score eight goals in his final nine games, especially after he scored one goal in November, one goal in December, one goal in January, and zero goals in February, but he’s been scorching hot.
Matthew Knies is a great player who might not be worth the price of admission
The issue isn’t all Knies the player, although, we’re a little worried with the serious drop in production this season. The real issue is the fact that the Maple Leafs are only opening the possibility to a Knies trade so they get an absolute haul.
To get Knies, the Devils would probably have to start with former second-overall defenseman Simon Nemec and the 2026 first-round pick. The Maple Leafs lost their first-round pick to the Boston Bruins in a trade for Brandon Carlo. Now, they want to get one back.
The Devils can’t pay that price. Knies might be really good, but the former second-round pick is hardly a guarantee. He’s playing on the most popular team in the sport. That astronomically raises his profile. He also hasn’t played as tough as his size suggests. He did fight Nico Hischier earlier this season, but we need more than that for the Devils to compete in the Eastern Conference.
On paper, this is a perfect acquisition, but hockey isn’t played on paper. It’s played on ice. The reality is that Knies on this roster wouldn’t automatically make this a playoff team. A guy like Jordan Kyrou or Jason Robertson would, weirdly enough.
Keep the conversations going, and if you can switch that first-round pick out for a lesser piece, then maybe there’s something that can be done here, but it doesn’t seem likely at this point.