Knies points to Mikko Rantanen as an influence with eyes set on 2026 Olympic roster

Through his first few seasons with the Toronto Maple Leafs, Matthew Knies has quickly become one of the team’s most exciting young players. Between his size, physicality, and rising goalscoring figures, his versatility is one of his greatest strengths, with many calling him a ‘unicorn’ of sorts. At the same time, it also makes it hard to come up with comparable players to his specific brand of hockey.

On Wednesday, Knies joined Jonny Lazarus on Daily Faceoff’s Morning Cuppa Hockey to talk all things Maple Leafs after a big offseason in Toronto. While he laughed off Lazarus bringing up the ‘unicorn’ nickname, he agreed with the sentiment and pointed to one interesting name he looks up to.

“A guy I like to look at is Mikko Rantanen,” Knies said. “He’s a bigger player, he’s strong on his skates, he scores, he moves the puck well, he’s poised. That’s the kind of player I’d love to obviously be like.”

It’s a funny comparison considering how Rantanen became a prevalent name in Toronto this past season, with rumours of him being a possible replacement for Mitch Marner amidst reports that Marner blocked that trade from happening. While Knies asserted that he doesn’t think he’s anywhere near Rantanen skillwise at this point in his career, the 28-year-old is someone he aspires to be like. In the meantime, he’s focused on continuing to grow in his third season in the league under the direction of head coach Craig Berube.

“Having Berube, I think he’s gonna really help me find something I’m really good at, and just be able to be consistent at,” Knies said. “He’s helped me a lot in my puck play, my decision making at lines, my wall play. So obviously getting more years under my belt with him behind the bench is going to be very beneficial to me.”

As he enters his third complete season in the NHL, it’s an extra important one with the 2026 Winter Olympics coming up. Knies last appeared for Team USA at the 2022 games, though that was without competition from NHL players (not to mention, COVID spoiling the fun with constant tests and quarantines). Considered somewhat of a long shot for this year’s roster, Knies has his sights set on making the team, and is looking for a hot start to the season to get him there.

“Obviously it would be a huge honour to make that team and to get to represent them again on that stage, that’d be pretty surreal,” Knies said. “I have to earn the opportunity to make that roster and I know it’s not gonna be easy, there’s a lot of names that deserve to be there. It’s gonna be challenging, but I think if I have a strong start to the season, I can show what I can do and hopefully earn my way onto that team.”

He added that watching this year’s fiery 4 Nations Faceoff from home instead of competing on the ice made him that much hungrier to get a taste of that high stakes international action again come this February. Now locked in on a long-term deal, he has the chance to prove that hunger on the ice in October and rise to the moment on this newly configured Leafs roster.