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 rumour
