The Toronto Maple Leafs have dangled Matthew Knies in trade talks repeatedly over the years.There was the time in 2022, when the Leafs reportedly discussed a deadline deal that would have sent Knies to the Chicago Blackhawks and brought Brandon Hagel (and Marc-Andre Fleury) back to Toronto. Three years later, there were talks to part with Knies in a bid for Mikko Rantanen, and just this past spring, the team seriously considered moving Knies if he could deliver them a monster haul from the likes of the Montreal Canadiens and Buffalo Sabres, among others.So should the Leafs, under new management, actually do it this time — trade Knies, who recently landed at No. 12 on Chris Johnston’s early offseason trade board?Let’s examine both sides of the debate.The case for keeping himLet’s start here: Knies won’t turn 24 until the middle of October and his contract doesn’t expire until 2031.Hold onto him, and the Leafs have a core piece for the present and future — the long-term future. In other words, he has a place on a team that’s retooling or rebuilding.Add Gavin McKenna, perhaps, to Knies and Easton Cowan and suddenly the Leafs have an intriguing batch of young and improving forwards to pair with Auston Matthews and William Nylander.Knies has probably become a touch underrated now after last season when he, like just about every one of his teammates, struggled. But injuries were clearly a factor. Knies found a way to play in 79 games, but was never chugging at full speed thanks to a knee injury suffered early in the season.Knies’ max skating speed was 35.9 kph, down from a high of 37.2 kph the previous season.The Craig Berube-coached Leafs didn’t spend enough time in the offensive zone and neither did Knies, which meant far fewer scoring opportunities. Two seasons ago, Knies ranked fourth in the entire NHL with 100 high-danger shot attempts at five-on-five.Last season that number plunged to 67.Which helps explain, at least in part, why Knies went from one of the NHL’s top five-on-five goal scorers, with 22 goals, to a mere 10 last season — two less than Matias Maccelli.Matthew Knies, left, struggled to score around the net last season. (John E. Sokolowski / Imagn Images)Another part of that story, though, was worse luck.Knies was probably overly fortunate during that ’24-25 season when he shot a blistering 26 percent on high-danger shots and unduly misfortunate last season in shooting only 15.5 percent, which was actually below league average.Swapping Mitch Marner’s passing for some combination of Maccelli and Max Domi definitely didn’t help Knies’ goal-scoring prowess either.Add a talented playmaker this summer — say, McKenna — to pair with Knies, and the quality of those scoring opportunities should tick back up (along with that luck).It wasn’t all bad last season, either. Knies still scored 23 times and produced career bests with 43 assists and 66 points while playing a career high of almost 19 minutes per game, most frequently on a line with Maccelli and John Tavares.That production feels like the absolute floor for the 23-year-old in the coming years.With better health, coaching, and linemates, not to mention a power play that doesn’t stink for half a season, there’s plenty of reason to believe that much brighter days are ahead for the American winger.