San Jose Sharks were reportedly offered Matthew Knies for No. 2 pick

SAN JOSE – San Jose Sharks general manager Mike Grier said in June that he received several offers for the No. 2 overall pick in this year’s draft, including one that caught his attention.

Perhaps that offer came from the Toronto Maple Leafs, who, according to NHL insider Frank Seravalli’s sources, tried to trade winger Matthew Knies all summer and offered him to the Sharks for the No. 2 pick.

While Grier was open to listening on the second overall pick, the trade, of course, did not happen, and the Sharks used the selection on winger Ivar Stenberg, who turns 19 on Wednesday and is expected to be in San Jose’s lineup for its season-opening game on Thursday against the Florida Panthers.

The Leafs, the draft lottery winners, took winger Gavin McKenna first overall and on Monday sent the 23-year-old Knies, who has 160 points in 240 NHL games, to the Columbus Blue Jackets as part of a package that brought winger Kirill Marchenko to Toronto. Knies, listed at 6-foot-3 and 232 pounds, is signed for five more years at a cap hit of $7.75 million.

Grier said on June 24, two days before the draft and one day after he traded William Eklund to the Ottawa Senators for the No. 9 overall pick, that “there were lots more calls on nine, and probably two more on two, (including) one that’s real interesting.”

Grier said before the Eklund trade that roughly five teams showed interest in the No. 2 pick the Sharks won in May’s draft lottery, including a couple of offers that made him think. The Chicago Blackhawks were reportedly among the teams that reached out to Grier, looking for a winger like Stenberg to play with Connor Bedard.

Ultimately, the Blackhawks used their No. 4 pick as part of a pricey package to acquire offensive defenseman Bo Byram from the Buffalo Sabres. The Sharks, too, had interest in Byram, reportedly offering the ninth and 27th overall picks, plus a prospect, to the Sabres.

The Blackhawks acquired Byram for the fourth and 46th overall picks in the 2026 draft and defenseman Louis Crevier. Chicago also acquired forward Jordan Greenway in the deal.

“(Byram’s) a player we liked. We had some interest in him, and had some conversations with (Sabres GM Jarmo Kekäläinen) … we had interest in him going back to last year, really,” Grier said in June. “So, we had some conversations, but obviously, (Kekäläinen) got a really good deal there with Chicago, and made the best move for his organization.”

The Sharks used the ninth-overall pick to draft defenseman Keaton Verhoeff, and used the No. 27 pick as part of a package to get the No. 20 pick from the Philadelphia Flyers and draft Ryan Lin.