On teams with Stanley Cup aspirations such as the Maple Leafs, highly-anticipated prospect debuts are few and far between.
That’s by design across North American sports, structured in such a way that promising youth enters the professional ranks through the basement, helping clubs escape the cellar and altering fortunes.
It demonstrates, in part, why Matthew Knies, fresh from an overtime loss in the NCAA National Championship game with the University of Minnesota, had eyes peeled across Leafs Nation for his NHL debut on Monday night.