Knies is very effective when he gets his feet moving and hard to stop. His first three steps are quick and he’s able to generate great speed. He uses his quick feet and speed to separate himself from opponents, while also playing an aggressive defensive game by forcing turnovers and stick lifting opponents with ease. He has great power in his stride which makes his straight-line speed effective, but could improve on his edges to be more agile. Knies has some of the best hands in this draft, being able to handle the puck with high pace and protecting it well with his long reach and body. He can show some great flash of skill at times. There are times when he is not able to complete some passes to teammates while trying to exit the defensive zone. He also tends to dump and chase pucks into the zone or make a pass to a teammate to make an offensive zone entry rather than carrying it in himself. He’s consistently involved in moving pucks up the ice with control, playing with high skill at high pace and having the ability to keep defenders on their toes. Knies gets a lot of power in each stride, providing him with good straight-line speed, allowing him to efficiently backcheck and help support defenders often, also being able to separate himself from opponents. His skating ability allows him to be hard to contain and defend, resulting in him drawing penalties for his team. He has a very good, powerful wrist shot and can pick corners when given the space to use it, but he is very conservative with his shots, only taking them when he is in good position. Knies has very good hands and is able to make nice dekes in-tight spaces with good control. At times Knies does tend to try too much when it’s not necessary, making the skilled play rather than the smart play. He can pull off impressive toe-drags and has nice flash to his game, he just needs to understand how to manage it and know that sometimes he needs to just make the simple play. He’s effective at using his body to protect the puck, making it hard for defenders to steal or poke the puck away.

– FCHockey’s 2021 NHL Draft Guide