Different issue comes up for Leafs’ Brad Treliving on his trade table!

The Toronto Maple Leafs will not take part in the superstars’ market for help up the middle. The team cannot afford to acquire let’s say Elias Pettersson or J.T. Miller of the Vancouver Canucks or Mika Zibanejad of the New York Rangers.

However, Darren Dreger made it clear on Tuesday night that general manager Brad Treliving is looking at many different targets on the trade block ahead of the deadline, however, there are so many choices out there that the GM will need explore not only what is best for Toronto, but what works for the budget moving forward. This is what Dreger reported on last night’s edition of Insider Trading on TSN:

“ Brock Nelson is interesting from the New York Islanders . There are a lot of teams that have interest in him. So, I think the group that the Toronto Maple Leafs have identified as a little bit more diverse, I think you’re looking at Ryan Strome , maybe Ryan O’Reilly, how about a return there from Nashville? Scott Laughton is out there again, but the Flyers want a first-round draft pick in return, so maybe that’s a stretch. Mikael Granlund ’s name is out there. Yanni Gourde . Nick Bjugstad . I’ll tell you this, Brad Treliving’s whiteboard is probably jammed with more affordable centres.”

Earlier on Tuesday, another insider also made the claim that the Maple Leafs will acquire a center ahead of the deadline. Chris Johnston fieled questions from fans in his mailbag and wrote about Toronto:

“There are very few guarantees in life, but I’m willing to offer you one: The Leafs will acquire a middle-six center before the trade deadline passes at 3 p.m. ET on March 7. It’s a need management identified months ago. As for who it will be? The market of available players hasn’t taken enough shape yet to allow us to identify the top candidate. But the Leafs have the picks and prospects needed to make that kind of addition, and they have the desire, too.”

The trade market has yet to fully form at this time, seeing that there are still several teams that have yet to distinguish themselves as sellers or buyers for March 7th. However, the names brought up by Dreger are on Treliving’s board and now Leafs’ fans will be able to keep a closer eye on them as well to see which is a better fit for Toronto and for what they need to do with their pending free agents this upcoming summer.