Maple Leafs have talked trade with the Coyotes.

The Toronto Maple Leafs may be looking to bolster their defense.

All season long the Arizona Coyotes have been a part of the rumor mill with the name of star defenseman Jakob Chychrun being tossed around pretty regularly as one of the top trade targets this season in the National Hockey League.

The reality for a team like the Maple Leafs though is that they simply do not have the necessary cap space to pull off a move of that magnitude, but it sounds like they may still be talking to the Coyotes about a potential trade involving a young defenseman. That defenseman is not Jakob Chychrun though, but rather 24 year old defenseman Conor Timmins.

"I had a couple people reach out to me and say they think Toronto is one of the team's that is interested," said Elliotte Friedman of Conor Timmins on the 32 Thoughts Podcast.

The desire to acquire Timmins from the Maple Leafs' perspective immediately makes a ton of sense. Timmins is a native of St. Catherines, Ontario, is a former player for the Ontario Hockey League's Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds and is a former defense partner of Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman Rasmus Sandin.

 Of course both Maple Leafs head coach and Maple Leafs general manager have strong ties to the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds, although their time there didn't quite overlap with the period in which Timmins was playing for the organization. That being said I am confident that both Dubas and Keefe are likely quite familiar with the player, and there's no question that Rasmus Sandin is extremely familiar with him, and that could be playing a major factor in why Timmins is suddenly on the Maple Leafs' radar.

From the Coyotes' perspective, it sounds like a combination of Timmins' injury struggles and a general lack of fit may have made him expendable.

"He can't seem to find a spot right there and I've just heard that there's some conversation around him," said Friedman.

Only time will tell if this is a trade deal that materializes in the end.