Maple Leafs put trade offer together for boost on the back end

The Toronto Maple Leafs are still focusing on acquiring an update on their blue line prior to the March 8 trade deadline and while the interest for Calgary Flames defenseman Chris Tanev remains high, it sounds like general market Brad Treliving might be taking a closer look at other options. They included Philadelphia Flyers blue liner Sean Walker and Nashville Predators rearguard Alexandre Carrier, as Chris Johnston pointed out on last night’s Insider Trading on TSN, as both players could be cheaper options to help on the right side of Toronto’s back end.

That’s because the Maple Leafs are reluctant to move their first-round pick this year, especially since they don’t own a second-round pick in any of the next three drafts. Therefore, Toronto has been putting an offer of packages of lower selections to get the boost it needs.

“Chris Tanev likely still remains his No. 1 target, but there are a whole bunch of others that we can link the Leafs into inquiring about their availability.

"They include Sean Walker and Alexandre Carrier, who are both pending unrestricted free agents like Tanev.

"I think the biggest impediment so far into the Leafs making that deal is they don’t want to move their first-round pick and they don’t have a second-round pick in the next three drafts. So, they have been trying to go with volume, offering multiple lower-round draft picks. So far, the teams involved in those discussions have no interest in doing that.”

GM Treliving got a chance to take a closer look at Walker as the Leafs hosted the Flyers last night. The pending free agent carries a $2.65-million cap hit in his first season with Philadelphia after a trade from the Los Angeles Kings this past summer. In 55 games this season, Walker has put up 19 points while averaging nearly 20 minutes per night.

Also a pending unrestricted free trade, Carrier has a $2.5 million cap hit and has recorded 15 points in 49 games this season.

If Treliving’s offer is good enough for Walker or Carrier, he could give up on the idea of prying Tanev out of Calgary and get an upgrade nonetheless on his blue line.

Stay tuned.

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