Player shares blockbuster rumor involving Leafs, Rangers and Penguins.

An unnamed player may have just dropped one of the biggest rumors we've heard going around the National Hockey League, at least in the last several years.

First a bit of history from this past week. Last Wednesday, New York Rangers insider Larry Brooks shared what was at the time a preposterous sounding scenario involving the Rangers, Toronto Maple Leafs and Pittsburgh Penguins, In this scenario, Brooks envisioned Toronto Maple Leafs general manager Kyle Dubas and Toronto Maple Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe going to the Pittsburgh Penguins to usurp head coach Mike Sullivan with Sullivan in turn heading to New York to coach the Rangers.

There were so many moving parts in this scenario that it just seemed much too far fetched to be real, but now Brooks has doubled down on his original theory. In his most recent article from the New York Post, Brooks reveals he received a text from a player that he did not name who confirmed to him that the rumor was in fact gaining considerable traction.

From Brooks:

I should tell you that I received an unsolicited text from a player late Thursday who said the rumor “was getting pretty loud.”

Of course at least some of this could be attributed to the fact that word of Brooks' original tweet has gotten around, but for a player to inform a journalist of a rumor in this manner suggests there may be some smoke here. If this does indeed go down it will have a profound impact on all 3 franchises moving forward, and could represent one of the bigger shifts in recent NHL history.