Rumor: Trade interest around the Habs picks up after a scare on Saturday.

It is starting to look like the Montreal Canadiens could be among the busiest teams at this year's National Hockey League trade deadline, and I suppose that does make some sense given the current state of their on ice product.

On Saturday night during the NHL broadcast of the game between the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Vancouver Canucks, NHL insider Elliotte Friedman gave us some additional insights into the current trade speculation surrounding the Canadiens. Among the things mentioned by Friedman was the identity of 2 players drawing interest from clubs around the league as well as the identity of 6 teams that have expressed interest in making deals with the Canadiens ahead of the upcoming trade deadline.

First Friedman revealed that things may pick up steam for the Canadiens following something of of a scare during a game that took place earlier on Saturday.

"We worked earlier today Montreal - Columbus and there was something that happened in that game that made me kind of wonder if we're going to see some traction pick up," began Friedman on Saturday. "Ben Chiarot temporarily left the game, he did come back, anytime you have a player with as much interest as he has, you always worry about something like this. And I think we're all curious to see, does the action pick up on Chiarot?"

Chiarot got his skate tangled up with the skate of an opposing player during the game but he seems to be ok, of course losing him to injury prior to a trade would be a big loss for the Canadiens and could potentially hurt the teams looking to add him to their blue line for a playoff run.

Friedman also noted the names of 6 teams that are currently in the mix for a potential trade involving Chiarot, but also hinted at the fact that at least some of these teams could also have their eyes on Canadiens forward Tyler Toffoli.

"Among the interested teams are St. Louis, Carolina, Rangers, Florida, Los Angeles and Calgary both of whom too might have interest in Tyler Toffoli, so we'll see where this goes but I think we're gonna see a few more calls made on an already popular player," added Friedman.

Sounds like the Canadiens could be very busy, very soon.