Early Trading: The focus for Leafs, Canucks and Jets before Friday's trade deadline

Gino Reda is joined by TSN Hockey Insider Darren Dreger to discuss what the Toronto Maple Leafs’ focus is at the deadline, how a potential Jack Hughes injury could change the New Jersey Devils’ plans, and what the Vancouver Canucks and Winnipeg Jets are looking for in the market on Early Insider Trading.

Maple Leafs targeting top centres

Gino Reda: Time is running out before the trade deadline and general managers are burning up the phone.

Dregs, the Leafs are heading west for a three-game road trip. As they do that, general manager Brad Treliving is going to be a busy guy. What’s he up to? What’s his primary target?

Darren Dreger: Well, he’s still focused on adding a centreman. The question is who is that centreman and what is the best available fit?

Reality is, when you look around the trade market, it hasn’t been officially set yet because of the playoff battles that exist in both the East and the West.

Sure, the perfect scenario would be the St. Louis Blues wake up between now and Friday and say ‘Yeah, we’re in a playoff hunt but we’re going to trade our captain.’

That is extraordinarily unlikely unless somebody absolutely blows [Blues general manager] Doug Armstrong’s doors off.

Hey, Toronto is willing to pay more than fair market value for Brayden Schenn, it just doesn’t seem likely and that might be a stretch.

Then you look beyond that. You look at Scott Laughton of the Philadelphia Flyers. Many close to Laughton say he would love to suit up for the Maple Leafs if there’s a trade that makes sense.

What’s going on with former Maple Leafs GM Lou Lamoriello and Brock Nelson? Lou would like to keep Nelson [but] that seems unlikely. So, a trade is possible from the New York Islanders.

Could Toronto be in there?

The drop-off between Schenn and the rest of the field is, I think, why the Maple Leafs are struggling to identify the best fit at centre ice.

Maybe at the end of the week they just rein in and say, ‘Let’s just fill in holes incrementally.’

Oh, by the way, there is a salary cap, and the Maple Leafs are right at it. So, for the Maple Leafs to make any moves, it’s not just about spending the assets. The money, of course, has to work.

Hughes injury could change Devils' direction

Reda: This is already a confusing time of the year, but then you throw injuries into the mix, and it gets really confusing.

[New Jersey Devils forward] Jack Hughes got tangled up and crashed into the boards on Sunday and it looked really bad.

What’s the latest on him and how do you see the effecting what the Devils do between now and the deadline?

Dreger: We’re probably going to learn later this afternoon the full extent of the injury to Hughes and if it’s as serious as some believe it is.

That’s a huge blow obviously to the Devils and their quest to be that contending team in the Eastern Conference.

You don’t replace a player like Hughes. Again, we have to sit tight here until we get the official word later today.

But we also know that Devils general manager Tom Fitzgerald is an aggressive guy. Prior to the injury, he was willing to get aggressive in different areas.

If Hughes is out long-term then maybe this pushes Fitzgerald and the Devils to do something more significant, especially in his want up front.

But it’s a tough market to get into right now. We just talked about the Maple Leafs and there will be other teams we discuss here that will be looking for centres and other pieces up front.

So, if New Jersey has to get in that game because of injury this late in the process, it’s going to be a challenge.

Reda: You talk about other teams looking for help at centre and the Vancouver Canucks fit into that category. What specifically do you think they’re hoping to add and also what’s the latest on Brock Boeser?

Canucks looking for a centre and the status of Brock Boeser

Dreger: Well, shocking, Vancouver wants to add a centre.

Specifics of the centre that the Canucks would like to add is a player who can skate and has some speed. That element is part of the criteria of what the Canucks are looking for is a big part of the search for [general manager] Patrik Allvin and [president] Jimmy Rutherford.

You look at some of the available pieces, we’ve already talked about some of them like Laughton and Nelson. Again, the criteria for the Canucks is that they need to inject speed. That has to be part  of the transaction.

Then they have to balance that with a distinct need. They need a No. 1 or No. 2 centre and that’s always hard to acquire in season.

What would be great would be Elias Pettersson starting to play like a top-line centre, which would take some of the pressure off. But they’re definitely looking for help up the middle of the ice.

If they can add a depth defenceman, that’s what they’ll do as well.

As far as Boeser is concerned, this one is curious.

There was an offer to extend Boeser in the first half of the regular season. It was a good offer as it was described to me.

That offer, I don’t believe is on the table anymore and I don’t think that Boeser’s camp, unless there’s a sudden change in heart, wants to further engage with negotiations.

So, what does Allvin do? There’s a strong market for Boeser. He provides secondary scoring, experience, and all that.

But Vancouver is trying to nail down playoff spot. If they do that, obviously they want to go as deep as they can and Boeser would be a big part of that as well.

So, I think there’s exploration in what the return would be for Boeser and the Canucks.

Should the Jets mess with their chemistry?

Reda: When you’re a team like the Canucks there’s a lot of tweaking to be done, I get that.

But what about when you’re at the top of the league? The Winnipeg Jets are the best team in the NHL, should they be messing chemistry?

How aggressive do you expect general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff to be between now and the deadline and are they one of the teams in the hunt for Nelson?

Dreger: It could be, yes. That would qualify as ‘big-game hunting.’

There is a bit of a risk of tinkering with that chemistry because this group is a terrific group in Winnipeg.

They have accomplished so much to this point in the season. But they are also reminded of their lack of playoff success, especially last year. They were embarrassed by that, and it’s galvanized this group. I think there is some level of sensitivity to that in seeing how far this group can run.

But when you got a player like Nelson available or any of the top centres, you have to, at least, inquire.

The challenge for Cheveldayoff on an annual basis has been trying to figure out what the market is. The next step would be: Who among the players Winnipeg is interested in are also willing to waive their trade protection to join the Jets?

That sounds absurd, doesn’t it, when you look at a team that’s in top spot in the NHL?

I think Nelson would be willing to go to Winnipeg, but I think there will be a lot of suitors for Nelson when Lou Lamoriello decides to officially put him in play, which has got to be around the corner.

Reda: Man, there’s a lot going on right now. We’re hoping to get an update on the condition of Hughes a little later in the afternoon. Dreger, Pierre LeBrun, and Chris Johnston are going to be back for the full version of Insider Trading in the early edition of SportsCentre.