Rumor: Maple Leafs talking trades with Minnesota and Anaheim

The Toronto Maple Leafs are trying to get a jump on the trade market and according to sources close to the Leafs, the team has held discussions with both Minnesota and Anaheim regarding trades. Remind yourselves teams who are eliminated from the playoffs can go ahead and complete trades together.

The discussions are circled around William Nylander of the Leafs, and GM, Kyle Dubas is only looking for defensemen in any deal.

For the Wild, they have a tremendous amount of interest in Nylander. Wild GM, Bill Guerin was on record this week that the team will make changes and his forward group and goaltending will be his areas of focus. Nylander would give his team a young piece to build around, as the Wild are full of aging veterans with horrible contracts.

The Wild seem open to moving one of Jonas Brodin or Matt Dumba for Nylander. It's believed they would prefer to keep Dumba and send Brodin for Nylander straight up. The Leafs have tremendous interest in Dumba and have for some time, so this isn't new news for Leafs Nation.

via GIPHY

When it comes to the Ducks, the Leafs are asking for Josh Manson, but at this point it's unsure if Manson has Toronto on his no-trade list. Perhaps a conversation with Kyle Dubas could sway Manson's feelings regardless, especially if the Leafs have top-pairing minutes available for him.

Dumba has three years left on his deal, meanwhile, Manson has two years left.

Expect any trade for Nylander to likely be 1-for-1. The Leafs are looking for ways to shed some money but also more importantly blow up their core to benefit their defensive group. Adding Matt Dumba or Josh Manson would be a huge kick-start to the Leafs re-tooling.