Insider Lists 3 Defensemen on Maple Leafs Radar & What They're Offering

Everyone knows by now that the Toronto Maple Leafs are desperate to find some help on the blueline by the March 8th trade deadline. The name Chris Tanev has been front and center around the Leafs' hopes for nearly the entire season, but there are others now surfacing. 

On TSN's Insider Trading, Chris Johnson has listed two other D-men as being tops on their radar:

Chris Tanev likely still remains the No. 1 target for the Leafs, but there's a whole bunch of others that we can link the Leafs to in terms of inquiries. They include Sean Walker and Alexandre Carrier, both pending UFAs like Tanev. 

But I think the biggest impediment so far to the Leafs making a deal: they don't want to move their first-rounder, they don't have second rounders in the next three drafts, so they've tried to go with volume, offering multiple lower-round draft picks and so far, the teams involved in those discussions have no interest in doing that.

As for Walker, Philadelphia Flyers GM Danny Briere is keeping his cards close to the vest on the very in-demand right-shot D-man, saying "We’d like to keep him, but at the same time, we have to evaluate everything.” Insider Pierre LeBrun adds in The Athletic that "Briere and (president of hockey operations Keith) Jones were actually seen chatting with Walker’s agents, Cam Stewart and Kurt Overhardt, at Thursday’s morning skate. The door’s not closed on a re-signing". But as of now, there's no word on how far, if at all, extension talks have progressed.

Walker has 19 points in 55 games for the Flyers this season, and has a plus-minus of +9.

Carrier, 27, is just two years removed from making the NHL's All-Rookie Team after posting a +26 rating in his full-season debut with the Nashville Predators. He has 15 points in 49 games this season, while playing just over 18 minutes a night. With a $2.5 million cap hit, he won't be too difficult to fit into the Leafs' salary structure. 

Carrier is another right-shot D, so is also in demand on the market. 

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