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Frank Seravalli reports that the Maple Leafs have offered a fifth-round pick for Luke Glendening, Bob McKenzie updates the Leafs’ situation ahead of the deadline and if there is a possible market for Matt Martin, and more in the links.


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Flyers discussing trade for Wings’ Mrazek, Leafs offer fifth-round pick for Luke Glendening (TSN)
Frank Seravalli of TSN reports that the Maple Leafs have offered a fifth-round pick for fourth-line center Luke Glendening, but the Red Wings have countered with a second round pick as their asking price.

He seems like he has a connection with the Toronto Maple Leafs. We reported on Friday that the Leafs and Wings have had discussions on Glendening. He seems like a player that Mike Babcock is intimately familiar with from his time with the Detroit Red Wings. He’s an ideal fourth line centerman, winning faceoffs at almost 58% this season. He’s chipped in eight goals as well. He’s someone the Leafs could use in their fourth-line center role instead of Dominic Moore. The previous discussion, from what we understand, is that the Maple Leafs had offered a fifth-round pick to the Detroit Red Wings in exchange for Glendening. The Red Wings countered with a second-round pick, which wasn’t to the Leafs’ liking. We’ll see where things go from there.

McKenzie: The NHL rental market seems pretty soft right now (TSN1050)
Bob McKenzie discusses the trade deadline, what the Leafs could be up to, and whether the market has heated up at all.

I think [the Toronto Maple Leafs] are looking at any and all possibilities, but I don’t think it’s at any cost. They do have a plan, and would they like to get better? Yes. Would they like to give up premium assets to get better in the very short term? I don’t think so.

They may be in a position where they judiciously spend for a rental, but I don’t see them giving up first-round picks and top prospects to fill a hole in the short term. I don’t feel like they feel they’re one player away from winning the Stanley Cup.

So stick to the plan. We haven’t seen the rental prices at all yet. Nobody is making a deal. It seems to me that the market is really soft. It seems to me there are a lot of sellers and not a lot of buyers, and the buyers are very judicious about how they’re spending their assets. They don’t want to throw first-round picks around if they don’t have to.

Whether it is a Rick Nash or Michael Grabner or Patrick Maroon or Evander Kane — four scoring wingers who are all pending UFAs and are all rentals — those teams that are selling them might not get as much as Arizona got for Martin Hanzal last year, which was a first and a second round pick. But they might. And that’s the game of chicken that goes on between now and a week from now. Right now, a whole bunch of teams are saying, “We’re not paying those prices,” and nobody has. But the minute one of them pays, suddenly it’s game on and everybody starts to go that way.

On whether the Leafs are looking to move Matt Martin along and if they’d be willing to retain:

Potentially. I’m not sure there is a real good fit there — I know there has been some talk there for a while about how maybe the Islanders would be interested in doing something like that, but I didn’t get the sense it was something they were really eager to do, and it would almost be a favour. Would they like Matt Martin in their lineup? Sure. Do they want to get into a financial commitment to him? No. Then it becomes a situation where what inducements would the Leafs have to give to the Islanders to get them to want to do a trade like that, and do the Leafs want to give any inducements? Taking money back, etc.

Maybe it’s one of those where you’re not only taking money back, you’re also sweetening the pot so the team will take on the salary. As I say, never say never, but I didn’t get the strong sense that a team like the Islanders, who would have a greater interest in Matt Martin than most teams would because they loved him when he was there and he, Cizikas and Clutterbuck for a while there was considered the best fourth line in hockey… They might be predisposed to want that guy in their room and to be part of their team, but I don’t think they want to pay any price to do that.

Elliotte Friedman talks trade rumours, Soshnikov trade (Fan 960)
Friedman discusses some trade rumours and where Rick Nash might end up, as well as the Nikita Soshnikov trade.

Soshnikov — I’ve seen him. He’s a talented guy. I think [the Flames] were circling around, trying to be involved in that. I don’t know where it went, but here is a guy who — I thought — last year was going to be an NHL player and he suffered a concussion. I think that scared some teams away. He’s not the biggest guy, and he plays very big. You always wonder if that is going to be a factor in the future. I think he’s got a chance to be an NHL player. St. Louis stepped up with the best draft pick offer Toronto was going to get.

Matthews has quickly become NHL’s most potent ES scorer (The Athletic)
Since the start of last season, no one — not even Kucherov — comes all that close to Matthews. He’s scored 57 even-strength goals since the start of his NHL career last year, seven more than the next closest player, Vladimir Tarasenko, eight more than Kucherov, nine more than Connor McDavid, and 15 more than Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin.

Nikita Zaitsev says he’s still not 100 per cent (The Athletic)
“It’s always hard to get back during the season,” Zaitsev said. Unlike all those broken hands, which might lead to some stickhandling troubles upon return, Zaitsev said a broken foot sapped conditioning. He was having a hard time catching back up to the speeds and rhythms of the game. He often appeared just a step too slow in his movements or decision-making against the Penguins. “I’m feeling better every game,” he said a 20-minute outing in Pittsburgh. “Sometimes not good, sometimes good. But overall, getting better.” Zaitsev pegged himself at about 90 per cent.