Insider reveals that he has been told to watch the situation between Rasmus Sandin and the Leafs

The Leafs have 5 left shot defensemen in Morgan Rielly, Jake Muzzin, Mark Giordano, Rasmus Sandin and T.J. Brodie - though Brodie plays a lot on the right side. Assuming that Brodie remains on the right, that still leaves four bodies for only 3 positions.

During Monday morning's edition of 32 Thoughts, Elliotte Friedman and Jeff Marek discussed the Leafs' abundance of left defensemen, with Friedman revealing that one of his trusted sources told him to watch the Leafs and Rasmus Sandin very closely. The reason for this was to determine whether or not there was any concern in Sandin's mind over what his role with the team is and if there was a deal that made sense for both the team and the player. Obviously, Sandin is closer to a number 3 or 4 defenseman than he is a number 7, so perhaps the young Swede will want assurances before he signs that he will play regularly.

Sandin is a pending restricted free agent who is in need of a new deal and if he gets that deal in Toronto, it's very likely to be a bridge deal with a low cap hit. Some have floated the idea of a 2x$2M deal, but given what we know about GM Kyle Dubas and the way he operates, that is speculative at best. Dubas plays his cards close to the chest and I'm sure that he will see to it that nothing during these negotiations is leaked.

If a deal cannot be reached, the Leafs would certainly have no shortage of interested parties should they make Sandin available for trade. However, I doubt the Leafs would go this route with Sandin, as he has been viewed as a potential cornerstone on the back end for the Leafs. Some very interesting comments from Friedman here nonetheless.