Insider reveals that the Leafs could be trying to move a forward to make space for one of their training camp standouts

After Sheldon Keefe's comments on Monday about the Leafs' loaded bottom six really raising the level of competition in camp, and how the decisions will be extremely difficult this week, Leafs Nation is left wondering what will happen with Zach Aston-Reese.

Aston-Reese has undeniably played well enough to earn a contract with the Leafs, but the Buds are currently right up against both the salary cap (currently over by ~$2.9M) and the maximum number of contracts that a team is allowed to carry with 49/50 contracts currently on the books.

During his most recent 32 Thoughts, Elliotte Friedman revealed that he believes that the Leafs really do want to keep Aston-Reese in Toronto this season. He also believes that they could try to move out one of their extra forwards in exchange for a young, waiver-exempt player or a player who has already been placed on waivers and has cleared who will be eligible to start in the AHL without having to clear waivers again.

The logical piece here is Alexander Kerfoot. With the Leafs having brought in Calle Jarnkrok, the fact that Kerfoot plays center matters less, as if the Leafs dealt Kerfoot, they'd still have Auston Matthews, John Tavares, Calle Jarnkrok and David Kampf up the middle - a very formidable group of centers. In addition, the Buds also have Denis Malgin and Alex Steeves, who both play center as well. Both have looked great during camp.

In terms of who the Buds might target that also fits the criteria, it's really anyone's guess. Friedman suggests that they could pursue a defenseman, which does make sense when you consider how banged up the Leafs currently are on the blueline.

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