Things may be escalating between Leafs and Sharks over Meier; Insider reveals what the mindset is in Toronto right now

Dubas has never been a fan of rental players and outright said yesterday he will not be giving up the Leafs' first round pick or top prospects like Matthew Knies for a rental, but did say they were not untouchable when it came to players with term.

Today on his "32 Thoughts" podcast, Elliotte Friedman discussed the possibility of Timo Meier being a Leaf before the deadline.

"There are teams out there who think that Toronto at the very least has considered do we go get Meier for this run and then sort it out later. We bring him in, we see how this goes, see who has a good playoff and who doesn't, and we figure this out in June," commented Friedman.

He continued by saying, that trading for Meier doesn't mean he is a rental as he is due a $10M qualifying offer if no long-term deal can be worked out, but Friedman doesn't necessarily believe he is a long-term fit in Toronto. Considering the amount of money they will be handing out to Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner and William Nylander, among others over the next few off-seasons, they need every dollar available to them and spending $8.5M or more per season on Meier won't help their cause.

"The only way I think you consider that if you're Toronto is that at the very least if you can't keep him you're flipping him for what you traded (at draft)," said Freidman, "There's two reasons Toronto is considering this, number 1 because Dubas is in his final yearnumber 2 Toronto has a really good team."

Long-term, trading for Meier doesn't make sense, unless they can get Meier for around what the Isles paid Horvat and only if the team views him as a potential Nylander replacement if they think Willy might bolt in the summer of 2024. But if Dubas is able to acquire him and flip him at the draft for what he traded for him as Friedman mentioned, it seems like a no-brainer. We will know soon enough as the trade deadline is just three weeks away.