Another of the Maple Leafs' Top Deadline Targets Reportedly Off the Trading Block

The Leafs have been exploring all avenues to upgrade at the centre position for most of the season.

Targets have included Scott Laughton, Brock Nelson, Dylan Cozens, Yanni Gourde and a handful of others, but Brad Treliving has yet to find a deal worth making.

The trade deadline is just under a month away and it appears that his list of targets has shrunk by at least one according to Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman. On Saturday's edition of "Saturday Headlines", Friedman touched on a number of trade candidates at centre, with one of them being the Islanders' Brock Nelson.

Nelson is a pending UFA that carries a $6M cap hit, and while the return would be high for the long-time Islander, Friedman reported that the Islanders would rather extend him.

The first-round pick from 2010 has 17 goals and 35 points in 55 games for the Islanders this season and would have given the Leafs unmatched depth down the middle of the ice with Auston Matthews and John Tavares already in the fold.

Not only that, but he would have given Craig Berube the opportunity to cut back minutes for Matthews and Mitch Marner on the penalty kill and provide the middle-six with desperately needed secondary scoring.

While things can change with a phone call, as of now, the Leafs will seemingly have to shift their focus to another high-profile trade target if they hope to go on a sustained run this post-season.