Maple Leafs Assign Multiple Scouts to Observe Two Western Conference Sellers

Friday represents the penultimate day before the NHL goes into a 2-week break for the 4-Nations Face-Off and while teams are still allowed to make trades during the tournament, the fact that half the league sent to watch the Nashville Predators and Chicago Blackhawks points to the fact that teams may be trying to get one last deal in before the break.

The Blackhawks and Predators are two teams toiling in the basement of the league's standings and because of that, they've become targets for the upcoming trade deadline.

With players like Connor Murphy, Ryan Donato, Luke Schenn, and Ryan O'Reilly present, it's not all too surprising to see this many teams represented, especially the Toronto Maple Leafs who were one of three teams to send multiple scouts.

Donato is having a career-season with 16 goals and 32 points to date for the Hawks and carries a team-friendly cap hit of $2 million. He is playing on an expiring contract and could shore up a major weakness down the middle for the Maple Leafs.

Murphy, on the other hand, carries an extra year in term and a cap hit of $4.4 million, but is a right shooting defenseman who can round out anyone's defensive corps with his shot-blocking prowess and shutdown style.

As for the Predators' duo, Maple Leafs fans are quite familiar with their game considering the fact that they were with the team 2 years ago. Schenn's contract runs through the 2025-26 season at $2.75 million, whereas O'Reilly's contract runs through 2026-27, but at a cap hit of $4.5 million.

O'Reilly entered tonight's game with 14 goals and 30 points to his credit and is still a very serviceable player, but his contract could pose problems. Schenn, on the other hand, is as dependable as they come for a bottom-4 defenseman and could shore things up for the Leafs and solve the Morgan Rielly conundrum.

The Leafs having two scouts present certainly shows they have plenty of interest and it will be interesting to see how they go about things between now and the trade deadline.