Maple Leafs Eyeing Pair of Hard-Nosed Forwards as Trade Deadline Looms

While we were all asleep, the Colorado Avalanche swooped in and nabbed one of the Maple Leafs' top trade targets in Brock Nelson from the New York Islanders.

In addition, the Carolina Hurricanes and Dallas Stars were close to acquiring a premium asset in Mikko Rantanen. Those discussions are expected to continue today.

As for the Leafs, they remain connected to Brayden Schenn and Scott Laughton, but as The Fourth Period's David Pagnotta mentioned on Friday morning, there are two more players they've also turned their attention towards.

Obviously, Kunin and Tanev aren't some of the sexier names out there, but they're still very useful players in their own right. Kunin, unlike Tanev, can play centre as well as the wing and could be a nice fit at 3C for the Leafs.

There's a lot of time remaining between now and the 3:00 pm ET trade deadline, and with the Leafs having waived Ryan Reaves on Thursday, we know they're going to use that cap space to do something.

The questions now are, how motivated are they to make a big splash? And if they prefer to avoid spending their top assets, will they pursue deals for multiple less attractive players and under-the-radar adds? We'll find out in short order.