Maple Leafs Preparing for a Trade Following a Busy Monday in the NHL?

Monday night saw the Toronto Maple Leafs pull off a thrilling 5-3 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning on a busy evening, featuring 9 NHL games.

While the Leafs and Bolts represented one of those games, the San Jose Sharks were also in action, in Boston, to take on the Bruins in a game with a certain level of intrigue for the Leafs.

Ten different teams had scouts taking in the Bruins, Sharks game on Monday night, including the Leafs, which has caused some to speculate that the team may be looking at completing a trade with the Sharks ahead of the NHL's trade deadline.

The Leafs have struggled to find a constant fit at center on the third line, with the latest opportunity going to the recently recalled Fraser Minten.

The inability to find a solution internally so far this season has been no secret, and last week, GM Brad Treliving confirmed that he is looking for an answer externally.

A deal between the Leafs and Bruins is highly unlikely, but the Sharks have a handful of players available for trade, including center Mikael Granlund, who ranked third on The Fourth Period's most recent 'Trade Bait' board.

The 32-year-old Granlund is a pending unrestricted free agent, and while the Leafs are rumoured to prefer a player with term, it does not mean they won't look at all of their options.

The Finnish forward carries a cap hit of $5M, so the Leafs would need some retention or the ability to send salary back to San Jose to make such a trade work, but Granlund would add some offensive punch to the bottom six, as he has 12 goals and 38 points in 47 games for the Sharks so far this season.

As the trade deadline quickly approaches, the Leafs are expected to take a few swings at upgrading their lineup in the hopes of going on a long playoff run and escaping the first round for just the second time in 21 years.