Will These Rumored Trades Help the Toronto Maple Leafs?

As we get closer to the NHL trade deadline, trade rumors will continue to intensify for the Toronto Maple Leafs and others.

According to David Pagnotta, the Toronto Maple Leafs could possibly be interested in St. Louis Blues forward Ivan Barbashev and Columbus Blue Jackets defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov. Like most rumors, these should be taken with a grain of salt.

Both players are on expiring contracts and will make good rental options for playoff-bound teams, though who the Leafs would take out of the lineup to add such players remains a mystery.

Leafs fans assume that general manager Kyle Dubas is looking to upgrade his top-six left-wing spot and bolster his defense for the playoffs, but that might not even be the case.

With Nick Robertson and Matthews Knies , not to mention Calle Jarnkrok or Alex Kerfoot, the Leafs have a lot of options for the left wing spot, while the defenseman everyone assumed that they would move has been doing really well as of late.

The Toronto Maple Leafs defense has suffered many injuries this season, and obviously Dubas would like to have as much depth as possible  and the Leafs are at least 10-12 deep for NHL quality depth defensemen.

For a team already sitting Conor Timmins, would Gavrikov even be enough to move the needle? It’s hard to say, but let’s check in on some players the Leafs could be interested in as we move towards the March trade deadline.