Toronto Maple Leafs GM Kyle Dubas and President Brendan Shanahan were spotted in Alberta on Wednesday evening, taking in a matchup between the Vegas Golden Knights and Calgary Flames, likely doing some prep work for the upcoming trade deadline on March 21st.
With less than 6 weeks remaining until the deadline, teams are going to be dispatching all sorts of scouts and executives to begin some preliminary work on narrowing down their main trade deadline targets and to mark players that they believe can augment their respective teams.
For Dubas and the Leafs, it seems likely that they'll target defenders, specifically on the right side of the blueline. But with the Leafs' GM already stating this past weekend that he wants to see how his team performs during the second half before making any major decisions, they could still pivot to bolstering their forward group if young Swedish defensemen Rasmus Sandin and Timothy Liljegren show significant growth between now and the deadline.
Some had begun to speculate that the Leafs could look to move on from goaltender Petr Mrazek after a slow start that was riddled with injuries, but since he has begun to turn things around, winning his last 4 starts, it is unlikely that the Leafs will make a change in net to back up Jack Campbell. This looks to be a Campbell/Mrazek tandem for the Buds going forward.
Both the Flames and Golden Knights are expected to be busy teams at or ahead of the deadline. The Flames are chasing the Ducks and Kings for a playoff spot, while the Knights are looking to shed salary to make room for franchise center Jack Eichel, who is nearing a return to action after neck surgery back in November.
