Breaking: NHL team pushing hard for Nylander trade, talks have 'escalated.'

Although the Toronto Maple Leafs still have no deal in place for restricted free agent forward William Nylander with us nearly in the month of November now, I have largely been of the mind that general manager Kyle Dubas would eventually find a way to get the deal done. 

Now however there is a new report from The Fourth Period's David Pagnotta that indicates that trade talks around the young forward have picked up as of late. According to Pagnotta the Carolina Hurricanes have made it abundantly clear that they have a big interest in acquiring Nylander in a trade, and additionally Pagnotta is reporting that although the Leafs have been reluctant to move him, it now sounds like the two teams have "escalated discussions."

The Hurricanes have been linked to Nylander since the possibility of him being traded became a reality and given the depth of Carolina's blue line it makes sense that they would be willing to part with a defenseman in order to get a young forward like Nylander, presumably on a long term contract. Although Pagnotta did not specificy what kind of return the Maple Leafs could be looking at he did indicate that he believes any deal will have to include one of two Carolina Hurricanes defensemen, Brett Pesce or Justin Faulk.

Pagnotta's report appears to be corroborated by some circumstantial evidence as well. We know that two knights ago Kyle Dubas was in Carolina to watch the Hurricanes take on the San Jose Sharks, and both Hurricanes senior vice president of hockey operations  Rick Dudley as well as professional scout Mark Craig were in attendance in Toronto on Saturday night when the Leafs faced off against the Winnipeg Jets. There's almost certainly something going on there and if Pagnotta's sources are correct it's discussion surrounding Nylander.

Now of course this does not mean that the Leafs won't get a deal done with Nylander, they do still have time to drag out this contract dispute if they really want to, but the fact that it's being seriously considered is quite surprising given Dubas' hard line stance that he did not intend to trade the young Canadian-born Swedish forward.