Breaking: Rangers scouts spotted at rival game.

Trade rumors around the National Hockey League had largely quieted down over the course of the last week, however on Friday night two NHL franchises caused a bit of a stir when they were spotted on a scouting mission.

According to a report from Philadelphia Flyers blog Sons of Penn, both the Toronto Maple Leafs and the New York Rangers have sent scouts to watch the Lehigh Valley Phantoms face off against the Hershey Bears of the American Hockey League.

It's unclear at this time why there is suddenly elevated interest in an AHL game, however there have been rumblings that the Flyers have been looking to make a trad ever since they had their catastrophic losing streak.

Also interesting to note here is that the Leafs and Rangers should theoretically be in entirely different positions at this stage of their respective seasons. The Leafs would likely be looking to add pieces for a playoff run, while the Rangers on the other hand are likely looking to stockpile assets for the future. 

The fact that both these teams are interested despite being in two very different positions is very curious indeed.

[pub]