Report: Eight teams scouting Leafs and Ducks in Toronto tonight

With the NHL’s February 25th trade deadline now just three weeks away, general managers and pro scouts are out in full force in an attempt to gain any insight into trade targets.

According to a report from The Fourth Period’s David Pagnotta, eight different NHL teams are in Toronto to scout tonight’s game between the Toronto Maple Leafs and Anaheim Ducks. Those teams:

Carolina Hurricanes, Columbus Blue Jackets, Dallas Stars, Florida Panthers, New York Rangers, Vancouver Canucks, Vegas Golden Knights and Winnipeg Jets.

We can only speculate as to who the teams may be interested in, but there are rumblings that that Leafs might be willing to part with defensemen Nikita Zaitsev and that they’re still interested in acquiring a right-shot defenseman. When it comes to the Ducks… anyone NOT named John Gibson is on the table.

The Ducks have been dreadful this season and GM Bob Murray has attempted to shake up his roster by shipping out Andrew Cogliano and picking up Michael Del Zotto, but the results have been mixed. The Ducks are an aging team and, outside of Gibson, they have woefully underperformed this season. Could Murray finally be reading the writing on the wall?

In any case, all of the teams mentioned above are expected to be active at the deadline, so don’t be surprised if the Ducks or Leafs are involved with them in one way or another.