Report: Maple Leafs Have Inquired About Defensemen Sean Walker and Alexandre Carrier, Also Could Be on Marc-Andre Fleury's Landing List

"Chris Tanev likely still remains the number one target for the Leafs, but there's a whole bunch of others that we can at least link the Leafs to in terms of inquiring about availability," Johnston reported. 

"They include Sean Walker and Alexandre Carrier, both pending UFAs like Tanev. And really, I think the biggest impediment so far to the Leafs making that deal is they don't want to move their first-rounder still, they don't have second-rounders in the next three drafts, and so they've tried to go with volume, offering multiple lower-round draft picks, and so far, the teams involved in those discussions have no interest in doing that."

Both Carrier ($2.5 million) and Walker ($2.65 million) carry a lower cap hit than Tanev ($4.5 million), and are all unrestricted free agents after this season. All three players are also right-shot defensemen.

However, Tanev plays on the Flames' top pairing, while Carrier and Walker each play on their team's bottom pairing.

Another piece of news that followed Johnston's report was from Pierre LeBrun, who reported that if the Minnesota Wild are out of a playoff spot by the trade deadline, Marc-Andre Fleury could look at being traded to a couple of teams, one being the Maple Leafs.

"Marc-Andre Fleury had a four-hour meeting with his agent Allan Walsh this week where they went over March 8th and what could happen," LeBrun said. "He believes in the playoff chances of the Minnesota Wild, who, by the way, are on a bit of a run. And so, he does not want to bail on the wild if they're still in the race.

"But as they get closer to March 8th, if Minnesota does fall out of it, and it's clear that they're out of it,  Fleury could potentially look at two or three teams and among those options, I'm told, are the likes of Carolina, the likes of Toronto, and the likes of Colorado."