Insider Trading: Giordano among the Leafs' Trade Deadline targets

A lot of people are wondering what Kyle Dubas will be able to pull off prior to Monday and with a couple defenceman now off the market, has Toronto narrowed its focus in terms of a defenceman?

Chris Johnston: The market has certainly started to take shape and we know that Mark Giordano is one of the targets that the Maple Leafs have on their list at this point in time and I’d say that what’s interesting about this situation is a couple things. Kyle Dubas and Ron Francis – the GM for the Seattle Kraken – have a Sault St. Marie connection that they go way back together, but what they don’t have is a shared vision of what this trade should look like. Namely, the Kraken would like to get a first-round pick back in any trade for Mark Giordano. That is expressly what Kyle Dubas has told teams he doesn’t want to do – he’s not going to trade his first-rounder, he’s told teams in a deal for a rental. So that’s where that one is hanging up right now. Similarly, Jacob Middleton in San Jose, as Pierre reported on Tuesday, (is) another person of interest for the Maple Leafs, but the Leafs don’t like the price for him just yet either.

Darren Dreger: Looking at the Ottawa Senators, sources tell us that the Senators made another offer to extend Nick Paul. They topped up the money a little bit. It’s believed they are still working around a four-year term and the fact is that the term may ultimately be the undoing for the Ottawa Senators in their quest to extend an important piece. Nick Paul is an important piece of the Ottawa Senators, so it’s believed unless something changes between Ottawa and the Nick Paul camp that he will go to unrestricted free agency. So then obviously that begs the question as to what does Pierre Dorion and the