The Toronto Maple Leafs and New York Islanders met last night in one of only two games on the docket, with the Islanders skating away with a 3-2 regulation victory. The Leafs and Isles are both currently positioned in the Wild Card race in the Eastern Conference, but the hope from both sides is that they'll be able to catch some of their divisional counterparts to secure a higher seed playoff spot by the time the regular season comes to a close.
Neither the Leafs nor the Islanders are currently looked at as top contenders, but by the time all is said and done, both may end up being buyers at the trade deadline, barring a cataclysmic turn of events that would take one or the other out of contention all together.
The Leafs and Isles had perhaps the largest group of scouts all year in attendance last night, with reps from 17 teams at Scotiabank Arena. The teams with reps present were Seattle, Columbus, Edmonton, Los Angeles, Nashville, Winnipeg, Washington, Colorado, Vancouver, Tampa Bay, Boston, Montreal, Dallas, St. Louis, Philadelphia, Calgary and Ottawa. The Sens actually had two representatives present, including GM Steve Staios.
Typically, when you see a general manager taking in a game, it's because a deal is either close or that talks are beginning to get very serious. In terms of who the Sens were scouting, that's anyone's guess, but there are two very intriguing pieces in Ottawa that might interest both Toronto and Long Island.
Much like the situation between the Islanders and Tarasenko, the Leafs have long been fond of Jakob Chychrun. Prior to Chychrun landing in Ottawa, there was some belief that the Leafs were a finalist for his services as well.
It's really anyone's guess if/when anything will come together, but as I had mentioned earlier in this piece - when a team's GM is involved in the scouting process, it's usually because something is close or that talks are beginning to heat up.
