Leafs reporter confirms that the team is ramping up efforts to complete a trade

The Leafs last played on Saturday night and don't play again until Thursday against the Ottawa Senators in Ottawa, before returning home for a Saturday night matchup against ex-Leaf Ryan O'Reilly and the Nashville Predators at Scotiabank Arena.

With the injuries to John Klingberg, Mark Giordano and Timothy Liljegren, the Leafs have had to rely a lot more on the likes of Conor Timmins, William Lagesson and Simon Benoit than I think they'd have otherwise liked to. It's not that any of these players have played poorly, but rather that it's not optimal to have your number 7, 8 and 9 defensemen to be such prominent fixtures in your lineup. As well as Timmins, Lagesson and Benoit have played, we may be arriving at a point where the Leafs are attempting to push a deal over the finish line.

Per TLN's Nick Alberga, the message that he's been getting from his sources are that the Leafs have really ramped up efforts to get something done ASAP.

We know that the Leafs were in on Nikita Zadorov, prior to Zadorov being shipped to Vancouver. We also know that, along with Zadorov, they were attempting to acquire Chris Tanev. Will Tanev be the guy they bring in? That remains to be seen. He certainly fits the bill, though, as a right-shot defenseman with a bit of grit to his game.

We'll continue to monitor the situation as the hours and days tick by here and will provide any updates that should become available.