Potential Leafs trade target may wind up with another Eastern Conference contender

Timo Meier is exactly what the Leafs need to fill the left wing spot on their second line. The issue, however, is the cost to acquire him and the fact he is due a $10M qualifying offer at the end of the season. As much as "Insiders" have linked the Leafs to Meier, the frontrunner for his services would appear to be an Eastern Conference team that already has a handful of Swiss players on the active roster.

"I think (Timo) Meier is more likely the New Jersey's target than Horvat but I think they've kind've been around it," said Elliotte Friedman on the latest "32 Thoughts" podcast, mentioning the likes of Nico Hischier and Jonathan Siegenthaler as the Devils attempting to corner the market on Swiss-born players.

Unlike the Leafs, the Devils have their first and second round picks for the next three drafts and have an abundance of young, talented prospects they can include in a deal as well. However, like the Leafs, they would have to find a way to make Meier's salary work as they don't have any cap space right now either, which means they would have to move a roster player and possibly have a third team involved in the trade to retain even more salary on Meier.

With the deadline just under 6 weeks away, talks will likely pick-up sooner rather than later and we could begin to see some of the names drop off the board as teams will look to pull the trigger on deals early to avoid missing out on filling the roster spots that need to be filled for their respective clubs before the deadline has come and gone.