Elliotte Friedman believes that the Toronto Maple Leafs have sniffed around one of the Philadelphia Flyers defensemen.

The 13-10-2 Philadelphia Flyers are sitting pretty in the Eastern Conference standings. With 28 points they are third in the Metropolitan Division - one point behind the Carolina Hurricanes and nine behind the division leading New York Rangers.

If the playoffs began today the Flyers would have a position locked down. Because of how the present system works the Flyers would be sixth in the Eastern Conference (despite one of the Wild Card teams having more points than them).

It's because of how competitive this team has been that insider Elliotte Friedman believes there hasn't been a trade made by the Flyers yet.

"There's no rush for them to do anything while their group is playing well," Friedman wrote in his latest written edition of 32 Thoughts. Just who might other teams be looking at on the Flyers roster? There is a clear choice in Friedman's mind.

"I do think Toronto's taken a look at Rasmus Ristolainen," wrote Friedman. The beastly defender has another three years after this one at $5.1-million per year. That makes any deal to the Toronto Maple Leafs tough (but not impossible).

Even with their LTIR relief the Maple Leafs only have $1.459-million in cap space. Someone would need to come back to the Flyers for a deal to make sense. The Flyers may also need to retain some salary in order to facilitate a trade.

Just a few days ago I speculated that Ristolainen would be the mold of defenseman that the Maple Leafs would be interested in. It seems like both Brad Treliving and Friedman agree with me.

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