Auston Matthews skated with skills consultant Darryl Belfry prior to joining the team’s practice on Tuesday. With a lot of talk surrounding the Toronto Maple Leafs interest in a forward, count San Jose Sharks forward Timo Meier as one of the targets. On the latest edition of TSN’s Insider Trading [https://www.tsn.ca/insider-trading-ryan-reynolds-teams-up-with-remington-group-toronto-maple-leafs-in-on-timo-meier-1.1919435], TSN hockey insider Pierre LeBrun mentioned that Toronto is one of the many teams interested in grabbing the power forward before the NHL trade deadline on Mar. 3. Lebrun talked about the Carolina Hurricanes and New Jersey Devils approach to talks with San Jose, but added the following: "So two different approaches there between Carolina and New Jersey and of course you have the Toronto Maple who, by all accounts, remain interested in Meier as well." Meier is a top target among many different top trade target lists. But the question for Toronto remains if they are willing or able to part with the type of assets San Jose would be looking for. Meier has 31 goals and 21 assists in 55 games this season. The 26-year-old is a restricted free agent and required a qualifying offer of $10 million in order for any team to try and retain the player's rights. That number may be too high for Toronto to bear, but the hope would be that an extension at a lower amount could be reached before then.
