Toronto Maple Leafs forward Josh Leivo has asked the team for a trade, according to Sportsnet’s Nick Kypreos.
The NHL’s trade deadline is Feb. 26 at 3 p.m. ET.
“(Leivo) did tell them that if they’re not going to use him, he’d like to be traded before Feb. 26,” Kypreos said on Saturday’s Headlines segment on Hockey Night in Canada.
Leivo, 24, has had trouble getting into the Leafs lineup which has been crowded with young, offensive-minded forwards. But he also needs to go on waivers to play in the AHL, so he has been stuck in the middle as a healthy scratch most of the season.
In 12 games this season Leivo has one goal and two assists. In November, he signed a one-year contract extension with the Leafs worth $925,000.
“We were just talking, and they just wanted me to have the security so I could play a game and not have to worry about the next year,” Leivo told Sportsnet’s Luke Fox shortly after signing the extension. “It feels great. I get to focus now on just playing.”
Leivo might not be the only forward Toronto moves before the trade deadline. During the same segment, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported that the team is also shopping Nikita Soshnikov.
“Soshnikov went back to the American Hockey League on a conditioning stint and I do think that this is to showcase him,” Friedman said. “And I wouldn’t be surprised that by the time that’s done that he’s traded somewhere else too.”
Soshnikov has been limited to only three NHL games and 12 AHL games because of various injuries this season. He has no points this season and has seven goals and seven assists over 70 games in the NHL for his career.
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