Leafs looking for centre, resume Knies contract talks — The Fourth ...

The Toronto Maple Leafs may try to bolster their team up the middle this season and are believed to be exploring their options at the centre position.

Leafs GM Brad Treliving is not itching to pull the trigger on a deal right now, but he and management are supposedly starting to weigh their options to pursue later in the season, presumably in the second-half closer to the trade deadline.

While the likes of Brock Nelson of the New York Islanders, Jake Evans of the Montreal Canadiens, Yanni Gourde of the Seattle Kraken, and Nick Bjugstad of the Utah Hockey Club may be on their radar down the road, they may also have an internal solution that could shift their focus to a higher-end player rather than a depth addition.

During Tuesday’s edition of “The Latest” on TFP, Kate Pettersen and David Pagnotta discussed which options may fit for the Maple Leafs.

“They are looking and kind of poking around the centre market,” Pagnotta said. “Now, with Fraser Minten coming in the last few games, he’s done really well. He scored a goal Monday night. He’s fit really nicely. . . they like what they see there. And if he continues his pace of play, that might eliminate any need to bring in a centre in their bottom-six. They may have found that internally, which shifts their focus to the second line.

“I think a second line centre is what they would like to add to this group, in a perfect world. They don’t necessarily have the significant assets they’re willing to move to do it. They don’t have a first-round pick this year. They have a first-round pick next year. Will they look to potentially part with that? We’ll have to wait and see.”

Meanwhile, Pagnotta was also on “Leafs Morning Take” earlier in the day and discussed how Matthew Knies and the Maple Leafs have resumed contract negotiations recently.

The Leafs are still believed to prefer a long-term extension, while Knies’ camp may prefer a deal in the three-to-four-year range.

“I discussed this with Nick Alberta on Leafs Morning Take earlier, they have re-engaged and resumed contract discussions with Matthew Knies and his side. They’d like long-term, it sounds like (the) Knies camp is looking a little shorter, not necessarily a two-year bridge but maybe three four years, but again the Leafs want to go full stride. So we’ll see where that goes, if that develops. One of the things for Toronto right now... he’s controllable, they don’t have to rush into a deal. I wouldn’t be surprised if this gets carried on to the off-season, but they’ve at least resumed talks in hopes of maybe seeing if they can get something done sooner than later.”