There’s nothing like a general manager siting at another team’s game to get the good people of Leafs nation talking.

If you missed last night’s buzz, Leafs assistant general manager Laurence Gilman was in the press box to take in the Carolina-Buffalo game. Although it’s always good to pay attention to the “competition” we can safely assume he was there to watch the Hurricanes. It also came out that it was the second time Gilman has watched a Carolina match in the last couple of weeks.

The obvious question is 1) What does this mean and 2) Who is he watching. Hockey is hockey but scouting games around this time of the year usually has some trade deadline implications behind it (at least that’s what my optimism likes to tell me).

It looks as if the possibilities are narrowed down to two conclusions. Is Gilman looking for another defenceman or for a winger to help add a little bit of those intangibles to the forward corps?

Acquiring Jake Muzzin was a good move for the Leafs but they may not be done adding to that blue line and Dougie Hamilton is still a name that’s floated around the trade market. The same goes for Michael Ferland who plays the type of game Mike Babcock values.

Aside from his physicality, he’s a versatile player who can play both wings, can contribute offensively (14 goals and 14 assists in 44 games) and is on an expiring deal with a lovely $1.75 million cap hit.

We’ll have to see how this plays out and there’s no guarantee it materializes into anything. But the coincidences behind these Gilman sightings are well worth the eyebrow raise.

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This clip is brought to you by the letter ‘N’ for not enough horseshoes were used ahead of this game.

Enjoy the weekend!

From The Branches