Are Phil Kessel’s days in Toronto numbered?

Hockey Insider Darren Dreger reported on TSN 1050’s Mike Richards Show this morning that the buzz in NHL management circles is that the 25 year old winger could be on the trade market before the April 3rd deadline and that feelers have put out to the Leafs GM Dave Nonis.

According to Dreger, Nonis has communicated that the price will be steep for the winger, who has scored 30 goals or more four years in a row and is under contract until the end of the 2013-14 season.

The Leafs reportedly are looking for “slam dunk win” of a deal for their leading goal scorer, which Dreger translated as “a good piece, be it a top defenseman or a top six forward and a high draft pick in return”, similar to the package that the Columbus Blue Jackets received for disgruntled forward Jeff Carter.

Nonis signaled that change was in the air mere days after replacing friend and mentor Brian Burke, as he dispatched veteran Tim Connolly to the AHL and traded Matthew Lombardi to Phoenix and are focused on giving young players like Jake Gardiner, Matt Frattin, Korbinian Holzer, Ben Scrivens and Nazem Kadri more of a role with the club.

Kessel’s offensive numbers will likely increase his salary demands from the $5.4 Million he is currently making, to over $7 Million on a long term deal and they cannot sign him to a contract extension until he enters the final year of his current contract, but a limited no-trade clause kicks in on July 1, which would limit the market that Nonis could generate in a possible trade.

With the season being less than 25% complete, decisions about trading would be UFA’s like Connolly, Clarke MacArthur and Tyler Bozak are at least a month away, but the state of Kessel’s contract and new ownership’s willingness to spend big money to retain him for years to come has to be factored in when discussing the possibility of a trade.

His current goal scoring drought will not likely be a factor in a potential deal, as his reputation as a streaky goal scorer is well established.

Dreger indicates that some NHL GM’s were skeptical of the asking price for Kessel, who is known mostly as a perimeter player, but you would have to expect interested teams to try and play lowball on the rumor mill. If you use the Carter deal as a comparative, the Leafs should be demanding more than a quality young NHL player and a 1st round pick, when you consider that the Blue Jackets were at a great disadvantage with a player who did not want to play in Columbus, who had a contract equally as onerous as the Roberto Luongo contract.

If Nonis does decide to shop Kessel in earnest, a deal would likely take place in late March or just before the trade deadline, when teams contending or trying to make the playoffs are at the most desperate to acquire a difference maker.

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The Leafs take on the Winnipeg Jets at the MTS Center tonight at 8pm.

Morweena, MB native James Reimer is expected to get the start for Toronto, who has won two of his three road starts this season.

Reimer is 0-1-0 in Winnipeg, as he lost 3-2 to the Jets on December 31, 2011.

Leafs TV's Paul Hendrick reports that defenseman Carl Gunnarsson and winger Mike Brown took the morning skate in Winnipeg.

Gunnarsson is still about a week away from being able to return to the lineup, so he has been placed on injured reserve retroactive to February 1, while Brown has been activated.

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