The Kings have reportedly made Jonathan Quick available to the Maple Leafs

With just three short weeks remaining until the NHL's trade deadline, it's really anyone's guess how much or how little action there will be this season in comparison to previous years, where COVID-19 hadn't forced teams into a bit of a holding pattern in terms of their spending.

Still, there are plenty of sellers, and a few potential buyers that are keeping this deadline interesting - one of which being the Toronto Maple Leafs, who have been linked to countless trade rumours over the course of the last few weeks.

While the Leafs have mostly been linked to forwards, the names David Savard and Mattias Ekholm have also popped up as possible blueline acquisitions. Lately, however, with the struggles of Leafs netminder Frederik Andersen, there has been a bit of a public outcry for an improvement in the crease.

Leafs' No.2 goalie Jack Campbell could very well be the one to provide that improvement after potentially usurping Andersen and earning a run as the team's No.1 due to his superior play this season (4-0-0 with a 1.00 GAA, a .965 SV% and 2 shutouts).

Though the Leafs have certainly not made it known to the public if they are, in fact, looking to move on from Andersen after (or potentially even during) this season, they've certainly received calls on his availability as recently as this past offseason, and would likely have no shortage of suitors if they did elect to move him before the deadline.

So why all the goalie talk? Well, on Sunday, TheFourthPeriod's David Pagnotta revealed that some sources have confirmed that the Kings have reached out to the Leafs to inform them that Jonathan Quick is available to them if they are looking for a change in goal or some added depth in the crease at the deadline.

Obviously, given Quick's $5.8M AAV for 2 more seasons, this would be a tricky one to pull off without some salary going back the other way, or without the Kings agreeing to retain 50% of his deal - in which case, $2.9M becomes a lot more affordable, and provides the Leafs with a little bit of flexibility under the cap to get Zach Hyman signed and, equally as important, buys them some time to determine their next steps in goal.

"At this point, a move does not sound imminent, but the option appears to be available if Toronto decides to pursue it in the next three weeks," said Pagnotta of the Quick rumour.

The way I see it, the Leafs have three options for how to proceed here. (There may be, and likely are, other options, but just humour me here..)

Option A: The Leafs bring in Quick (or another veteran option), lose Andersen, roll with a Quick(veteran) and Campbell tandem until Joseph Woll - or any of the younger netminders on their depth chart - has some more pro experience and is ready to make the jump to the NHL.

Option B: The Leafs keep Andersen for this playoff run and try to re-sign him to a deal carrying a similar cap hit, or a marginally lower cap hit than what he currently sits at ($5M AAV, per CapFriendly) and we're potentially having the same conversation at this point next season.

Option C: The Leafs stand pat, move on from Fred in the offseason and give the net to Campbell and Woll next season to see what they can do, and make a move for a goalie only if necessary.

With the way Toronto has played in front of Jack Campbell this season, I'm intrigued to see how he does in an expanded role over the next couple of weeks. Perhaps the answer becomes more clear once we've reached the week of the deadline.

For me, personally, I'd be a little nervous rolling with a Campbell and Woll tandem for the simple reason that we do not yet know what Woll is - and if Campbell gets hurt, as he has been known to do, that's putting a lot of eggs into an unknown basket.

Not that I think a trade for Quick will happen, but I certainly wouldn't mind it if it did. At worst, we'd be in the same position we are in right now, with Campbell as the team's No.1, but with an extra $2.1M in cap space to spend elsewhere (e.g. Zach Hyman). At best, Quick has a couple of good seasons left in him and provides more-than-adequate goaltending as the Leafs' backup for the next two seasons until perhaps one of their younger netminders, like Woll, or even 2020 4th-round pick Artur Akhtyamov, is ready for a kick at the can.

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