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Trade talks involving the Maple Leafs are intensifying.

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Those would be the chats between coach Sheldon Keefe and general manager Brad Treliving, though you can bet the latter is doubling down with his peers across the National Hockey League now that coveted defenceman Chris Tanev is off the market.

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On Thursday, Keefe lamented the “jam” the Leafs are in with having to use six left-shooting defencemen, and while he had praise for the corps as a whole, he would see a wish granted if, prior to the NHL trade deadline next Friday afternoon, Treliving added a rearguard who happens to shoot right.

“Tre and I talk every single day, we have had those conversations throughout the season,” Keefe said. “We’re on the same page. Those discussions are ramping up both internally and with him on the phone. He is doing all that he can to try to help our team and, at the same time, recognizing the team has played really well and we’ve done a good job.”

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Though Treliving would have loved to acquire Tanev, the GM should have a better idea of the market now after the Calgary Flames got a defence prospect, a second-round pick and a conditional third-rounder from the Dallas Stars, a transaction that also included the New Jersey Devils.

Considering the Leafs don’t have a first-round pick next year, the in-house preference is to keep their 2024 first-rounder.

With no second-round picks in the next three years, Treliving might have to get creative if he does make a move, whether it’s for Matt Dumba, Ilya Lyubushkin, Nick Jensen, Alexandre Carriere or Sean Walker or someone else.

Put us in the group that thinks it would be foolish for the Leafs to part with either Fraser Minten or Easton Cowan. Both forward prospects are on the path to having successful NHL careers.

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Dumba, who was in town with the Arizona Coyotes to face the Leafs on Thursday, knows his name is trending. He acknowledged that the Leafs were one of the teams that showed interest in him last summer before he signed a one-year pact with Arizona in August.

“It’s always in the mix come deadline day,” Dumba said. “It’s something I’m used to and I don’t get caught up in social media. You get more comfortable with it and learn how to block it out.”

KNIES ADJUSTMENT

Though Leafs’ rookie winger Matthew Knies remains on a steep learning curve on the club’s top line with Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner, the 21-year-old is grateful for the patience shown by the coaching staff as he has made the jump from NCAA hockey.

“I’m pretty fortunate that I’ve had the opportunity to make mistakes and learn from them,” Knies said.

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“It’s only going uphill for me. It’s always a challenge going against the best (opposing) players on a daily basis, but I am getting more used to it.

“At the start of the year, it was a challenge to keep up and find myself in the right spaces.”

Said Keefe: “With young players, especially those that bypassed the American Hockey League, you’re learning on the fly and learning in the league, and that’s a hard thing to do, especially when you look at the workload and the assignments he has, the matchups, whether it’s the forwards or the defencemen that he faces as a result of playing on that line. There are some added layers there for sure.”

In a bizarre coincidence, the day that Knies was born in Phoenix — Oct. 17, 2002 — marked the Leafs’ most-recent win against the Coyotes in regulation in Toronto going into Thursday.

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The Coyotes were 10-0-2 at Scotiabank Arena in their previous 12 games.

LOOSE LEAFS

Coyotes coach Andre Tourigny recalled a conversation he had with Keefe at the NHL coaches pre-season meeting in Chicago last fall. The subject was forward Alex Kerfoot, who signed a two-year contract with Arizona last summer after four seasons with the Leafs. “(Keefe) told me: ‘You will see, he is glue on and off the ice,’ ” Tourigny said. “Sheldon was bang on. Kerfoot is tremendous on the PK, can play centre, right, left, top six, bottom six, on top of being an unbelievable human being and a really good leader.” … Cowan’s point streak in the Ontario Hockey League reached 27 games on Wednesday when the London Knights forward had two assists in a 6-4 loss against the Oshawa Generals. Cowan, the Leafs’ first-round pick last year, will look to keep his run going on Friday night when the Knights visit the Kitchener Rangers.

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