Penguins and Leafs make a last minute trade before the roster freeze.

The Toronto Maple Leafs and the Pittsburgh Penguins have come together to make a last minute deal just moments before the National Hockey League's roster freeze officially comes into effect.

According to NHL insider Pierre LeBrun, the Leafs have acquired 25 year old centerman Jared McCann from the Pittsburgh Penguins. Going back the other way to the Penguins in this deal will be a 7th round draft pick and prospect Filip Hallander.

McCann is obviously far and away the best player in this deal given that he is the only one with any NHL experience and I strongly suspect that this deal was made due to the concerns that the Penguins had with the upcoming expansion draft for the Seattle Kraken. McCann, a former first round pick (24th overall) of the Vancouver Canucks at the 2014 NHL Entry Draft,  already has 350 games of NHL experience under his belt and is coming off a solid campaign in which he recorded 14 goals and 18 assists for 32 points over just 43 regular season games for the Penguins.

The other interesting part of this deal is 21 year old Filip Hallander. Hallander is a former second round draft selection (58th overall) of the Pittsburgh Penguins at the 2018 NHL Entry Draft and was originally acquired by the Leafs as a part of the trade that sent Kasperi Kapanen to Pittsburgh. The former Penguins prospect turned Leafs prospect is now once again a prospect for the Penguins, but he has yet to play a single game in the NHL after continuing his career in Sweden following the draft.