Report: Maple Leafs inquired about Jason Spezza, Blackhawks also involved in bidding

The news out of Phildaelphia, Pa. on Thursday is that Ottawa Senators general manager Bryan Murray was feeling underwhelmed by the offers for captain Jason Spezza. While that may still be the case, there's no absence of suitors for Spezza's services and several of those suitors are of the surprise variety.

In particular, it appears that the Toronto Maple Leafs contacted the Senators about Spezza according to TSN's Bob McKenzie.

"The Toronto Maple Leafs did inquire about the availability of Jason Spezza..." McKenzie said during an Insider Trading segment on TSN.ca on Thursday afternoon. "Not because they wanted him in their lineup, but they were maybe looking at parlaying him, flipping him to someone else as part of another transaction..." 

That's an odd scheme and sounds far-fetched, which McKenzie admitted by concluding his report with "That's certainly not happening."

As for the teams that are more realistically pursuing Spezza, a certain Western Conference juggernaut - the Chicago Blackhawks - are reportedly "front and center" in the Spezza sweepstakes, reports McKenzie.