"No one is saying defenceman Mike Van Ryn is the player the Toronto Maple Leafs will receive from the Florida Panthers for Bryan McCabe, but all signs point in that direction.

Those close to Van Ryn say he believes Panthers general manager Jacques Martin wants to move him and he expects to be either the player named in a trade for fellow defenceman McCabe or shipped to another NHL team. One source close to Van Ryn said Friday the trade can only be considered "a possibility" at this point. Martin will not comment on the matter.

"I haven't heard anything, so I still consider myself a Florida Panther," Van Ryn, a native of London, Ont., told The Miami Herald. "[Toronto] would be home, I guess, but my home is here. It would be quite an adjustment. But whatever happens, happens. If the Panthers want to move me, they will. But I like it here.''

Leafs GM Cliff Fletcher and Martin are thought to have agreed on a trade that will click in after September 1, when the Leafs have to pay McCabe a deferred portion of his signing bonus of $2.1-million (U.S.). This makes the trade more palatable from the Panthers' perspective.

Once the Leafs pay the bonus, the Panthers will only have to pay McCabe $4.05-million of his 2008-09 salary of $6.15-million. Then they will pay him $4.15-million in each of the two remaining years of his contract for the 2009-10 and 2010-11 seasons. But the Panthers will have to take a $5.75-million hit on their salary cap for the next three years, which is the average salary of the five-year contract McCabe signed with the Leafs late in the 2005-06 season.

However, for a financially-strapped team like the Panthers, this is a good thing. Having a higher cap number than the actual salary means they can reach the NHL's minimum annual payroll, which will be $40-million this season, without having to pay it all in cash.

If the Leafs do receive Van Ryn for McCabe, then they are also doing the Panthers a financial favour on that side of the deal as well."