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There has been no confirmation that defenceman Mike Van Ryn is a player the Toronto Maple Leafs would receive from the Florida Panthers in exchange for Bryan McCabe, but all signs point in that direction.

Those close to the 29-year-old say he believes Panthers general manager Jacques Martin wants to move him, and that he expects to be either a player named in a trade for McCabe or shipped to another NHL team.

One source close to Van Ryn said yesterday a trade to Toronto can be considered only "a possibility" at this point.

Martin would 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 believed to have agreed on a trade that would click in after Sept. 1, when the Leafs are due to pay McCabe $2.1-million (U.S.) of his signing bonus. This would make the trade more palatable from the Panthers' perspective.

Once the Leafs pay the bonus, the Panthers would then owe McCabe $4.05-million of his 2008-09 salary of $6.15-million. They would 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 would 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 such as 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 $40.7-million this season, without having to pay it all in cash.

If the Maple Leafs do receive Van Ryn in return for McCabe, they are also doing the Panthers a financial favour.

Van Ryn is four years younger than McCabe, but he has some injury baggage and a contract the Panthers feel is too rich for his production (105 points in 257 regular-season games with Florida).

He has two years left on a contract that will pay him $3.35-million a year. His cap number is $2.9-million, which is almost $2-million less than McCabe's, and he has one less year on his contract.

Once a rising prospect, Van Ryn has been troubled by serious wrist injuries for the past two seasons. He was limited to 20 games in 2007-08 after undergoing surgery.

There is no guarantee his wrist is 100-per-cent healed, although Van Ryn says he is healthy.