Maple Leafs' Morgan Rielly On Top Trade Candidates List

Morgan Rielly has been named at No. 15 on a new Top 20 Trade Candidates list for the Summer of '25

There's a lot of focus on what sort of big changes might be coming to the Toronto Maple Leafs this offseason, most of it focusing on the futures of unrestricted free agent Mitch Marner, and to a slightly lesser extent, fellow pending UFA John Tavares. But as everyone in Toronto clamours for the team to break up the so-called 'Core Four', let's not forget about the 'Fifth Beatle' of that group: Morgan Rielly.

The longest-tenured member of the Leafs has been named on insider Frank Seravalli's Daily Faceoff Top 20 Trade Candidates for the Summer of '25. Rielly comes in at No. 15.

The Leafs need a puck-moving defenseman, someone who can help get them out of trouble efficiently and exiting the zone with more ease. Rielly isn’t that anymore.

He used to be a valued puck-mover, make no mistake. Rielly has four seasons of 50+ points on his resume, but he took a noticeable step back this past year. Formerly the quarterback on the first power play unit, he was pulled off the unit as the team went with a five-forward lineup for PP1.

Leafs could trade Morgan Rielly as they look to break up the core

With a whopping five years left at a $7.5 million AAV, Seravalli figures the Buds better "make a move before that contract becomes onerous."

A trade of the 12-year Leafs veteran could free up that cap space and help address other areas on the roster, like replacing the soon-to-be-departed Marner in the top-six, and finding some much-needed bottom-six scoring.

Rielly has 426 assists and 513 points in 873 career games, all with Toronto. He has a career minus-23 rating, while averaging 22:08 of ice time per game.