Maple Leafs' Morgan Rielly 'Has Heard The Noise', A Lot of Interest in a Trade
We know that Morgan Rielly, the longest-serving Toronto Maple Leaf, wants to maintain that title. He doesn't want to leave Toronto. But as most observers have noted this season, it might finally be time.
The team needs to completely remake its blueline. They finished 30th in the NHL in Expected Goals Against.
Insider David Pagnotta was asked on the DFO Rundown on Wednesday if he feels it's time for a change of scenery for Morgan Rielly and the Maple Leafs:
The short answer is 'Yes.'... I think Morgan Rielly has shifted from a first pair of defenceman to a second pair defenceman... He's got a $7.5 million cap hit. The cap's going up, $104M next season... A $7.5M cap hit for a second-pair defenseman who's going to log 17-18 minutes a night? That's pretty good value.
There were teams that poked around on Rielly during the season, and there was at least one team that had discussions with the Maple Leafs the week of trade deadline to see if there was a possibility of making something happen. I think whoever comes in (as president of hockey operations/GM)... is going to have to have an honest conversation with Morgan Rielly.
Yes, the veteran d-man "has heard the noise," said the insider. Was he treating their last home game earlier this week as his last home contest in the Blue & White?
Pagnotta revealed that Rielly said, 'I'm not gonna lie, it's in the back of my head, it's there, the possibility.'
Rielly will be asked to waive his no-move clause this summer
It would all have to start with the new Leafs management team, whoever that might be, asking him to waive his full no-move clause.
“Obviously, that’s a thing that as a player, you have to prepare for,” Rielly told Joshua Kloke in The Athletic.
“This isn’t the first time it’s crossed my mind,” Rielly said. “You think about that at the end of every year, almost.”
But this year could truly be different.
"I think there will be a lot of interest in the player," Pagnotta concluded.
"I think they're gonna find a way to find a new home for Morgan Rielly," added insider Darren Dreger on the Ray & Dregs podcast.
Photo: © John E. Sokolowski-Imagn Images
