Morgan Rielly has been the top dog in trade talks for months in Toronto but with a trade not set in stone, the team may look to him as part of the plan this season.
It's no secret that over the past few weeks, when you've heard the name Morgan Rielly, you'll have seen 'trade rumour' attached to the end of it. With Toronto looking to make steadfast improvements to the blueline and Rielly only getting older and continually expensive, change may be coming.
It's nothing personal against the longest tenured player on the Maple Leafs and Rielly has been a staunch teammate on the ice and a big community leader off it. He's engrained himself into the culture and is a staple despite fans clamouring for someone different.
Those fans who were hoping for a change may be sorely disappointed John Chayka's words were anything to go by on Thursday afternoon however.
A Morgan Rielly trade looked as good as done until now
The Toronto Maple Leafs introduced Jim Hiller to the media and post-presser, they held a media scrum for the various outlets to pick the brain of the Maple Leafs GM and among those inquiries, the topic of Rielly's future came up.
Chayka mentioned that while he continues to listen to offers for Rielly, there is nothing imminent and he is expecting that if Rielly doesn't move that he'll be at the forefront of the Maple Leafs in 2026-27:
Morgan is the longest tenured Leaf. I have tons of respect for everything he has done, not only on the ice - he is a prolific player - but off the ice as well.
It is no different than any other player. We have a lot of discussions about what the best fit is for the player, what the best fit is for the team, and how we put the roster together on the ice. We continue to have all of those types of discussions to see if there is an opportunity to make our team better.
Immediately, fans are going to groan at hearing that Rielly is going to still factor into the lineup, but this isn't a guarantee nor is it a guarantee that he's even going to be on the top pair when all is said and done.
Toronto's acquisition of Darren Raddysh made it known they are not messing around and he's now going to be their new PP QB1 and with that, Rielly moves down to the second unit, or not even at all depending on who else is coming in.
Moving Morgan Rielly down isn't a bad idea especially if he's properly protected
Rielly isn't a bad player but he isn't top-pairing material and he needs a lot of help defensively. If Toronto is looking to get a little tougher and meaner on the blueline then Rielly could thrive from that.
For example, if the Maple Leafs were to take a run at someone like Matt Roy or Mario Ferraro then it could give Rielly a proper defensive partner who can cover for his shortcomings, add physicality and a ton of shot-blocking and defensive awareness.
So if that's the case, here's how Rielly can still fit into the lineup and thrive if Toronto gets the right pieces:
McCabe -- Raddysh
Rielly -- Ferraro
Ekman-Larsson -- Tanev
This gives Toronto a puck-mover and shutdown player on each pairing, and with the addition of Emil Andrae as well, the team can swap him and out of the lineup depending on needs.
Some of this does depend on how else the Maple Leafs approach their defence this summer, as Brandon Carlo and Philippe Myers are still signed though there could be potential trades on the horizon regarding those two players.
The only issue here that fans may gripe with even if Rielly's given less responsibility is his cap hit at $7.5-million AAV but as each year progresses, that hit appreciates and will maximize out at only 5.7% of the cap when his deal is over.
That's not terrible especially if Hiller can bring Rielly back to form and there's the proper safeguards in place to protect him. But that's a big if, and ew'll have to see which other dominos fall first before we can know if Rielly is still in play or not.
Do you think keeping Morgan Rielly is a good or bad idea for the Maple Leafs?
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