Morgan Rielly Opens Up About Possibility of Leaving the Maple Leafs

Given how much there was riding on this season, the Maple Leafs certainly didn't pull through the way fans had hoped.

A heartbreaking loss to Florida in Game 7 led to them cleaning out their lockers and addressing the media on Tuesday morning.

Amongst the flurry of questions for everyone from Craig Berube to Auston Matthews to probably the equipment manger; no one was spared.

One person who would more than likely have a bigger opinion of things than many is Morgan Rielly, the team's longest tenured player who has seen his fair share of failures.

He's been around the block a few times, and while he's certainly a mainstay for the foreseeable future (give his huge contract) there comes a time when winning supercedes loyalty (just ask Jack Eichel).

So speaking to the media on Tuesday, Rielly was questioned about whether or not a change of scenery was in the works, and while he did his best to answer; it seems he was caught a bit off guard:

Obviously the latest defeat is fresh in his mind, and he would like a few days to decompress and figure out things before being bombarded about his future (but thus is the life of a pro athlete).

But if Rielly were to decide that somewhere else would be a better option, could you blame him?

Much like Mitch Marner, Rielly deals with his fair share of criticism, and while he does get more leeway given that he was around through some brutal years (and defensive partners), he's never immune.

Does he have shortcomings? Sure, but so does every other player in the world. Rielly's knock has always been his defense, and while he's not a Jaccob Slavin level of defender, he's far from awful.

If you look at his first four seasons, he made the playoffs once, and finished at or near the bottom for the first three. He was an unsightly minus-66 in that span, but once he got his feet under him and got more comfortable; he got better.

The next five seasons saw Rielly put in a plus-53 rating while improving heavily in the physicality department, while also managing to put in a 20-goal season in 2018-19.

For his career, Rielly has 513 points in 873 games (87G, 426A) while adding 1203 hits, 250 PIM and a minus-23 rating in 22:08 TOI.

This season saw him with a brutal minus-22 at one point, but one has to remember he was on the ice for the majority of Toronto's empty net goals against, something that will make that number appear way worse on paper.

Would a change of scenery do him good? Potentially, and moving somewhere closer to home such as Vancouver is a genuine possibility this summer (especially with all of their changes) but he feels like a Leafs lifer.

But he's not cheap, on the wrong side of 30, and is going to cost a fair bit in return given that Brad Treliving wouldn't want to let his franchise staple go for nothing and might sway teams from trying to acquire him.

There's no doubt that Rielly has a lot more to offer and he's certainly taken his bumps but took them on the chin with a smile on his face.

So while he might not be thinking about a change of scenery just yet, the offseason just began and there's only so many shots you can take before it gets to be too much.