The Toronto Maple Leafs are said to be reluctant to add a sweetener to any trade involving defenseman Morgan Rielly.
Rielly is the Maple Leafs’ longest-tenured player with 12 years on the team’s roster, but with a new GM in John Chayka taking over, it’s been no secret the team has held trade talks with other clubs to potentially move him, as both player and team feel like it’s time to move on.
To this point, the Maple Leafs have not been able to deal Rielly yet, as Chayka has not found a suitable deal for the veteran defenseman as of yet.
Part of that is because the team is reluctant to give up a sweetener in a deal for another team to take on Rielly and the remaining four years and $7.5 million per season left on his current contract, a deal that looks bloated right now given his decline in play the last few years.
Maple Leafs Reluctant to Add Sweetener to Morgan Rielly Deal
Speaking on the “32 Thoughts Podcast,” NHL insider Elliotte Friedman explained why Rielly has not been moved by the Maple Leafs yet, as the team does not want to pay a big price to get rid of him.
“I said that there’s a chance they keep him. I don’t know if that made everybody involved happy. There was some reporting after that he would like to move on. I don’t know if that’s true or not, I know it’s out there. I just heard that Toronto told people that they’re not paying a big price to move him. Like if they consider it too much of a sweetener, they don’t do it,” Friedman said.
San Jose Not an Option for Morgan Rielly Anymore
According to Friedman, another thing that has hurt the Maple Leafs’ chances to move off of Rielly without attaching any sweeteners is that the San Jose Sharks — one team that had been heavily linked to acquiring Rielly the whole season — already picked up another expensive defenseman in Darnell Nurse, which takes away a potential suitor for Rielly’s services.
“I think that one thing that hurt them is that San Jose, with a choice, seemed to prefer Nurse over Rielly,” Friedman said.
According to Friedman, if the Maple Leafs end up keeping Rielly, the team will try their best to make it work with him and give him the playing time that he wants, but it’s likely better for everyone involved if the team can move off him and give both player and team a fresh start.
We’ll ultimately see where this goes, as the Maple Leafs still have over two months left until training camp starts, so there is plenty of time to deal Rielly away. But if they can’t move off Rielly for a low price, then the team might just keep him and see how it goes for him next season under a new head coach in Jim Hiller, as a new coach could potentially light a spark under Rielly’s game.
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