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Toronto Maple Leafs: 3 Scenarios for the Future of Morgan Rielly

By Stephen Nixon

MONTREAL, QC - MAY 24: Morgan Rielly #44 of the Toronto Maple Leafs celebrates his goal near Carey Price #31 of the Montreal Canadiens during the second period in Game Three of the First Round of the 2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs at the Bell Centre on May 24, 2021 in Montreal, Canada. The Toronto Maple Leafs defeated the Montreal Canadiens 2-1. (Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images)
MONTREAL, QC - MAY 24: Morgan Rielly #44 of the Toronto Maple Leafs celebrates his goal near Carey Price #31 of the Montreal Canadiens during the second period in Game Three of the First Round of the 2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs at the Bell Centre on May 24, 2021 in Montreal, Canada. The Toronto Maple Leafs defeated the Montreal Canadiens 2-1. (Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images) /
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TORONTO, ON – MARCH 19: Morgan Rielly #44 of the Toronto Maple Leafs  (Photo by Claus Andersen/Getty Images) /

No. 3: Trade Him

Many Toronto Maple Leafs fans would hate this scenario. For years, Rielly has been a fan-favourite and the #44 has been worn all throughout Scotiabank Arena and down Bay Street. However, if Toronto doesn’t want to pay him, you better trade him ASAP to get the biggest return possible.

Trading Rielly would be a tough decision to make. Not just because he’s the longest tenured player and a top-four defenseman, but because there’s no way they would win the trade. When you make a trade, you want to get the best player in that package, but in this case, it seems almost impossible that they would.

It’s possible that Toronto could receive a first-round pick that turns into a quality player, but that individual probably wouldn’t be making an impact for another three years. The Leafs are in a win-now mode, so they would need a NHL player in return to make the deal work, or they would have to have someone lined up to sign/trade for with that cap-space they’d create from Rielly’s absence.

Either way, the thought of Rielly get traded this offseason seems very unlikely because it doesn’t help this team compete for a Stanley Cup in 2022.

The only way that Rielly gets traded is if the Leafs are out of the playoff hunt by the Trade Deadline and want to capitalize on an asset, but that’s also a scenario that doesn’t seem likely.

Next. 3 Things Toronto Must Do To Win Stanley Cup. dark

We’ll have to wait and see what happens, but expect Rielly to be on the Toronto Maple Leafs, not only for the 2021-22 campaign, but for many more seasons after that.

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