Toronto Maple Leafs: “Resting” Morgan Rielly Was Bad Decision

The Toronto Maple Leafs decided to scratch Morgan Rielly on Thursday night, sending a message to the 10-year veteran.

There’s no doubt that Morgan Rielly is struggling this season but making him a healthy scratch is a not a way to get back his confidence and the Toronto Maple Leafs should be embarrassed.

I know this is the time of the year to do these type of things, but it’s the last thing they should have done to Reilly.

Reilly is the longest tenured player on the team and if he plays on the Leafs until his contract extension is over, he could finish his career with the most games ever played in the organization. Every player should be treated equal regardless of their tenure or contract, but Reilly should be an exception, especially right now.

If this was Game 3 of the playoffs and Rielly was brutal in Game 1 and 2 and him playing would make the team worse, then sit him for all I care. However, these are meaningless regular season games that Reilly needs to play out his kinks instead of be summoned to the press box to watch his teammates.

Rielly is a leader in the room and sitting him sends a bad message to the team and it’s something that he shouldn’t have to deal with. Reilly knows he’s playing bad, but sitting in the press box isn’t going to help him get better.

Toronto Maple Leafs Shouldn’t Have Healthy Scratched Rielly

The Leas said they were “resting”  Rielly, but it amounts to the same thing.  Unless he’s injured, he clearly wants to play through his struggles, especially against a red-hot team like the Panthers.

What I mean by that is that the team could have easily said that Rielly has the flu or has a nagging injury from practice that is deserving of a game off. There’s no reason to get the media involved in this story by making him a healthy-scratch.

Everyone in the world knows Rielly is struggling and so does he. When he goes to the rink every day, he knows more than anyone that his game needs to improve. Unless I’m missing something and he was a bad teammate or did something inappropriate to warrant a game-off, then go for it, but by all accounts this is the definition of a healthy-scratch.

I can understand the argument that this will be good for Rielly and he’ll come back better than ever, but every player acts differently to this type of punishment. This could drive him over the edge and make his game even worse, compared to it making him better.

Scratching one of the leaders of your team in a meaningless game with nothing to play for sends a poor message to the team and it’s something the Leafs should have thought twice about doing.

In my opinion, Sheldon Keefe is losing the room and this is a desperate move to keep everyone aware as they get ready for the playoffs.