While we still don't know the specifics of Morgan Rielly's injury that he suffered on Saturday night against the Montreal Canadiens, the Toronto Maple Leafs are making it fairly clear that he's going to miss at least the next game.
On Sunday morning, ahead of the Leafs hosting the New Jersey Devils, the Leafs announced that they have sent down forward Vinni Lettieri to the AHL's Toronto Marlies and then recalled defenceman Cole McWard. This double move of a forward for a defenceman on the roster is perhaps the loudest admission that Rielly's injury is not just being banged up or anything, and that he will be missing Sunday's game against the Devils.
Leafs called up Cole McWard which doesn't seem to bode well for Rielly. We'll see if McWard makes his Toronto debut tonight. Probably just more Mermis.
— James Mirtle (@mirtle) November 8, 2026
There was no clear moment where Rielly was injured or anything, but it was declared a lower-body injury in the first period and he did not return for the second period in the Leafs' disheartning 4-2 loss to the Canadiens.
McWard is a 25-year-old, right-handed defender who signed with the Leafs just this past summer after spending some time in the Vancouver Canucks and New York Islanders organizations. In seven games for the Marlies this season, the Fenton, Missouri native has four assist and has a plus-3 rating. As The Athletic's James Mirtle mentioned in his post, it's unclear if McWard is going to be making his Leafs debut against the Devils, or we're just getting some more Dakota Mermis.
Morgan Rielly's injury is the worst timing ever
Heading into last summer, we all assumed that Rielly's time in Toronto was over. The longest-tenured Leaf was most likely going to be on his way out in some Darnell Nurse-esque move, and perhaps to a young team just needing some veteran experience on the blue line. That was the expectations.
Then months went by with no trade, and no real sign of anything happening, and then he was just back at Leafs training camp and on the roster like nothing happened.
We were all worried it was a massive mistake considering that the blue line was and is the Leafs' weakness, but Rielly has arguably been Toronto's best defenceman so far this season.
Through 18 games this season, the 32-year-old has earned 12 assists while averaging the lowest amount of minutes he has had in his career since his rookie season, at just 18:46 average time-on-ice. With no top power-play usage or anything, Rielly is still producing a whole lot of offense.
Rielly's 12 assists is tied for 11th in the NHL among defensemen with high-octane blueliners such as Zach Werenski, Filip Hronek, and Owen Power. He's just found a whole lot of success early on and for someone who essentially was pushed to have one foot out the door this summer, it's a remarkable comeback.
Now, it's terrible timing that he might miss some amount of time during this season that even the most optimistic fans might have struggled to hope for.
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