The Maple Leafs are still working through the Morgan Rielly situation, and this one has a real clock attached to it now.
Toronto has had ongoing trade talks with other teams about Rielly, and according to David Pagnotta, those conversations are expected to keep going. The end goal, Pagnotta reported, is a trade sometime this week or at some point this summer.
That lines up with a busy stretch for the Maple Leafs, who saw John Chayka completely reshape the offense on Wednesday. He moved Nick Robertson, added four forwards and Sergei Bobrovsky, and left the door open for more. Toronto also had a potential Zach Werenski deal in the mix, though that appears to have fallen through for now, which at least means Matthew Knies is safe for the moment.
Rielly is still the big name hanging in the middle of all this.
His future has gone back and forth. At one point, the team wanted to get a trade done.
When that didn’t happen, they treated him as part of the solution. Now, with the addition of Darren Raddysh, it looks like Toronto would not be leaning on Rielly as heavily if he stays.
The Leafs have already adjusted the blue line picture a bit. Raddysh has taken over as the main power-play quarterback, and Toronto also has Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Emil Andrae as puck-movers.
Still, Rielly remains a moveable player, even if he holds most of the leverage. The latest wrinkle is that one of the teams that might have made sense for him is now off the board after the San Jose Sharks acquired Darnell Nurse.
Rielly, 31, put up 36 points in 78 games for Toronto last season. He’s also the longest-tenured player on the team.
But the defensive side of his game was rough, finishing at minus-18, and his possession numbers were described as pedestrian. Over the past two seasons, he has totaled 77 points in 160 games with a minus-26.
That production, and that defensive profile, likely explains why Toronto is still poking around. Chayka has also praised Rielly’s time with the Maple Leafs and the professionalism he’s shown on and off the ice, which suggests the team may want to do this the right way and find the best possible landing spot for him.
Even so, the sense is that Toronto wants to make a decision soon, potentially by Friday or at least sometime in July. The loyalty factor may matter, but it does not appear to be stopping the Maple Leafs from exploring every option if they want to be positioned to compete in 2026-27.
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