Toronto Maple Leafs: Should they consider trading Morgan Rielly?
By Matt Mallard
Could the Toronto Maple trade Morgan Rielly if they’re serious about signing Alex Pietrangelo? We look at whether they should trade the defenceman.
For years, fans, analysts, and pundits have been constantly discussing the most optimal way to improve the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Since 2017, rumours of a young forward such as William Nylander, Mitch Marner, and more recently Andreas Johnson or Alexander Kerfoot are seen as viable trade chips that general manager Kyle Dubas can move out to address the defence.
One name that rarely, if ever comes up in trade talks is Morgan Rielly.
After scoring 20 goals and 72 points through 82 games in 2019, Rielly saw a drop in point production this past season collecting only 27 points through 47 games. Most of his decline in point production can be attributed to a nagging injury, and that seemed to be true as the Leafs ended up placing him on injured reserve late last season.
With months to recover, Rielly was poised to get back to where he was two seasons ago, but with the Leafs current cap situation, I would say there are a couple of reasons Dubas should potentially look into trading the longest-tenured Leaf and his $5,000,000 cap hit if they are serious about going after Alex Pietrangelo during free agency on October 9th.