Where will Morgan Rielly play next season?
The Toronto Maple Leafs are going through an entire organizational overhaul, as new general manager John Chayka has hired his head coach in Jim Hiller.
On Tuesday, Chayka made his first trade at the helm, sending out goalie Joseph Woll to Philadelphia in a deal that brought back defenseman Emil Andrae and a third-round pick, among other things.
Widely speculated to be next out of town is defenseman Morgan Rielly, who has spent his entire career in the blue and white after being selected in the first round of the 2012 NHL Draft.
On Thursday’s episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, host Tyler Yaremchuk and co-host and former NHL goaltender Carter Hutton discussed where Rielly could find himself playing next season if a trade comes along as most expect.
Tyler Yaremchuk: Couple more trade things… Our friend David Pagnotta with a fresh update over on the Fourth Period on the status of Morgan Rielly, Pagnotta connecting a couple of teams to the Leafs defenseman. He said the Anaheim Ducks are among the teams interested. San Jose, Pagnotta believes is a team that Rielly would be willing to wave his no-trade clause to go to. And he also pointed out once again that the Edmonton Oilers have been linked to him in the past. We saw the move yesterday the Leafs made, and it was in the name of creating roster and cap flexibility. And the expectation is that Morgan Rielly is going to be the next one who is sacrificed in the name of creating more of that flexibility. So your first fill-in-the-blank, Hutts, Morgan Rielly will be a blank next season?
Carter Hutton: In the Western Conference, I like the San Jose Sharks. I think there’s a maturity there with their back end and nobody, you know, I think his offensive upside, he can still play, but you could hide him maybe while you’re still going to get some younger talent to grow into it. And I think for him, he’d love the potential to go get out of the Canadian market and go somewhere where it’s a little bit off the beaten path. He can grow with a good, young, dynamic team. So I can see that happening for sure. And I think for Morgan Rielly, it’s kind of the end of an era for him, right? Because if he was to finish out his contract, he would end up being the most games played ever as a Toronto Maple Leaf. That’s an actual great number. He’s played a lot of games for the Toronto Maple Leafs, but it just goes to show you, I feel like his relationship in that market is still strong. So even if he does go on and leave, he’s going to be loved where you see other players leave as in Mitch Marner, the name. It’s all about the way you handle yourself. And I think he would be a great pro veteran to come into a younger team and just kind of ride out his career in that sense.
You can watch the full segment and the rest of the episode here…