Why Morgan Rielly still sees a future with the Maple Leafs: 'Loyalty'

AtlanticBruinsCanadiensLightningMaple LeafsPanthersRed WingsSabresSenatorsMetropolitanBlue JacketsCapitalsDevilsFlyersHurricanesIslandersPenguinsRangersCentralAvalancheBlackhawksBluesJetsMammothPredatorsStarsWildPacificCanucksDucksFlamesGolden KnightsKingsKrakenOilersSharksScores & ScheduleStandingsPodcastsFantasyNHL OddsNHL PicksPlayoff projectionsNHL Draft rankingRed Light NewsletterNHL Regular Morgan Rielly has four more seasons left on an eight-year deal with a $7.5 million AAV. Chris Tanouye / Getty Images Share full articleTORONTO — One of the worst years of Morgan Rielly’s career is coming to an end, but the longest-serving Maple Leaf still does not doubt where he wants to be next season. “My desire to stay in Toronto is always going to be there,” Rielly said in a rare one-on-one interview about his future in Toronto. “There’s a number of (reasons), but a big one is loyalty. Loyalty to the team that drafted you, I think that’s a powerful thing.” With just four games remaining this season and the Leafs eliminated from postseason contention for the first time since 2017, Rielly’s future with the Leafs has come into question. Rielly has four more seasons left on an eight-year deal with a $7.5 million AAV. He is a respected and influential voice within the Leafs, having first suited up in blue and white in 2013. At his best, he’s a productive puck mover: Rielly is on pace to finish with the fourth-highest five-on-five points per 60 minutes this season (1.19) of his 13-season career. However, Rielly has also been exposed defensively throughout this season. Only one player in the NHL has been on the ice for more five-on-five goals against than Rielly (75), according to Natural Stat Trick. Rielly’s season and the impending changes coming to Toronto’s management this offseason have put his future in Toronto in the crosshairs. He answered questions about his future for the first time this week in an interview. If the new Leafs management group asked Rielly to waive his full no-movement clause, what would he say? At first, Rielly says he’s not prepared to answer the question right now. Yet he does have thoughts on the topic because he’s thought about it before. “You know it’s a possibility,” Rielly, 32, admits. Rielly has said he is not tuned in to the conversations on social media regarding his future. But he’s also not impervious to concern about, well, his future. He’s been in the NHL long enough to know how veterans are looked at when the words “rebuild” and “retool” are bandied about. Which is why he answers questions about the topic with evident emotion. He is stern at times when discussing the future, and revealing at other times. “Obviously, that’s a thing that as a player, you have to prepare for,” Rielly said of possibly being asked to waive his NMC. Ahead of the trade deadline, Rielly said he had not been approached this season to waive his NMC. “This isn’t the first time it’s crossed my mind,” Rielly said on Tuesday. “You think about that at the end of every year, almost.” Rielly said he’s learned from the past, when, even as on his entry-level deal, he thought “anything can happen.” “When I was a young player, I wouldn’t have expected the older guys to be thinking about that, but they were at that time,” he said. Rielly knows difficult conversations could be on the horizon. Because this season ranks “near the top” of the most difficult seasons he’s ever been through. Don’t forget, he played through the 2014-15 Leafs season, one of the worst seasons in the modern Leafs era. Jerseys were thrown on the ice. The team’s 13-year sellout streak ended. The coach was fired. Hope seemed lost. But a young Rielly was crucial to the future. “Different, but still difficult,” Rielly said, comparing the two seasons. So uncertainty now hangs over Rielly in a new way. “It’s uncertain for everyone. Especially when you work for a guy in (recently-fired Leafs general manager Brad Treliving) for a few years,” Rielly said, before pausing. “It’s hard.” Every question surrounding the Leafs’ future affects Rielly: Who will be the general manager making roster decisions? What will the Leafs’ organizational philosophy be? Will they be aiming to contend again after a roster retool? Or will they take a step back in a rebuild? And will Craig Berube return as Leafs head coach? It’s hard not to wonder how Rielly would play under a different head coach. Perhaps one who might see the offensively gifted defender play to his strengths. Rielly has struggled in Berube’s defensively focused system. “It’s been up and down,” Rielly said of his season, “which as a player, you want to be consistent and try not to have that. I’d want to be more consistent than I have been. There’s been challenges, whether it’s the team or individuals, all year. And that’s what you want to avoid.” Is he thinking about what he wants to do next season? Rielly’s tone perks up. He answers the question before it’s finished. “Always,” he said. “Even early on at the end of the offseason, you’re thinking about what you might change moving forward or what you may change next summer, things like that.” So what must change for the Leafs in the future? “I’m not sure,” Rielly said, some sadness in his voice. He knows he needs to further contemplate where it went wrong. “It’s a complex thing that we all spend time thinking about,” Rielly said. “But, to a degree, you have to focus on yourself, too.” It’s still fresh for Rielly: no playoffs and a lost Leafs season. A trying season for him that began with a renewed sense of purpose but ended with new lows. Rielly was on the ice when Anaheim Ducks defenceman Radko Gudas kneed Auston Matthews, ending the Leafs captain’s season. The lack of physical response from Rielly, along with the rest of the Leafs on the ice, was startling. It was startling in that Rielly had stuck up for the Leafs before: after Ottawa Senators forward Ridly Greig fired a slap shot into an empty Leafs net in 2024, Rielly cross-checked Greig in the head. You would be hard-pressed to find many Leafs who debated Rielly’s actions in the moment. Yet, now, he will be one of the most-debated Leafs. He is still popular among the fan base. After our conversation, every Leaf was available for photographs and autographs on multiple practice rinks with Leafs fans during the team’s annual Easter Seals skate. The lineup to interact with Rielly was longer than any other Leaf on his rink. Popularity might not matter to the new Leafs general manager. That new GM could ask Rielly to waive his NMC for a roster change. What reason does Rielly have to do that? He has a young family in Toronto. Rielly has earned his NMC. He wants to be part of the solution. The idea that the Leafs could force Rielly to waive his NMC by putting him in the press box is also questionable. Rielly’s cap hit is too large not to be utilized on the ice, and he has proven he can be an effective offensive defenceman in the right structure. Buying out Rielly would keep his cap hit on the team’s books for the next eight seasons: $3.5 million for the first four and then $2 million for the four seasons afterward. Hardly a prudent move, financially. Losing Rielly would mean losing an important voice in the dressing room. If the Leafs get younger, the need for guiding presences remains. It was Rielly who took former Leafs rookie Fraser Minten under his wing, having him over for dinner and lending him an ear as Minten learned the ropes in the NHL. That’s a role he still wants to have. “You want to be able to stick together,” Rielly said of the team behind the scenes this year. “There’s times where there are uncomfortable conversations or hard conversations in here, but I think that they get handled well by both the people hearing it and the people delivering the message as well. I think there’s just an element of respect.” We’ll see whether the Leafs and Rielly will indeed stick together as an offseason of change soon begins. I asked Rielly what gives him confidence that the same kind of conversation won’t be happening a year from now. “That’s a possibility,” he admitted. “Once doubt starts to creep in, it can be challenging to deal with,” Rielly continued. “But you have to do everything you can to keep the outlook that you believe in yourself, and you’re going to do the work necessary to continue to perform.” Rielly ends by saying — with renewed resolve — that his belief has not wavered. Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms Joshua Kloke is a staff writer who has covered the Maple Leafs and Canadian soccer for The Athletic since 2016. Previously, he was a freelance writer for various publications, including Sports Illustrated. Follow Joshua on Twitter @joshuakloke