Is it time for a change of scenery for Toronto Maple Leafs Morgan Rielly?
Every day Faceoff: David Pagnotta, when asked if it’s time for a change of scenery for Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman Morgan Rielly. He’s got 4 years left on his contract at $7.5 million per, and is more of a second-pairing guy. There needs to be interest in Rielly and his contract with the salary cap going up.
** NHLRumors.com transcription
Irfaan Gafaar: “The larger query for me is that this, let me and let me ask you, do you’re thinking that it’s time for a change of scenery for Morgan Rielly and each the Morgan Rielly and the Toronto Maple Leafs?
Pagnotta: “Yeah, the short answer is, yes, I do. You recognize, they explored after the after the, after last season ended. Brad Treliving GM at time, spoke with Morgan Rielly about his future, what he desires to do, where his head’s at. He desired to have offseason. It appeared like he did. He got here to the Training Camp all gung ho and his teammates were impressed together with his conditioning. And it just didn’t translate on the ice.
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And I feel Morgan Rielly has shifted from a primary pair of defenseman to a second pair of defenseman. And prefer it’s 32, he’s got 4 more years on his contract after this season. Got a $7.5 million cap hit. Caps going up $104 million next season, 113.5 the 12 months after that, projected to be over 120, around 123, in three years. Seven and a half million dollar cap hit for a second-pair defenseman was going to log 16, 17, 18 minutes an evening. That’s pretty good. Solid value.
And there have been teams that poked around on Rielly through the season. Was a minimum of one team that had discussions with the Maple Leafs and Treliving on the time, the week of the trade deadline, to see if there was a possibility of creating something occur. I feel whoever is available in (A) goes to need to seek advice from Morgan Rielly, um, but have a, an honest conversation with Morgan Rielly. And with him owning a full no-movement clause, he’ll dictate his future.
And he was asked before their first home game, excuse me, their last home game on Monday. Is he treating it like his, potentially his last home game as a Leaf? And he said, ‘Look, I’m not gonna lie, back in my head it’s there. There’s that possibility you’re pondering of it. That’s pretty telling, because I feel he’s heard the noise all season. He knows concerning the conversation. He was a part of it last, last offseason.
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You recognize, I feel the leaves take a serious take a look at exploring this, whoever’s in charge. And I feel there shall be a number of interest in that player, since you’re not training for the player he was. You’re training for the player he’s now. And again, second pair guy logging about 18 minutes an evening at seven and a half million. There’s value there.
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