Rielly Stays a Leaf: 'This Is My Home'
After a summer of trade lists and speculation, Morgan Rielly opens his 14th season in Toronto with a new coach and a clean slate.
Morgan Rielly is still a Maple Leaf, and on Monday he told reporters he is glad about it.
"I'm extremely happy and grateful to be here now. This is my home," Rielly said, speaking publicly for the first time since camp opened last week. "This is the team that I love and I would do anything for."
The context is a summer nobody in Toronto enjoyed. The Leafs finished fifth-worst in the league and missed the playoffs for the first time in a decade. Rielly was on the ice for 92 even-strength goals against, worst in the Eastern Conference, on a team that allowed a conference-worst 218 at evens. His 36 points were his lowest total in a full 82-game season since 2016-17.
His camp did explore an exit. Agent J.P. Barry submitted a list of four Western teams for which Rielly would consider waiving his no-move clause. Nothing materialized. San Jose, the most obvious destination, spent its money on Darnell Nurse and Jacob Trouba instead, while Edmonton and Anaheim ran short of cap room. Rielly, for his part, never asked out.
Now he starts his 14th season in Toronto under a new coach, Jim Hiller, who ran the Leafs power play from 2015 to 2019 and began meeting with Rielly in July.
"I can just see him lighter, smiling, happier, ready to go," Hiller said. "I do understand the narrative that people got down on Morgan. I don't see it. I'm giving him a clean slate."
The deployment plan is the tell. Hiller intends to pair Rielly with incoming power play quarterback Darren Raddysh and hand them offensive zone starts alongside the top-six forwards, while Chris Tanev and Jake McCabe absorb the heavier defensive work.
"I think we were both hoping to play with each other," Rielly said of Raddysh. "I think there's an opportunity there for us to be great."
He missed Saturday's pre-season game after something turned up in bloodwork, which he described as a virus he did not know he had. The club kept him out of contact for a couple of days. Rielly said he hopes to play Wednesday against Ottawa.
"Vibes are high," he said. "Guys are having fun, and I think pace has been good."
