Is Morgan Rielly Still a Maple Leafs Trade Candidate?

Morgan Rielly is still a Toronto Maple Leafs player, and for now, that probably makes sense. Toronto couldn't find a trade partner for him during the offseason, and there is a pretty simple reason the Maple Leafs can't just move him for the sake of moving him. Rielly plays big minutes. Whatever fans think about his game, somebody has to take those minutes if he's gone.

That's what makes his situation interesting. In the most recent NHL Trade Talk: The Podcast - Episode 32, the panel discussed the Rielly situation. As they noted, there are still people around the NHL who believe Rielly will eventually be traded. Maybe not tomorrow. Maybe not before the season. But if the Maple Leafs aren't happy with how things are going, his name could come up again around the trade deadline.

And that might actually make some sense for the Maple Leafs.

Rielly is 32, carries a $7.5 million cap hit and has been around Toronto long enough that everyone knows what they're getting. He can move the puck, play big minutes and help run the power play. But there have also been stretches when a change of scenery might be good for both the player and the team.

The interesting comparison is Darnell Nurse in Edmonton. Sometimes a team simply reaches the point where it needs to try something different. For now, Rielly is going to get that chance in Toronto. His chemistry with the new addition, Darren Raddysh, could be particularly important. If the defence works well, suddenly the Maple Leafs may have less reason to consider moving him.

If it doesn't? Well, that's when things could get interesting.

Could one destination for Rielly be Pittsburgh?

Kyle Dubas knows Rielly extremely well, and the Penguins don't have a lot of left-handed defencemen. They also have roughly $11 million in projected cap space, which means Rielly's $7.5 million contract isn't impossible to fit.

Pittsburgh is also still trying to win while Sidney Crosby is there. If Dubas believes Rielly can help, this is the kind of move that could make some sense. Toronto might not even need a huge return. The cap relief could be the attraction.

There's also the possibility of Rielly becoming part of a much bigger trade. Anaheim has been mentioned as a potential destination, and something involving Rielly and Cutter Gauthier would certainly get people's attention. Of course, the money would make that much more complicated, and Toronto would still have to replace Rielly's minutes.

That's why the Maple Leafs probably aren't in a hurry as far as Rielly goes.

For now, Rielly stays. He could play the entire season in Toronto. He could also become a trade-deadline candidate if the season doesn't go as planned.

And there's one other thing worth remembering: $7.5 million doesn't look nearly as expensive as it once did. NHL salaries have gone up.

So maybe Rielly isn't a problem Toronto needs to solve after all. Maybe the new season simply gives the Leafs a chance to see what he looks like on a different version of this team. If it works, great. If it doesn't, there should still be a market for Morgan Rielly.