It's been a crazy week leading up to the 2026 NHL Entry Draft across the league, with several high profile trades being completed seemingly out of nowhere. Now, we could have another, and it could involve the Toronto Maple Leafs and their longest-tenured player, Morgan Rielly.
Rielly has been with the club since being drafted 5th overall back in 2012, and has skated in 951 career regular season games in a Maple Leafs sweater, amassing 98 goals and 548 points across 13 seasons. He has also racked up 47 points across 70 playoff games in his career. Now, it appears as though Rielly is set to begin a new chapter in his NHL career.
Maple Leafs to send Morgan Rielly West?
On Tuesday evening, after much speculation since the end of the 2025-26 season, TSN's Darren Dreger has finally reported that Rielly's agent, J.P. Barry, has given the Maple Leafs the green light to move his client. Rielly has agreed to waive his NMC to head West, identifying four teams he'd be willing to accept a trade to, per Dreger's report.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Morgan Rielly’s agent J.P Barry has submitted a list of 4 Western based teams Rielly is willing to go to. This will be a team by team assessment and depending on the fit, there could be some flexibility to add teams to the list.</p>— Darren Dreger (@DarrenDreger) <a href="https://x.com/DarrenDreger/status/2069601382336700680?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 24, 2026</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.x.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Dreger did not specify which teams were in the running, but you'd have to imagine that the Vancouver, B.C. native has either Vancouver or Seattle on that list.
Morgan Rielly's dip in production could be worrisome for interested teams
In terms of what the Maple Leafs will be able to get for Rielly, that's also another question with a likely complicated answer. Rielly is 32 years of age and is still locked in through 2029-30 at $7.5M per season. With a growing salary cap, his cap hit might not be the biggest issue, though. His steady decline, though, might make it difficult to move him without some form of salary retention.
Rielly has seen his point totals slip in each of his last three seasons. After amassing 58 points in 72 games in 2023-24, Rielly posted just 41 points in 82 games in 2024-25 before seeing his production dip to 36 points in 78 games last season. He was also a dreadful -18 last season.
With just two days left until the draft, it's likely that we'll see the Leafs ramp up their efforts to move Rielly, especially because bringing back a pick or multiple picks in this year's draft is probably one of new GM John Chayka's goals.
When Rielly finally does move, it will be the end of an era in Toronto. It may also be bittersweet, as Rielly's best days may be behind him, but he was also one of the few guys who really put the team first and was willing to sacrifice and stick up for his teammates on any given night.
Still, with winning being the ultimate goal, anything the team can do to alter the mix at this point and try to get this things pointed in the right direction will be a welcomed change.