The Toronto Maple Leafs are on the verge of letting Morgan Rielly start the season on a lame-duck contract.
The reasons for keeping Rielly on the team need little explaining, but for the uninitiated here are just a handful:First and foremost, he is the Toronto Maple Leafs best overall defenseman. Just last season he had 35 points in 55 games which was eight more than the next closest defenseman with 27. Those 35 points had him 5th in the team behind the ‘Core Four’.
Furthermore, he is a minute monster in Toronto, and Sheldon Keefe trusts him; he led the team on Time on Ice by a whopping 65 minutes 12 seconds during the regular season and was the only Toronto Maple Leafs player to average over 23 minutes a game.