One disappointing season may have changed everything for Morgan Rielly

Morgan Rielly anchored the Toronto Maple Leafs defense for more than a decade, enduring early rebuilding years before becoming a key offensive force as Toronto returned to contender status. His play began to regress in the previous season, and the decline continued into the most recent year. In 78 games, he recorded 11 goals and 36 total points, marking a second straight year of declining totals. His plus/minus fell to -18, his worst since 2016-17, and his average ice time dropped to just over 21 minutes per night, the lowest since 2014-15. Even as the power-play quarterback, he produced only six power-play points, his second-lowest career total, leaving questions about his role and future with the team.

"Morgan Rielly had been the main backbone of the Toronto Maple Leafs defense for more than the past decade. Rielly went through the pain in the early rebuilding years with the Maple Leafs before rising to stardom as Toronto ascended back into contender status. In doing so, he had been the main offensive force for the Leafs from the back end, up until probably now."

"Rielly saw Brandon Carlo and Oliver Ekman-Larsson as his most frequent defensive partner during the 2025-26 season. With the breadth of steady experience from Carlo or Ekman-Larsson, one would have expected Rielly to be able to run more freely on the offense while his partner could take care of the more defensive duties. But that didn't turn out to be the case."

"Last season, Rielly managed to record 11 goals, which was actually his second-highest goal output of his NHL career. However, with just 36 total points produced over 78 games played with the Leafs, it marked the second straight year where his totals have declined from the previous season. A more worrisome statistic though was his -18, which was his worst mark since 2016-17 when he registered a -20 for his plus/minus."

"From an offensive standpoint, at least Rielly still produced at a typical NHL defenseman pace. However, as the Maple Leafs' main quarterback on the power play, his six points all season with the man advantage represented his second worst mark of his career, leaving a lot to be desired. But from a defensive standpoint, it had"

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