Confirmed with Link: Rielly signs 8 year extension - 7.5M AAV

[ToneDog]

Leaving this signing 'til the deadline would have been the better move IMO.

Perhaps. Kyper was of the opinion that if you knew Morgan wanted to be here there was no need to rush it so you can see what you have. He was suggesting waiting until January. You could have waited longer but at some point you risk Morgan changing his mind and saying he wants to test the market.

 

[geo25]

REILLY aint worth that money on an 8 year deal. Terrible defensively, muffin shot, soft as butter, million dollar legs & 10 cent brain. Another nail in the Leafs coffin. When you dont learn from History you're doomed to repeat it. We need new mgmt starting from the President on down. IF, And a big IF, we make the playoffs, this team will not win a round......I'm retired and miss the teams of the 60's~90's...they were likeable, had an identity and were proud of the uniform. Today's team pales in comparison...

And, like another poster stares 60% of the cap on 5 players! I though we were trying to move "away" from the core...

 

[hockeynorth]

We dud not underpayment Reilly. He is over rated. Not worth 7.5m.
But as I said, it is made worse as a result of other miss steps, now we cannot get an elite dman.
Point is an elite dman at 9 plus Reilly at 6 would be reasonable.
We are screwed now.

Rielly is a pretty solid low end #1, there are less than a handful of dmen better than him paid less. The problem is the forward contracts I fully agree, but you cannot tarnish a player who just took less than market value to help this team. This is like the Tavares slander, both took considerably less than they would get on the open market.

 

[hockeynorth]

Perhaps. Kyper was of the opinion that if you knew Morgan wanted to be here there was no need to rush it so you can see what you have. He was suggesting waiting until January. You could have waited longer but at some point you risk Morgan changing his mind and saying he wants to test the market.

I don’t often agree with ToneDog, but this is correct. Why potentially piss off a team leader, and one of what… three? guys who routinely show up in the playoffs.

 

[justashadowof]

I'm at a loss finding a defenseman with the same leverage of unrestricted free agency getting a better value deal than this. And even if there's one or two examples of better deals, it's not some crazy outlier.

 

[Leafidelity]

Keep him or trade him, you wont find another UFA defenseman able to play as high in a lineup for 7.5mil

I dont think hes part of the problem so Im more than fine with this.

 

[Nylander88]

If Muzzin can get his head out of his....
Then Rielly, Brodie, Muzzin is a very solid top 3 D to have going forward for the next few years. Holl is looking likely to be moved at this rate if he doesn't make some real changes, and then we need to pick 2 of Dermott, Sandin, Liljegren imo to move forward with. Think one of those spots needs to go to a Bogosian type of defenceman, but that's just my thoughts

 

[Leafsfan74]

I'm at a loss finding a defenseman with the same leverage of unrestricted free agency getting a better value deal than this. And even if there's one or two examples of better deals, it's not some crazy outlier.

You worded it in a way in which I am not sure exactly, but I think you are suggesting Leafs received a good deal. If so, I agree.

The Market has spoken. Hamilton received more than I expected. Jones is overpaid IMO. GMs have wisely realized that defense wins championships (as it often has). A veteran D-man, who is a respected leader, rarely injured and a team player who takes on tough assignments as Reilly does would have received at least $8-8.5M on a 6 or 7 year deal.

The one fact I will point out is that there will soon be many other teams in the same tight cap situation the Leafs are in. They had better all hope the Cap increases.

The Cap will always be a burden for a team like the Leafs, which is why their ownership was adamantly against it when it was agreed to t the time.

 

[Cor]

I don't think you can move on from Mitch unless you have guarantees that Matthews is going to re-up, and I don't think we have those.

Im not sure where this concern comes from. Matthews wanted to sign for max term.

There’s zero reason to believe Matthews has any desire to leave

 

[The Best Leafs Ever]

Superb deal.

 

[Gary Nylund]

Im not sure where this concern comes from. Matthews wanted to sign for max term.

There’s zero reason to believe Matthews has any desire to leave

Maybe not. On the other hand, another playoff failure or two and a fresh start in another market may seem quite attractive.

 

[Nylanderthal]

The market wasn't set yet. Hamilton and others received more than expected. Nor was I convinced that this teams core should/would return in its entirety.

Oh so this all just imaginary and in your head with no basis in reality. Word.

 

[Blowfish]

What really could’ve been done different? This team has 5 players that are more or less worth big contracts. Maybe they are cumulatively overpaid by about 3mill, but having too many good players that needed to be paid was a weird problem to have.

The only option to change direction then, is the same opportunity available now, to trade one of them.

Tavares was the mistake...this has been discussed ad nauseam. The other issue is gaging the team make up and unfortunately the top 3 paid are missing something. Will? Fortitude? Something like that. The GM failed to recognize this long ago and missed the opportunity to trade one of the big 3. It's to late for that now.

This team doesn't play as a team. The combination of players is horrible.

 

[Niagara Bill]

Rielly is a pretty solid low end #1, there are less than a handful of dmen better than him paid less. The problem is the forward contracts I fully agree, but you cannot tarnish a player who just took less than market value to help this team. This is like the Tavares slander, both took considerably less than they would get on the open market.

Not slander, reality. Reilly would not be #1 d on half the teams. If we want to win we are kidding ourselves if he can do it for us. Pay him 6-7, elite dman at 9, ditch JT or Marner 10+ and we have a better team.
For now we are skimped. No tough defensive dman, no hard shooter, no blaster for pp, nobody to protect Campbell,

 

[geo25]

No I don't. Defencemen are supposed to defend. He doesn't. I would not rely on the defence to score....that's why we have the bid 4 isn't it? I'd use that money to go out and 2 DEFENCE-men first, tough as nails players.
Problem with our GM is he wants & tries his utmost to be the player's friend. He should be their boss & care about the team first. Signing & not trading Reilly was another obvious sign he is in wayyyyy over his head. Hey, just my opinion as a 50+ year fan who has seen more Leafs teams than most on this board.

 

[hockeynorth]

Not slander, reality. Reilly would not be #1 d on half the teams. If we want to win we are kidding ourselves if he can do it for us. Pay him 6-7, elite dman at 9, ditch JT or Marner 10+ and we have a better team.
For now we are skimped. No tough defensive dman, no hard shooter, no blaster for pp, nobody to protect Campbell,

So if he wouldn’t be 1D on half the teams, does that not make him the 1D on the other half?

 

[Gary Nylund]

So if he wouldn’t be 1D on half the teams, does that not make him the 1D on the other half?

That's what I was thinking too.

 

[Cor]

Maybe not. On the other hand, another playoff failure or two and a fresh start in another market may seem quite attractive.

Irregardless of baseless assumptions or theories, if Matthews were to leave, via free agency or by being traded the summer prior, do we think Mitch Marner will suddenly save us?

What we do with Mitch Marner in the next 9 months should have zero consideration with Matthews feelings.

Heck, we already walked away from his best friend that he had on the team. That should be proof enough.

 

[Gary Nylund]

Irregardless of baseless assumptions or theories, if Matthews were to leave, via free agency or by being traded the summer prior, do we think Mitch Marner will suddenly save us?

What we do with Mitch Marner in the next 9 months should have zero consideration with Matthews feelings.

Heck, we already walked away from his best friend that he had on the team. That should be proof enough.

Oh I agree, if Matthews leaves Marner won't save us. I believe the theory was that if we want Matthews to stay, then we better keep Marner as those two are buddies. Not sure that's true or not but I think that was the reasoning anyway. I agree with you though, we can't cater to Mathews like he's Lebron or something and you're right, we already did walk away from Andersen. My thinking in the summer was trade Marner first, and then try to get a read on Matthews by next summer at the latest and then, if we couldn't count on him staying trade him as well.

 

[GardinerTheForward]

Rielly losing his legs tho. Gaining speed/crossing over when going backward seems to be his downfall

Could be a fine contract if we only had 1 other big contract but we just don’t have space for depth and this worsens the problem. I rather would have liked to see a trade of 11M+ and trade rielly too. then retool

 

[ULF_55]

Would like a better top paid defender, but this is okay.

Leafs really need Sandin and one of Liljegren, Kokkonen, Niemela to move into the top 4.

 

[yubbers]

I like Rielly but the problem is it’s the same thing (core) that has been failing. Now just making more money. If something up front is changing ok, if not…we’ll, same thing.

Here's my hypothesis.....

Morgan had a career year with Hainsey. It gave him the confidence to roam a bit more and utilize his offensive game. Which I think has always been his strength. That seems to be gone. When you go from Hainsey to Ceci it's understandable. And he's just awful on the PP. I really hoped he was gonna put in the work to improve his shot but that doesn't seem to be the case.

In short.... He's not being utilized properly by not securing him a stable partner. Hopefully Sandin or Lily can fill that role.

Morgan also really seemed to be shining with Babcock. I think him and Lou understood what I was speaking about above. He's better suited for that type of team culture imo. More formal and disciplined. He's your quintessential gud pro.

It's hard to be mad because again...I like Reilz and the contract is not the worst. Like your said.... Something has to change though. And culture is the biggest problem. I've been screaming for their heads for 2 years now. It's agony watching them piss away AM years

 

[diceman934]

I'm sorry, I still don't understand your math.

Are you thinking we could move Rielly's $5M for no cap return and not sign Mrazek in order to find the $9M for Hamilton?

It's nice on paper, but I question it's realism. (plus we still would need a 2nd goalie)

Hamilton is a dressing room cancer traded to many times. He drags down every team he has been on.

 

[francis246]

Im not sure where this concern comes from. Matthews wanted to sign for max term.

There’s zero reason to believe Matthews has any desire to leave

I agree, Matthews comments on the Rielly contract makes me believe that he will likely resign. I’m getting the sense that group wants to win together.

 

[Cor]

I agree, Matthews comments on the Rielly contract makes me believe that he will likely resign. I’m getting the sense that group wants to win together.

They are running out of time.

No improvement this year and they’ll probably have a new coach, GM, and maybe President, and the new persons first task will likely to be trading one of them