TSN: Darren Dreger on TSN 1050 radio when asked about Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman Morgan Rielly and his contract situation. He’s entering the final year of his contact.
“There might be conversations, in fact, I’m sure there would be between J.P. Barry the agent and Kyle Dubas at varying points of this season. I like what Morgan did in his media availability where he just dropped the hammer and said ‘Guys, I’m not talking about this. I going to leave it to J.P. I’m going to leave it to Kyle and they’re going to deal with it.’
I think that that is healthy for everyone, including the media. We can guess what the parameters are. You know of course. Morgan Rielly is going to have a decision to make. The Toronto Maple Leafs don’t have an abundance of space, and they’re not going to have an abundance of cap space even next year.
Can they be creative? Yeah Of course they can but I think there are a number of factors that you have to consider. Who’s developing and all of that.
Should Morgan Rielly take again that quote/unquote hometown discount? Well, I don’t know that he should. He’s been a real good Toronto Maple Leaf but I also know that he loves Toronto, and like a lot of players before him, he wants to play out his days with the Toronto Maple Leafs, but he’s also earned his position from a business perspective. I don’t think that the dollars are going to be as significant as maybe they were this offseason with some of the guys that signed but I can’t be sure of that.
So, I’m hesitant to throw out numbers but, I mean, it’s gotta, if we’re speculating today it’s gotta be north of eight, right? So that one is going to be interesting to watch and unfold, and north of eight would be a hometown discount.”
