Photo credit: Dan Hamilton-Imagn Images
Morgan Rielly sits atop the first 2026 offseason Trade Targets board, and the Maple Leafs’ direction under Craig Berube quietly tells you why.
That news landed this morning, just weeks after Toronto closed out an 82-game season nobody on Bay Street wants to relive.
The numbers are blunt. The Leafs finished 32-36-14, good for 28th overall, with a goal differential of -46 and a league-eyesore 299 goals against.
They lost seven straight to end the year. Their final game was a 1-3 loss at Ottawa. Their last 10 read 2-7-1.
Rielly’s personal sheet doesn’t help his case. He posted 11 goals and 25 assists over 78 games, sitting at a -18 with only one power play goal to show for it.
The trade-board placement also hits at the worst possible moment for his leverage. He turns 33 next season, and the new front office has openly said the Leafs’ back end needs an overhaul.
No-move clause hands Rielly the steering wheel
Here’s where this gets messy. Rielly carries a full no-move clause attached to a $7.5M cap hit, with term still on the deal.
That means Toronto can dangle him all summer. It does not mean he has to go anywhere.
Does a player who has lived 1,000-game-deep in one market really hand the keys to a rebuild he didn’t ask for? That’s the question hanging over this whole exercise.
His recent form muddies it further. Over his last five games, he managed one goal but went minus-3, a snapshot of why the public conversation around his skating has gotten louder.
The power play role is the other shoe. One power play goal in 78 games is not the production of a top-pair quarterback, and the Leafs went 18-15-8 at Scotiabank Arena trying to drag it back up.
And the road version was worse. A 14-21-6 mark away from home is the part of a season that decides whether a coach gets to keep building or starts auditioning new pieces.
A defenseman who can’t close gaps and can’t anchor the man advantage becomes a cap line item, not a centerpiece. That’s the cold math sitting in front of the Leafs right now.
The board is just a starting bell. What Rielly does with his no-move is the real story, and Toronto’s offseason can’t actually start until he answers.
Previously on Toronto Hockey Daily
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Maple Leafs star emerges as massive surprise on 2026 NHL trade board
Should Morgan Rielly waive his no-move clause to leave Toronto this summer?