Photo credit: Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images
When St. Louis Blues captain Brayden Schenn was traded to the New York Islanders, it showed that even the longest-tenured players could be on the move depending on the situation and that’s bad news for Morgan Rielly.
Now in Long Island, Schenn has a much better chance of making the playoffs and is looking forward to his new team, although he was a bit disheartened to leave St. Louis.
Brayden Schenn was asked twice to waive and that tells you everything
Speaking to reporters ahead of New York’s game vs. St. Louis, Schenn described the move as something that was the nature of the business, and that after two years of being asked — the writing was on the wall:
Well, when (the Blues) ask you two times two years in a row, that’s when it makes sense.
At some point, the organization doesn’t see you as part of the picture, and other teams want you, and it’s good to be wanted. They’re going in a different direction, and that’s the reality of it.
Morgan Rielly is headed towards the same conversation with the Maple Leafs
While you have to admire the loyalty and leadership Rielly brings to Toronto, the on-ice product has been a different story.
He sounds like a player who is slowly realizing the reality of the situation, and his pre-game comments ahead of Tuesday’s clash vs. Montreal tells you all you need to know:
We’ve all done some reflecting and we all want to be better. I think that’s what everyone’s feeling, myself included.
Steadily declining offensively, getting slower, and becoming even more of a defensive liability means that his time is running out.
He’s only got 32 points in 61 games, not to mention an unsightly minus-16 rating and is one the ice for nearly four goals per game on average (3.9 OiGA/60).
All of that for $7.5-million over the next five years. If Rielly gets any worse, you’re looking at arguably one of the worst contracts in the entire league and something Toronto won’t be able to move.
But Schenn is accomplished and it’s clear that New York was willing to pay a heavy price to acquire him but hard to see a team doing the same for Rielly.
When he says ‘it feels good to be wanted’ you can’t argue that’s a huge part of where a player decides to go.
Why waiving a no-move clause is the hardest decision a player can make
It’s looking more and more like Rielly isn’t going to be wanted by management, and especially not the fans, at least from an on-ice standpoint, and he might be willing to open up his options to teams who’d like him.
Rielly is fully protected, so he has leverage and control over where he wants to go, but if Toronto lowers his ice-time, and increasingly tries to move on; at what point does he risk losing that protection for a bigger chance?
Maybe Rielly figures things out next season, comes back as a stronger offensive player and manages to help elevate Toronto back to the playoffs.
But if he declines yet again, and he may need to accept the fact that Toronto was home for 13 years, and it’s time to move elsewhere.
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