Three Possible Morgan Rielly Trades

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T. Tadi
August 7, 2021 (2:35 PM)

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[OC] Three Possible Morgan Rielly Trades

If we were to trade Rielly this offseason (assuming his extension ask has jumped to 8+), which teams might be interested in him, and what could a return look like? I'm looking at teams with a spot at LD for an offense-first guy in his prime. Rebuilding teams aren't interested as he doesn't fit their timeline, while teams with an established top LD don't have room for an expensive 2nd pair guy. This is likely a sign and trade, as the receiving team isn't trading for a rental with the hope that they can extend him, but instead a long term commitment to solidify their LD for the near future. Trading Rielly without an extension probably doesn't net us a whole lot, since leaving the extension to the receiving team poses some significant uncertainty.

Looking at recent defenseman trades as comparables, Jones + #32 went to Chicago in exchange for Boqvist (drafted 8th overall in 2018), #12, and #44. Rielly is not as highly regarded as Jones, so we likely don't get a 1st as well as a top prospect, but a high end prospect and a 2nd or 3rd shouldn't be out of the question when comparing to this trade. Feel free to massage the pick until you feel the value is right. Ristolainen went for a 1st, which is insane, and makes me think we should get three 1sts for Rielly. These teams are listed in order of how good the return is, of course.

Los Angeles Kings

They're trying to set up for another kick at the can for their big names, going out and acquiring Danault, Arvidsson, and Edler. However, with a left side depth of Edler, Maatta, and three ELCs, they could definitely use a bigger name. Rielly gives them two top pair guys to spread among the top two pairs and pushes Edler down to third pair. Rielly is probably happy to extend in LA, I mean it's fucking Los Angeles you know? Nice weather, anonymity when out in public.

For a return, I'm targeting one of their many great center prospects, probably Rasmus Kupari if Gabriel Vilardi is off the table (plus I heard he's more a winger now). We could use a real good center prospect, someone who can step into the third line spot in a few years (potentially moving up to 2C after JT rides off ~~into the sunset~~ to Blue Mountain), and Kupari would be a fine addition to our prospect pool. They probably feel they could deal one of their good center prospects because they now have Danault occupying a spot for six years.

Summary: **Rielly for Kupari + 1st or 2nd**

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Philadelphia Flyers

They have their #1D of now and the future in Ivan Provorov, and just acquired Ryan Ellis as well, but after those two it's a whole lot of question marks. Can Sanheim and Morin develop further? Will Risto bounce back? Acquiring Rielly gives them a great offensive blueliner who isn't quite as trash on defense as Risto, and lets them run pairs of Rielly - Ellis, Provorov - Risto.

In the return, a center prospect is a bit of a reach, since the Flyers don't have any high end center prospects. Frost would be a good addition but is likely too established at the NHL level to ask for him, but with Couturier, Laughton, Hayes, and perhaps Giroux (depending on which position he's playing, I thought he's moved to the wing but he took the most faceoffs on the Flyers this past season) ahead of him on the center depth chart, they might feel they could lose him and not be short of centers. To be fair, Couturier and Giroux only have one year left on their contracts, so the Flyers may not want to jettison their only good, young center.

Summary: **Rielly for Frost + 2nd or 3rd**

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Calgary Flames

This is a bit of a longer shot, as they have Hanifin signed for 3 more years and Valimaki and Kylington as young LD with good to great potential, as well as Zadorov who is likely penciled in on the left side for this season since Tanev and Andersson (remember when we all wished we could trade Kapanen for him?) have the right side locked down.

Return: it's going to have to include one of Kylington and Valimaki, and it might also include Zadorov. These are all pending RFAs, and bundling one of the first two with Zadorov likely adds up to just under or about the same as Rielly's 5M. A real spicy target would be Andrew Mangiapane, but we have a ton of forward depth now and wouldn't have room for him (or rather, we'd be kicking out another contributor). This could've been a good move to make before they traded for Zadorov (July 28) and we signed all of our depth (Mangiapane costs 75k less than Ritchie and would be a better player, though is only signed for this year). Valimaki is their #1D of the future, or so they hope, so I think asking for him is tough. Kylington is basically on the Dermott path, not progressing as fantastically as they would hope, so if he's in the trade instead of Valimaki, I also expect a 1st or 2nd.

This is the worst return of the three, hence this team is last. Kylington doesn't have high end potential, Zadorov is basically a one year rental to eat some minutes and hit some guys, so we hope the pick is high and we can get a real solid player in a deep draft.

Summary: **Rielly for Kylington + Zadorov + 1st or 2nd**

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Nashville Predators

Editing this in as reviewing the list of teams makes me think this could be as good of a fit as the Flames, or better. Ekholm has one year left so we'd be giving them a guy four years younger, otherwise the LD fit isn't there. One issue is I don't know what the Predators are trying to do. They just traded several good players with term remaining, indicating a possible rebuild. That could've also been moving guys they don't want to keep long term for picks, with the expansion draft as impetus. If they're trying to compete, do they want to hang on to Forsberg? He'd be a fun inclusion. At the very least, it's not hard to imagine a future defensive core of Josi - Fabbro, Rielly - Carrier.

Return: Ekholm will have to be included as a positional swap. If they don't want to commit to Ekholm, but do like Rielly, we get a guy who can still play this year and tide us over until Sandin is more ready. Cody Glass is off the table, since they just acquired him and need a future center once the dynamic one-two punch of Duchene - Johansen ~~is finally bought out~~ retires. Tomasino (2019 #24) is a good prospect who just put up 32 points in 29 AHL games, and he'd likely crack the lineup next season in his second ELC year. He's probably around Robertson's level, a future top six guy, plus he's from Mississauga!

Summary: **Rielly for Ekholm + Tomasino + 2nd or 3rd**

Closing Thoughts

In the end I wager we extend Rielly for just under 8M (before these other defensive signings, I would've guessed ~7M), the fanbase curses out Stan Bowman for the ridiculous precedent set, and then we move on, assuaged by the security that a locked down core provides. It's still fun to speculate as to what a potential trade package can look like, and if one of these comes to fruition, Dubas, my inbox is open for job offers.

Are there any other teams that make a good fit for a Rielly trade? I'd love to hear what everyone else thinks.

Credit: RedditNumberOneBuddy