Morgan Rielly's future with the Toronto Maple Leafs just got a lot more complicated this summer.
Rumors have swirled for months, and now the name attached to a possible exit is a real one. Steven Stamkos.
Rielly carries a $7,500,000 cap hit and is coming off a 36-point season, 11 goals and 25 assists in 78 games. He went minus-18.
Stamkos, at $8,000,000, just posted 42 goals and 24 assists for 66 points with the Nashville Predators.
The gap between those two salaries is $500,000. That's nothing in today's NHL, and it's exactly why this idea keeps getting floated around.
Toronto's top six needs an infusion badly. Auston Matthews put up 53 points in only 60 games, but the supporting cast around him has thinned out.
Slide Stamkos next to Matthews and you've got a completely different look up front, one built for right now instead of five years from now.
Nashville's asking price could sink the entire deal
On the back end, Rielly would land next to Roman Josi, who quietly racked up 55 points and 42 assists in 68 games this season.
Would Nashville actually hand over a proven scorer for a defenseman trending the wrong way? That's the real question here.
Barry Trotz doesn't hand out favors. If Toronto wants Stamkos, they're likely going to have to sweeten the pot beyond Rielly alone.
The two clubs split their season series, Toronto winning 7-4 at home in October before Nashville answered with a 5-3 win in December.
Toronto finished 32-36-14, good for 78 points and last place in their own division this year.
New head coach Jim Hiller, hired in June, inherits a group that went 2-7-1 down the stretch. He needs difference makers, not project pieces.
Nashville isn't exactly thriving either. The Predators finished 38-34-10, stumbling home on a two-game skid of their own.
Trading a rental-type veteran for a defenseman still owed real term sounds tidy on paper. It rarely plays out that clean in July.
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Betting on two proud franchises to agree on value, term, and fit before September is a stretch. Stranger things have happened around the Maple Leafs, though.
Should the Maple Leafs trade Morgan Rielly straight up for Steven Stamkos?
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