The Toronto Maple Leafs didn’t enter this season with the best defensive depth.
They also entered this season with speculation about whether Morgan Rielly could be a trade candidate.
Those things sort of work opposite of each other — trading Rielly wouldn’t help the depth on the blue line, but Rielly’s play isn’t necessarily at the top notch that the Leafs would want from one of their best defensemen.
Under the radar, though, Rielly has actually been better of late:
It’s been quite the quiet turnaround for Morgan Rielly as of late, as he seems to be hitting his stride once again. Rielly currently has 12 assists in 17 games this season, with 8 of those being primary assists and 11 even-strength points, which ranks him tied for 6th among all defencemen in that category
On the other side of the game, Rielly appears to be much more comfortable defensively, getting minutes on the second pairing, with a +6 plus/minus over his last 7 games
Mo has always been a level-headed guy who’s said the right things. Nice to see it start to pay off and regain his confidence 👊💙
#leafs
— Leafslatest (@Leafslatest) November 6, 2026
Regardless, that’s all moot on Saturday night.
The Maple Leafs will just be hoping that Rielly is OK so they can figure out whatever has to come next.
Right now, he’s injured.
What Happened to Morgan Rielly?
Morgan Rielly left Saturday night’s game with an injury.
He was eventually ruled out with a lower-body injury.
Morgan Rielly (lower body) will not return to tonight’s game, per @LeafsPR
@TSN_Sports
— Mark Masters (@markhmasters) November 8, 2026
Rielly played 5:45 before being ruled out.
On his last shift, he was spotted heading down the tunnel to the locker room after leaving the ice, but it wasn’t immediately clear what had happened while he was out there to get hurt.
All that was known for sure was that the Maple Leafs put out an official post on their social media channels ruling Rielly out.
Morgan Rielly Injury History
Rielly missed one game midway through last season due to a lower-body injury that initially had him termed “day-to-day.”
The problem with hockey injury tracking is there’s basically no way to know if one injury is like a past one or not.
With Rielly, Leafs fans will wait to hear more after the game or in the days ahead before making any great judgments about what might come next.
Maple Leafs’ Morgan Rielly Injury Update Isn’t Good News