Morgan Rielly isn’t having a great season. That much is clear. Where the conversation goes from there remains to be seen. Is it that Rielly just doesn’t fit in Craig Berube’s system? This seems unlikely given that Berube leaned heavily on players like Torey Krug, Justin Faulk, and other offensive puck movers during his time in St. Louis. Berube’s defence with the Blues was never a strength after Alex Pietrangelo left, but the point remains that puck movers as his primary blueliners aren’t new to him.

There have been partner issues too. Jani Hakanpaa hasn’t played, Philippe Myers should be seventh or eighth on the depth chart, not regularly seeing time with Rielly, and there have been inconsistencies in Oliver Ekman-Larsson’s game that make it difficult for Rielly to work through his similar issues as a partner.

There’s also the matter of putting Rielly on the ice with Max Domi playing centre. Having someone up the middle who doesn’t allow for Rielly to play his riverboat gambler style of defence is going to hurt the Leafs and it has been showing.

Last month I took a look at Morgan Rielly’s struggles this season and unfortunately, a month later the issues still ring true. It is becoming clearer that the Leafs could still benefit from one more top-four capable defenceman on their roster. Additionally, you could also make a case for letting Morgan Rielly play more like Morgan Rielly and push harder to shelter him defensively.

What seems to be the growing argument is that Rielly’s time in Toronto should be up. And that he needs a change of scenery. This isn’t the first or last time that argument has been made on Rielly and comes up with about the same frequency as suggesting Rielly play forward, but with the Leafs under new management, it seems at least worth entertaining the idea and why it isn’t ideal at the moment and probably shouldn’t be in the long term either.

The arguments for keeping Rielly are pretty simple. At $7.5M AAV, Rielly is a reasonable cost for what Toronto is getting, and replacing him will be a lot more expensive than keeping him around. Throw in the fact that one of the Leafs’ biggest challenges at the moment is offence from their backend, ridding themselves of another puck mover isn’t the right call, and while loyalty can often be determinantal in professional sports, having some loyalty to the longest serving Leaf and one of their strongest leaders is reasonable when coupled with the other factors.

At the very least, Rielly sticking around for the season and getting one last chance in the playoffs with the long-time core is probably his preference and likely what is going to happen anyway. There could just as easily be tough decisions coming on Mitch Marner and John Tavares depending on Toronto’s playoff fate.

The offseason changes everything. At this point, Brad Treliving will have seen two seasons of the Leafs and one under Craig Berube, presumably his long-term option behind the bench. If Craig Berube isn’t getting what he needs out of Rielly and Berube isn’t going anywhere, the discussion needs to shift to where he’ll be happy, if not Toronto.

It’s also worth appreciating that Morgan Rielly has a full no-movement clause and while there is nothing wrong with his $7.5M AAV cap hit, it doesn’t lend itself to much flexibility.

Waiting until the offseason prevents the Leafs’ blueline from getting worse and there are still options that can be explored in the coming months. The McCabe and Tanev pairing taking the heavy minutes was a step in the right direction and bringing in a new defenceman that could play with either Ekman-Larsson or Rielly on the second pairing adds depth and skill the team can benefit from.

There is also a benefit from moving Max Domi away from centre and the Leafs playing an improved team defence game on all lines. Rielly’s goals against/60 is 3.05 with Matthews on the ice (would include playing against the toughest competition) but it jumps to 3.78 with Domi playing. Rielly has outright thrived in situations with John Tavares only having a 0.96 GA/60. Usage matters.

Rielly can be better, but it’s not entirely on him. He needs to be put in situations where he can be successful and allowed to play a style that works for him. If Rielly and Berube can’t get there this season, that’s when it makes sense to consider a trade.