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<p>Despite team president Brendan Shanahan remaining mum on the situation in radio appearances earlier today, TSN&#8217;s Darren Dreger is reporting that the Leafs have in fact <a href="http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/video/dreger-leafs-rielly-extension-talks-are-underway~847193" target="_blank">begun contract extension talks with Morgan Rielly</a>.</p>
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<blockquote><p>&#8220;There&#8217;s nothing imminent, but there&#8217;s obviously a strong appetite from Lou Lamoriello and the Toronto Maple Leafs to get something done. Short term seems unlikely &#8211; a longer term of five or six years seems more likely, but they&#8217;ll get into that when the heavy lifting of this negotiation hits full stride.<br />If you&#8217;re talking about a five or six year term&#8230; you&#8217;re looking at an average annual salary of somewhere between $4.5M and $5.5M per year.&#8221;</p></blockquote>
<p>Rielly, 22, is coming off his three-year entry level contract. In 82 games this season, he lead all Leafs defencemen in points (36) and ice time (23:13). </p>
<p>Thomas Drance wrote about Rielly&#8217;s next contract just last week &#8211; <a href="http://theleafsnation.com/2016/4/5/why-morgan-rielly-s-2nd-contract-could-prove-difficult-and-expensive" target="_blank">it&#8217;s an excellent read</a> and I highly suggest you go back and check it out if you haven&#8217;t already. In it, Drance came to a similar conclusion as Dreger, saying that Toronto will likely be looking at Carolina defender Justin Faulk&#8217;s six-year, $29M as a baseline for negotiations, and that Rielly&#8217;s cap hit could crack the $5M mark.</p>

<p></p><center><div class="getty embed image" style="display: inline-block; color: rgb(167, 167, 167); font-size: 11px; width: 100%; max-width: 594px;">
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</div></center><p>Despite team president Brendan Shanahan remaining mum on the situation in radio appearances earlier today, TSN's Darren Dreger is reporting that the Leafs have in fact <a href="http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/video/dreger-leafs-rielly-extension-talks-are-underway~847193" target="_blank">begun contract extension talks with Morgan Rielly</a>.</p><blockquote>"There's nothing imminent, but there's obviously a strong appetite from Lou Lamoriello and the Toronto Maple Leafs to get something done. Short term seems unlikely - a longer term of five or six years seems more likely, but they'll get into that when the heavy lifting of this negotiation hits full stride.<br>If you're talking about a five or six year term... you're looking at an average annual salary of somewhere between $4.5M and $5.5M per year."</blockquote><p></p><p>Rielly, 22, is coming off his three-year entry level contract. In 82 games this season, he lead all Leafs defencemen in points (36) and ice time (23:13). </p><p>Thomas Drance wrote about Rielly's next contract just last week - <a href="http://theleafsnation.com/2016/4/5/why-morgan-rielly-s-2nd-contract-could-prove-difficult-and-expensive" target="_blank">it's an excellent read</a> and I highly suggest you go back and check it out if you haven't already. In it, Drance came to a similar conclusion as Dreger, saying that Toronto will likely be looking at Carolina defender Justin Faulk's six-year, $29M as a baseline for negotiations, and that Rielly's cap hit could crack the $5M mark.</p>

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