Ex-Leafs GM Brian Burke Makes Absurd Comment About the Struggling Morgan Rielly
Photo credit: Dan Hamilton-USA TODAY Sports
Former Maple Leafs GM Brian Burke made a surprising comment about the struggling Morgan Rielly during a recent podcast appearance.
Drafted fifth overall by Burke and the Leafs in 2012, Morgan Rielly has been a staple on the Leafs' blueline since the 2013-14 season.
The longest tenured Maple Leaf on the current roster has seen it all in his time with the organization. From the playoff failures and tanking to drafting Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner and William Nylander, the 30-year-old has been the one constant on a team that has gone through change after change over his 12 seasons.
Despite questions about his future with the organization amid his struggles this season, he continues to have the support of Burke, who doubled down on his previous comments of calling Rielly the best player in his draft year on Jeff Marek's 'The Sheet' podcast last week.
"What cracks me up about it is, you would never go out to the media and say we had Morgan Rielly rated number one unless you did because our guys had him rated number one... I was convinced he was the best player. Look at that draft, there was a couple good players in there, but Morgan was the best. Someone said to me after, 'you just said that right?' Did I say that about Nazem Kadri and number seven? No, he wasn't number one, but Morgan was."
To an extent, Burke was right back in 2012 when he had Rielly listed as the best player. The four players that were taken before him in the 2012 draft were Nail Yakupov, Ryan Murray, Alex Galchenyuk and Griffin Reinhart. Two of them are currently playing in the KHL while the other two have retired.
Drafted after Rielly, however, are a number of players that have evolved into superstars, including Filip Forsberg, Tom Wilson, Tomas Hertl and Andrei Vasilevskiy - who the Leafs know extremely well at this point.
While Burke thought and still believes Rielly was the best player in the draft, could you imagine if the Leafs had traded down and selected Vasilevskiy? Would they have had more playoff success sooner? Would they even have Matthews, Marner or Nylander right now? Hindsight is 20-20.
As it stands, Rielly currently leads all players from the 2012 draft in games played with 841 and is third in points behind only Forsberg and Hertl.
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