The Toronto Maple Leafs have locked up one of their five franchise players to a long term contract extension.
The Toronto Maple Leafs best defenseman, and potentially the best defenseman in franchise history, have agreed to an eight year contract extension with a cap hit of $7.5 million dollars annually.
The two best defenseman in the NHL – Cale Makar and Dougie Hamilton – each make $9 million on deals that already started. To get Rielly for $7.5 seems like decent value, if not an outright bargain.
The critics will come out to complain about this, but cynics are annoying – the Leafs just locked up their team leader, and one of their best players, there by extending their window and keeping a fan favorite on the team.