January 18 – 11:20am: Rielly is considered day-to-day, according to Kevin McGran of the Toronto Star. Frankie Corrado will draw into the lineup in his place.
7:35pm: Per Shilton’s tweet, Rielly will not be returning tonight due to a lower body injury.
It’s yet another knee injury for a key player. The Toronto Maple Leafs lost defenseman Morgan Rielly after he fell awkwardly and appeared to injure his knee. He returned to the ice after being checked out, but according to Sportsnet’s Chris Johnston, he left the ice again minutes later. TSN’s Kristen Shilton confirmed that Rielly did in fact return only to leave again. She adds that he was limping back to the dressing room, and earlier, had signaled for help from the ice after getting hurt. Finally, Michael Augello tweets that it was Rielly’s right knee that was injured.
James Mirtle tweets that all eyes will be on Rielly’s right knee as he tore his ACL in juniors. Rielly has 17 points (1-16) in 41 games this season and has been strong on the blue line for the Leafs this season. He is second in points on the team for defensemen, behind only Jake Gardiner who has 22 points (6-16). Rielly leads all skaters in average ice time, logging nearly 23 minutes (22:51) per night.
Part of the youth anchoring the Leafs rise in the standings, Rielly missing a significant amount of time would be devastating for Toronto.
The story will be updated as more information is released.