If Seattle will take Rielly in any way shape or form trade him now. If the Leafs have to pay Vancouver to pay him in order get him to accept it who cares do it, after tonight, it seems doable right now, so just do it.
The “roomer” from the half ass Hockeybuzz Leafs blogger is that San Jose wants Rielly according to “sauces” that work for the Senatards. No matter how bad a player or their contract is, there seems to always be some dumbass GM out there willing to make a mistake. I don’t think San Jose is actually that stupid because I thought their genius move to grab Askarov showed their plan to build from the net out especially after having a foundation of Smith, Celebrini and Misa as their forward core all still on ELC. I doubt they would ruin that team by adding a D-man that is horrible at playing D. But you never know, they do have Reaves on the DEI roster.
That being said, they have few options available to them and many spots to fill for next year. After this season, the Sharks will have exactly TWO defenders under contract with Klingberg, Liljegren, Ferraro and Desharnais all set to become UFAs. Maybe they bring back Ferraro and one of Desharnais or Liljegren but needless to say, San Jose can fit Rielly under their cap with so many pending UFAs and Couture on the LTIR permanently. The Sharks will have 56 million dollars in cap space for next season looking to sign AT LEAST FOUR NHL defenders. If they view Rielly as a 45-50 point D-man (he still averages 51 points per season the last 5 years) who plays sheltered minutes, maybe they don’t care if it costs them 7.5 AAV with that much space available. And maybe Rielly doesn’t mind moving to the West coast and living near San Fran where he can ride every pride parade float (and pole) he can find.
I’d happily take a mid round pick (3rd rounder?) in return.