Morgan Rielly at Maple Leaf camp? Why would we do that?

Some recent VLM posts you might have missed...

• Kadri and the bouncing ball

• Mats Sundin: never enough for some fans

• Why I miss the Pat Quinn era

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Let’s face it; there is precious little “new” Maple Leaf talk these days.  Why would there be- given the protracted CBA dispute that seemingly has no end in sight.  (That said, I should mention something really positive that Leaf General Manager Brian Burke did last week.  As part of a Covenant House initiative, he slept outside one night to support and build greater awareness around a fund-raising effort to support the youth shelter.  How many business leaders would do that? That is to be applauded, for sure…)  

Hockey and Leaf-wise, the best we can do other than cheering on the very hot Marlies  is speculate on whether or not Roberto Luongo will drop in Toronto's lap the moment the lockout (if ever) ends.  Burke appeared on the Sportsnet radio network a few days ago and boldly claimed “no deal” for Luongo had been completed.  Whether that’s true or not, I have no idea, but I suppose it’s something he has to say at this point.  (I think the Leafs are still in the mix for Luongo, but they can’t have that discussion now publicly, I don’t believe…)

Now something Burke didn’t have to say, however, is that, if we do have a season, and there is a shortened Maple Leaf training camp, 2012 first-round Maple Leaf draft pick (and 5th overall) Morgan Rielly would be invited to the big team’s camp. But get this—if the coaches feel Rielly should make the team, he'll be here.

Can you imagine?  My first thought was (and remains):  as well as Rielly is playing by all accounts in the Western Canadian Junior League in Moose Jaw, why on earth would we even consider him playing with the Leafs this season?

After the recent Luke Schenn crash and burn show under Burke’s studious watch, (and I know people will immediately say, but Michael, Rielly is the real deal, he’s so much better than Luke Schenn…) I cannot conceive why we would do this to another young player.

We thought Schenn was a player.  Unlike some, I still do.  But the Leafs took his development (and his confidence- they go hand in hand) and shot it backwards over the four years he was here.

We’ve messed around with Kadri so often I’m not sure he knows what day it is most of the time, in hockey terms. (I know, I know, everyone is excited that he has 11 points in 5 games since being a healthy scratch a week or so ago...)  We set Schenn back by bringing him up way too soon and then killing his confidence as his development went backwards; we took a much-coveted goalie in Jonas Gustavsson, ate him up and made him a Red Wing.

Now we’re talking about Morgan Rielly being a Leaf at the age of 18—if he’s ready?

C’mon.  Does anybody really think he’s ready?  I mean, he is skilled enough, sure.  I'm not suggesting Rielly won't be an outstanding NHL player.  He has all the earmarks of a guy who will have big-time success at the next level.

But he’s 18.  If he were to make the Leafs, who will he look up to, here, on this Leaf team?  Who is the sound, experienced, confident, proven, elite NHL defenseman that we could pair him with to ease his unnecessarily-rushed development to the NHL?

Why would we even contemplate, for one second, yanking him out of an environment where he stands out, where he is a leader, where he can grow into his body and just play the game…and even consider giving him a shot at the Leaf lineup? (Burke says he and 19 year-old David Broll  “deserve” the chance.  Based on what, exactly? We already have a gazillion forwards and defensemen "in the system", all waiting for their shot...)

You’ll say, but what about Jake Gardiner?  He made it right away and looked great. Sure.  OK.  But Gardiner was older and more mature (presumably) when he came to the Leafs.  He had played U.S. college hockey against older players. 

When we go into Boston, and play Lucic and the Bruins, do we want Rielly out there to take on the biggest and toughest power forwards in the NHL?

Hey, I know Burke likes to talk.  He needs to keep selling snake oil to all of us because, if there is an NHL season, he will already be into “Year 5” of his original and now ever-changing “I have no patience for a 5-year re-build” plan.

Burke pushed the urgency button three years ago when he grabbed Phil Kessel at what turned out to be a huge cost (and Phil, as talented a player as he is, has led us to precisely zero playoff wins in his three years here, before—and here’s the kicker—he likely leaves soon in free-agency…).  Burke's mistake at the time was not in his desire to improve the team by adding a very young and gifted sniper.  Not at all.  It was that he so badly miscalculated how good a Leaf team he had at the time.  For someone with a reputation for being very good at assessing talent,  he was dead wrong.  (And since that time, Burke has not delivered an elite center that would make Kessel and even more dangerous player...)

Now comes another question of judgement.  Is he now seriously considering bringing a kid to Leaf camp?  And not just to observe the pros around him and skate with the big boys because he’s a really solid future prospect, but to be here as an actual contender to make the team?

I shudder at the thought.

I mean, if I thought for one minute that he would be the missing ingredient in the Leafs possibly winning a Stanley Cup this season, well, I guess that may change my view.  I would still be deeply concerned that we are rushing (and perhaps harming) his long-term development, but if he was nurtured properly, I guess I could hold my nose and say, OK, this is the wonder-kid that may help bring a Cup home to a starving Leafworld.  Go for it.

But having watched, oh, Jim Benning, Fred Boimustruck, Bob McGill, Gary Nylund, Al Iafrate, Todd Gill, Drake Berehowsky, Luke Richardson—and others I won’t bother mentioning now— rushed into crappy Leaf line-ups (and this current Leaf team is not exactly the ’77 Habs), it just seems like a really bad idea, much less something the Leafs should do. (For the record, some of those young defensemen had nice NHL careers- just not in Toronto, for the most part. Iafrate (right) may have been the most talented kid I've seen as a young defenseman in Toronto in the last thirty years, but he was rushed into the Leaf line-up, was seriously injured, and was never as good as he could have been...)

Again, I get that Burke needs to promote his handiwork.  Rielly has become his number-one prospect on the arguably middlish Maple Lead prospect chart, the 'next big thing' that Leaf fans can really drool over because of his obvious skills.  But by Burke saying what he did a few days ago, this is a case (which happens a lot here) of creating a story where there need not be a story.

Let the young man play out his season, uninterrupted, in junior hockey.  If something happens over the summer and Rielly is somehow truly ready at the age of 19 to play in the NHL next season, I won’t like it, but again, I’ll hold my nose.

I’d much rather he play out his junior career, play with the Marlies for a while and once he is here, he stays here—for good.  No bouncing back and forth, hopefully no motivational ploys (a la Kadri) needed to keep him playing at the top of his game.  Just a young player who is fully baked and ready for the big time, never to look back.  That's what I would love to see.

Schenn should never have been here as soon as he was.  That's on Fletcher and then Burke.  I assume the Leafs were bowled over by his size.  But in the long run, being here at 18 made Luke rich, but not as good as he should/could have been.

Kadri has been yo-yo’d around.  Gustavsson was absolutely destroyed.  I was hoping that this time around, this supposedly wiser management team would handle an important prospect wisely and show patience.  Even talking publicly about bringing him up (and then creating disappointment for the kid if he doesn't "make it") makes zero sense to me.

Though I have referenced the Leaf "history" of rushing too many talented kids with legitimate potential too fast too soon, I realize that was then.  It's a different era, a new regime.  But I'm not thrilled with some of the decisions made by this regime, and that has nothing to do with history. So the point is relevant.  I say: let's be patient with a kid who may well be a franchise player some day.  What's the rush?  If he's really as good as many people think, then what we want is for him to be here for a long, long here. But we don't need him here now.

I'm guessing many of you feel differently.  Regardless, we'd all love to see the kid succeed.

I’m hoping the brass will come to their senses between now and whenever training camp begins.