Maple Leafs’ Morgan Rielly believes the Olympic break came at an ideal time after injury and previous struggles

Rielly viewed the time off as a good reset on both a physical and mental level, and renewed excitement to get back to work later. He and the Leafs know they have a tough challenge ahead of them if they want to make the playoffs for the 10th straight year, but he thinks the team is ready to rise to the occasion and play their best hockey down this stretch.

That starts with the Leafs taking full advantage of the practice week, which has been difficult to come by due to the shortened schedule.

“It’s great. I think we’ll have a lot of time to get back together here as a group and spend some time on the ice and work on some things,” Rielly said. “We have a challenge ahead of us that we must meet. That will be our focus going forward.”

Much has been said about Rielly’s play this season as it has been far from his best offensively and the defensive issues have been hard to ignore. While his long-term future with the team remains unclear beyond this season, there is still time for him to rewrite the narrative of the 2025-26 season and play his best hockey at the most critical time of the year, which he has done before.

Berube seemed to notice that the veteran defenseman had gotten an extra kick in his step during this first set of practices since the Leafs realigned.

“Before, he was actually absent for a while. So this rest definitely helps him, as well as other guys,” he said. “Seeing him here, it seems like he’s in a much better place than he was, mentally for sure.”

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