SIMMONS SAYS: This could be the biggest year of Maple Leafs defenceman Morgan Rielly's professional career – Toronto Sun

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This isn’t just a contract year for Morgan Rielly. This is an Olympic year. This is an enormous time in terms of professional opportunities.

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This is Rielly’s ninth season — if you can believe that — with the Maple Leafs. He’s not a kid anymore at 27, even though he never acted the part. He arrived in Toronto and has been the Leafs’ most valuable and stable person over the years, just not necessarily the top player in any season.

And this can be the year of a playoff win of some kind, an eventual life-changing financial deal, along with the possibility to be part of Team Canada at the Olympic Games.

There is no sure thing in all this — other than the money that will come his way.

He’s a 50-50 shot, maybe, to go to Beijing. That’s primarily because he plays the left side on defence. Canada is stacked with right defencemen, starting with the already named Alex Pietrangelo, and the Norris Trophy candidates Cale Makar and Dougie Hamilton. There are also the veterans, Kris Letang and the historically great Drew Doughty, on the right side, along with Aaron Ekblad.

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That’s a long list from which to choose three or four defencemen.

The left side, though — Rielly’s side — is not as complete. There is Shea Theodore in Vegas and Edmonton’s Darnell Nurse … and then, after that, a lot of guesses to be made by general manager Doug Armstrong, unless he chooses to play a right defenceman on the left side.

This may be where Rielly comes in. He’s among four or five left-shot defencemen who are no sure things to be selected for the Olympic roster. But his demeanour, his maturity, his ability to be low-maintenance, and his skating talent may work in his favour.

The Olympics would be new to him — as would a playoff-series win, as would his pending free agency. It’s a lot on Rielly’s plate as a new season is about to begin. A feast of possibilities.

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THIS AND THAT

This may be completely unrelated to Carey Price’s current personal situation, but more than one hockey person was convinced this summer that Price wanted to be chosen in the expansion draft by the Seattle Kraken but remained in Montreal instead … This is Auston Matthews’ sixth season with the Leafs and, until the other day when training camp moved north, he had never been to Muskoka before. Honest … How ironic does this seem: When GM Kevyn Adams, now in the middle of the Jack Eichel mess in Buffalo, was originally drafted by the Boston Bruins and played his first NHL hockey for the Maple Leafs, he had to file a grievance with the NHL to determine who owned his playing rights. That was a quarter-century ago … The problem with the Eichel situation is there is no third-party decision-maker in the process. That’s the flaw. The Sabres’ doctors say one thing. Eichel’s doctors say another. There is no one to appeal to on this … After Aleksander Barkov’s first game in Toronto years ago, I rode down the elevator with then-Florida GM Dale Tallon. I told Tallon that Barkov reminded me of a little of Jonathan Toews, whom Tallon had drafted in Chicago. Tallon smiled and said “better.” Barkov’s new deal in Florida pays him $10 million a year. Toews is being paid $10.5 million after he helped bring three Stanley Cups to Chicago … My local gym can’t operate at full capacity. Nor can my favourite local restaurant. But the Maple Leafs and Raptors and Senators can fill their buildings indoors when the NHL and NBA seasons begin. Go figure … Some people happen to like Sheldon Keefe’s regular use of F-bombs in the Maple Leafs documentary All or Nothing. Some are offended by it. Like everything Leafs, there doesn’t seem to be any middle ground on this … My bet: If William Nylander spends the year on the Leafs’ first power-play unit, he’ll finish second on the team behind Matthews in goal scoring … Another bet: One of Shane Pinto or Cole Caufield will win the rookie of the year award in the NHL.

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HEAR AND THERE

This was Robbie Ray’s tweet of Oct. 6: “I know we fell short of our ultimate goal, but it was still an unforgettable year. Best group of guys and it was absolutely electric to finally experience the home-field advantage that Jays fans bring to the Rogers Centre. Thank you for a very special year, Toronto!” What he didn’t say: I’m staying or I’m leaving or I want to stay. Like his slider, this was difficult to fully read … We now know who and what Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Bo Bichette are, and we can’t wait for next season. What we don’t know is, what’s Cavan Biggio? … If I had to keep one catcher with the Blue Jays as a starter, I’d settle on Danny Jansen long-term and see what you can get for Alejandro Kirk … When Alex Anthopoulos was with the Blue Jays, he drafted Rowdy Tellez in the 30th round of the 2013 Major League draft. Who knew that eight years later Tellez would hit a playoff home run for the Milwaukee Brewers to defeat Anthopoulos’ Atlanta Braves in a National League playoff game? By the way, the Blue Jays scout who recommended Tellez was Darold Brown, who is still close to Tellez and currently works for the Detroit Tigers … What are the odds of this? In the year Hank Aaron passes away, Atlanta and Milwaukee, the only cities and teams for which he played, are meeting in a playoff series … And hard as this is to believe, the Giants and Dodgers, the historical rivals are meeting for the first time in a playoff series … The Tampa Bay Rays remind me of high school chemistry: I can watch the experiments, I just can’t explain them … I like the FOX game graphic that identifies the pitcher and the batter all game long. I don’t like the TBS graphic that identifies the pitcher, but not the batter … Sorry to report that one of Canada’s most powerful female sporting figures, Nathalie Cook, vice-president of TSN, has decided to move on from the sports network. There are not enough women in powerful sporting positions in the country. There’s one fewer today.

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SCENE AND HEARD

Only in Canada: The Monday Night Football game featuring the unbeaten Raiders versus the red-hot Chargers, did an audience of 545,000 last week. That was just 25,000 more than a Leafs-Senators pre-season game managed … The former referee Don Koharski has been hired by TNT to work on its NHL broadcasts. Does this mean doughnuts in the green room for everybody? … It’s been 37 years since Wayne Gretzky and Mark Messier combined with Grant Fuhr and Jari Kurri and so many more stars to win the Edmonton Oilers’ first of five Stanley Cups (Gretzky was only there for four). Now the two, born eight days apart 60 years ago, debut opposite each other on the two new American hockey networks, ESPN and TNT … The part of the Robin Lehner story that made no sense to me: Coaches don’t dispense medications. I’ve been around a lot of teams for a lot of years and have never seen a coach give out a pill. Training staff and medical staff provide medication. Why Lehner centred out Alain Vigneault, whom he never played for, was hard to understand. And I respect the hell out of Lehner for speaking out, even if some of his wording needed to be edited. Lehner later clarified to ESPN’s Emily Kaplan he never intended to accuse Vigneault of distributing pills … Emma Raducanu, who looked unbeatable at the U.S. Open, lost her opening round match at Indian Wells, where Leylah Fernandez began with a relatively easy win … Under the department of too many root canals: The 18 former NBA players, including ex-Raptors Jamario Moon, Milt Palacio, Sebastian Telfair, Alan Anderson and Antoine Wright, who were busted for attempting to defraud the league’s health and welfare benefit plan. You can only bill for so many procedures before somebody is going to notice that not all is well.

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AND ANOTHER THING

So let me get this straight: The Oshawa Generals, or any other junior team, can travel by bus to the United States to play games in Erie or Saginaw or any other OHL centre. But, fully vaccinated, I can’t get in my car and drive to Buffalo and cross the border to watch the Bills play, or snowbirds can’t drive to their Florida homes. Can someone please explain? … There is no doubt about this: This is the worst season in Edmonton Elks history … One football rule I’d like to change: A forward lateral should not count as a completed pass. It’s essentially a running play. As it is, it distorts quarterback statistics and receiver statistics and messes up fantasy football results … Canadian Mark Lindsay, who has worked with Donovan Bailey, Maria Sharapova, Alex Rodriguez and Peyton Manning to name a few over the years, is now working with Christian McCaffrey, injured running back with the Carolina Panthers … Did Team USA GM Stan Bowman add Seth Jones to the Olympic team among his first three ahead of Adam Fox, Charlie McAvoy or John Carlson because he was the obvious choice or because he happens to be a Blackhawk? … Under the department of disgraceful: A Mexican League team hiring Mickey Callaway to manage … Still officially a rookie, Randy Arozarena, has hit 11 post-season home runs for Tampa in 87 at-bats. The legendary Mr. October, the three-homer man, Reggie Jackson, hit 18 career homers in 281 playoff at bats … Happy birthday to Brett Favre (52), Lourdes Gurriel Jr. (28), Troy Tulowitzki (37), Gene Tenace (75), Henrik Zetterberg (41), Mike Singletary (63), Trevor Daley (38), Kenny Anderson (51), George Kittle (28), James Murphy (62) and Joe Pepitone (81) … And hey, whatever became of Dustin Byfuglien?

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SNUB HUB

A friend of mine decided a few months back that he wanted to buy season tickets for the Toronto Argonauts.

I know that’s rather unusual these days, but so was his journey in trying to purchase the most available sporting ticket in Toronto.

He called the Argos and was put on hold. After 45 minutes or so of waiting, he hung up. He called again, this time to Maple Leafs Sports & Entertainment, the Argos’ owner, and the result wasn’t much different. More time on hold.

I told him to try emailing the sales reps, giving him two names of those who have sold me tickets in the past. He emailed, initially with no response. A few days later, he heard from an Argos rep. It took numerous phone calls, emails and communications for the sale to finally occur, but my buddy got his Argos season tickets — through almost no help from the Argos, which by itself is rather remarkable considering how desperate the club should be to sell tickets to anyone still interested in going to their games.

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Just last week, another person I know wanted to buy four additional tickets for their game on Wednesday night against Ottawa. He is a season-ticket holder, but wanted to bring others along with him for the experience.

He phoned the Argos, and phoned them again. They never called back. He never got to speak to a person. He gave up rather than buying the additional tickets.

The first-place Argos had a record-small crowd of 6,788 for their game against the Redblacks. Interest may be at an all-time low. But an inability to treat willing customers properly or at all, at this time in their history or, really, at any time, is simply inexcusable.

GETTING THE HELP HE NEEDS

You don’t hear the name Dr. Brian Shaw very often when people talk about the National Hockey League. Perhaps you should.

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Dr. Shaw is one of the founders of the joint NHL/NHL Players’ Association player assistance program. His specialty is dealing with anxiety and sleep disorders. While the assistance program has had issues of its own over the years, over time it has become a more acceptable option for NHL players to take a leave, as Carey Price has done most recently to deal with personal issues, whatever they may be.

Price’s teammate Jonathan Drouin took leave from the Montreal Canadiens last April, missing out on the Habs’ remarkable run to the Stanley Cup final, to deal with his own difficulties of anxiety and insomnia, which at the time were kept private, as they should be. Those closest to Drouin now say Dr. Shaw and the program significantly altered Drouin’s life.

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Years ago, NHL players such as Shayne Corson suffered in near silence while dealing with mental-health issues while trying to play professional sports. Just how many others have suffered without public knowledge is impossible to know. The outlet either wasn’t there for players or the comfort was not there to take leave from your team.

We don’t know what Price is suffering through — nor should we know. It’s his personal life, his personal situation. He is fortunate to have Dr. Shaw’s program available to him and to have the personal strength necessary to admit something is wrong.

THERE’S REASON TO HOPE

I’m not completely pessimistic about the kind of season the Toronto Raptors might have.

Part of it begins with elementary math and, hopefully, good health.

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Once Pascal Siakam is ready to play, he should be good for 20 points a night, a number similar to what Fred VanVleet should add. If you add OG Anunoby at 15 points a night — and he’s capable of more than that — you’re already at 55 points a game.

Add in 10-to-12 points from rookie Scottie Barnes, from Chris Boucher, from Goran Dragic, from Gary Trent Jr., from Precious Achiuwa, and that’s the possibility of another 50 points a night. And that’s without figuring what Khem Birch might contribute at centre or what Malachi Flynn will manage coming off the bench.

Through exhibition games, it’s surprising what little-known Justin Champagnie has shown as a kind of poor man’s Junkyard Dog.

Is this a playoff team? It’s impossible to know just yet. Is this a team that should be in the play-in round come April? Possibly. Is this a scrappy group that coach Nick Nurse may be able to coach up, and get more out of than expected? Very possible.

It looks like a team you’re going to enjoy watching grow. It’s a new beginning. It doesn’t appear hapless.

ssimmons@postmedia.com