Travis Dermott walked into the Maple Leafs dressing room, wide-eyed and nervous, after being called up for the first time this season.



With the Leafs blueline suffering from multiple injuries and instability, Dermott understood there were expectations to produce almost immediately. He quietly took his stall before being approached by someone who understood where he was coming from, having entered the Leafs dressing room as a rookie on the blueline not all that long ago.



Morgan Rielly’s message was simple: “There’s no reason to be scared.”



Other Leafs shared words of encouragement, but Rielly’s carried more weight. Dermott, after all, “aspires to be like him.” The two have become fast friends, and Dermott has found Rielly’s affable, honest demeanour and laid-back approach off the ice has helped him stop “overthinking things.”



“It makes me feel like I’m at home,”...