Last April, after the Toronto Maple Leafs were eliminated in six games by the Washington Capitals, Morgan Rielly spoke pridefully about all the team had accomplished.



“The loss is tough for sure,” Rielly said after the 2-1 defeat in Game 6. “But when we got in (the dressing room) and looked at one another (after the game), there’s a lot of pride that can be taken.”



Fast-forward five months to the first day of training camp and you get a sense from that same 23 year old of how high expectations have risen – even internally.



“We’re happy with some strides forward that we took last year, but when you look back at it, I mean, I think we made the playoffs on the last day of the year and we lost in the first round,” Rielly said, showing the change in mindset amongst the team, adding, somewhat cautiously, that the group had “a long way to go to get to where we want to be.”



Nazem Kadri was...