Maple Leafs Sign Morgan Rielly to Entry-Level Contract

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Brian Burke, President and General Manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs, announced Friday that the hockey club has signed 2012 first-round draft choice Morgan Rielly to a three-year entry level contract. Rielly, 18, was selected fifth overall at the NHL Entry Draft by the Maple Leafs on June 22.

The 6-1, 200-pound defenceman appeared in 18 games with the Moose Jaw Warriors of the Western Hockey League last season, registering 18 points (three goals, 15 assists) and two penalty minutes. Rielly missed the majority of the 2011-12 season due to a knee injury. In 83 career games over two seasons with Moose Jaw, he has collected nine goals, 37 assists, 46 points and 23 penalty minutes.

Rielly, a native of Vancouver, British Columbia, will represent Canada at the 2012 Canada-Russia Challenge in Yaroslavl, Russia and Halifax, Nova Scotia from August 8-14. He has played for Canada twice previously, recording four points (one goal, three assists) in five games and winning a gold medal at the 2011 Under-18 Ivan Hlinka Memorial Tournament in the Czech Republic/Slovakia, and posting two goals and an assist in seven games at the 2011 IIHF World Under-18 Championship in Germany.