NHL Insider predicts Toronto D Morgan Rielly's wallet is about to get much heavier

27 year old Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman Morgan Rielly is entering the final year of the five-year pact that sees him earn an annual average value of $5 million. And as one of the most steady blue liners the Leafs have had in some time, the plan for Kyle Dubas and co. will be to keep him in Toronto long term.

But what kind of term could his next potential deal carry? 

You can be that Rielly is aware of the deals that fellow defensemen such as the likes of Colorado's Cale Makar, Chicago's Seth Jones, Edmonton Darnell Nurse and Dallas' Miro Heiskanen have signed recently, and will be looking for something similar. In fact, according to NHL Insider Darren Dreger, Rielly's wallet could soon get much heavier. 

While speaking on TSN 1050 earlier today, Dreger predicted that Rielly's next deal would see him earn north of $8 million. 

"Anything with a 7 is on the low end, I think he's getting $8M," he said. 

Dreger would follow that up soon afterwards by saying that "$8M will probably be on the low end, but we'll see".

Rielly has scored 59 goals with 246 assists in 572 career NHL games, all with Toronto.