Despite the Leafs horrendous losing streak, Morgan Rielly continues to impress

[Nithoniniel]

Now Rielly is a pretty good player. But Trouba and Lindholm would probably be playing on their World Cup teams if they didn't have this stupid Under 23 team thing. I'd say the only bad thing about Rielly is he's not at the level of a couple guys after him. He's still a fine 2nd pairing defenseman already.

It's not strange for a 21 year old defenseman to have improving play in his own end at the top of the to do list lol

Yeah I think people tend to base their evaluations a bit too much on comparisons to other players, especially in prospects. That there are several D-men from that draft ahead of him development-wise has no bearing on how good he is, it just means that draft year was a good one for D-men.

 

[Real Smart Sens Fan]

I think a big problem is people see D men like Morgan Rielly and to some extent Jake Gardiner and seem to think speed/skating ability = offense.

Yeah, Morgans speed might allow him to be an elite offensive dman, but its certainly not his only asset. Even if he only becomes a 35-40 point DMan, he should still be a top pairing guy.

 

[Scarbarian*]

Showed flashes of brilliance tonight. He was buzzing all night.

This is the reason why people need to be patient with young d-men who are just hitting coming along nice and steady.

On another note, Gardiner has also looked quite good recently.

 

[Scarbarian*]

check out our board on his shift in OT.

http://hfboards.mandatory.com/showthread.php?t=1822419&page=28

 

[Paradoc]

Rielly played 24 + minutes last night and didn't look out of sync. He has been the leafs best defenseman ever since Horachek became the coach.

 

[TheLeastOfTheBunch]

Looks so good

 

[ViewsFromThe6ix]

played great again yesterday. Really playing well, good for him.

 

[Kelly]

Rielly looked great on that shift in the Devils OT game, but I mean watching the clip, the 4 devils players looked LOST. Zero resistance against Morgan that whole shift.

 

[leafsgirl12]

i can totally see him being a future norris winner in a few years and i even told him i hope he is a future norris winner.

 

[5150]

reilly is damn good

 

[TheLeastOfTheBunch]

Best player on the Leafs these days

Which doesn't say much, but he's been playing terrific hockey at both ends. Lone bright spot

 

[Scarbarian*]

He is so good. He has been lights out. was one of the best players on the ice tonight

Man oh man. If he keeps this up, he is no doubt entering the conversation of possible top d-man in the 2012.

Notice, I said entering the conversation, not necessarily the best d-man because he has to prove it for a longer period of time.

 

[Rayzorexe]

Rielly has been really one of the bright spots since the coaching change. The fact he isn't getting rewarded with the points is kinda disappointing.

 

[ViewsFromThe6ix]

3rd star tonight and was buzzing all night. if this team could score oh man he would be racking up the points. Was constantly maintaining puck possession and trying to make plays. Good on him, the lone brightspot many nights this year.

 

[Blufreezy]

God damn he's fun to watch, it's actually one thing worth watching on this ****ing team

 

[Tripod]

He played great.

Honest question, were all you Leafs fans surprised with how good MDZ was as well tonight?

 

[TheLeastOfTheBunch]

He played great.

Honest question, were all you Leafs fans surprised with how good MDZ was as well tonight?

Yup, MDZ played well for you guys. Seems like he's back on track

 

[Scarbarian*]

Only Bernier, Rielly, and Kadri have played overall this year. Those are the only peices I would keep around on the current come next season.

 

[Bob Cole]

The next gardiner?

 

[The Beyonder]

The next gardiner?

Gardiner's biggest weakness is Rielly's biggest strength; Rielly has great hockey IQ. He almost always makes the right pass, he has a good sense of when to pinch, he's better defensively, he's more competitive, stronger, better board play. And all this is glaring when you watch the two of them for as long as I have (saw Rielly even before he put on a leafs jersey). The only thing Gardiner is better at than Rielly is shooting and he's a little bit better with his lateral skating. All this has to be considered with age, Gardiner was 21-22 years old (24 now) when he first broke into the league, and Morgan Rielly nearly matched his rookie totals (3 points less in 3 fewer games) while being 19-20 years old.

There's no point in trying to belittle a player who's playing well because another player didn't work out as well. Gardiner has had a rough season, but he's still 24 years old, I don't know if you'll turn it around but he's still young and has been playing better of late.

 

[false bobo]

He made a horrible pinch that resulted in a breakaway and a great scoring chance for Ottawa. He didn't impress me at all.

bet he'd impress you if he was a sen

 

[TheBeastCoast]

The next gardiner?

Quality post

 

[Scarbarian*]

The next gardiner?

Not even in the same ballpark simply because they see the game differently.

Before I explain there strength and weaknessess, let me say this that, Gardiner has actually looked better as of late(last 5 or more games).

Gardiner skating is figure-skater like, he can literally glide over the ice from coast to coast and toy with opposing forwards and defenders however because he has low IQ, he often refuses to shoot or create odd-man rushes the other way because instead of just finishing the play, he will try to keep the possession of the puck until he no longer can, which results in leaving one defender back quite often, also even his game has been at best, he has always been bad at decision making(makes bad pinches at times and even makes bad passess which leads to odd man rushes). hence, his hockey sense is average to below average, often fumbles the puck, literally if he had a hockey sense of Rielly, he would at worst be regarded as a good top 4 d-man.

While Rielly on the hand is an explosive skater who sees the ice tremendously, his ability to move the puck is outstanding, and he is got great hockey sense. Not to mention, Rielly played very well last year and hasn't played anything close to bad this year as well. Even with Carlyle, he was playing average, but certainly not anywhere where near bad. I would say he was playing a safe and sound game as opposed to high-tempo.

I have seen every single Leaf game that both these guys have dressed in. You won't find a single Leafs fans who has criticized Rielly the same way they did with Gardiner since he played his first game as a Leaf.

Some of us may have been dissapointed with Rielly in the first half of this year because he frequently left more to be desired, he wasn't displaying the high offensive creativity that he was drafted for and didn't care to jump in plays and make nice end to rushes that he did last year until recently. Gardiner on the other hand had been quite of a disappointment because he makes too many dumb mistakes at both ends of the ice over and over again but lately he is looked ok.

 

[Scarbarian*]

He made a horrible pinch that resulted in a breakaway and a great scoring chance for Ottawa. He didn't impress me at all.

I have seen a top d-man like Drew Doughty get schooled several times in his career. And no, I didn't bring Doughty's name to compare the two.

See how silly that sounds, this post basically makes player sound like human. Many good players like Suter, Weber, Giordano, OEL, Pietrangelo, McDonaugh make mistakes at least once in a while.

 

[HespelerGreenFlash]

i can totally see him being a future norris winner in a few years and i even told him i hope he is a future norris winner.

Really? cmon man.

Because he dominated ONE shift when the other team was shorthanded?

Wow, just wow