Mo Rielly - "Our Norris Trophy Candidate"

[usernamezrhardtodo]

Every time I see Reilly lazily skating up the ice on a PP and he gets someone in his face I can't help but think he is muttering under his breath: "C'mon man..give us a break..its a PP..you're supposed to let us play without any hassles" as he keeps looking to drop the pass back to the goalie....

 

[Bloomberg]

I don't think expecting an NHL defenseman to play at a level that even Martin Marincin can play at is 'expecting too much' from him. All we want him to do is play mediocre defense...even that seems like it's out of reach for him at the moment. I really believe that Keefe demoted him by switching partners 1/3 of the way through the game because he sees what we see. Had he started Holl with Reilly I would have believed his shtick...but he swapped him during the game. Why he would start him in overtime is beyond me though....

I think Rielly should play 2nd pairing D. The top pair that plays against the other team's top line should be Muzzin - Brodie, but I don't think Holl is the right partner for Rielly, Bogosian is a better fit, not ideal though.

 

[Gary Nylund]

I'm gonna go with the minority on this one and say that overall, Rielly's been really good this year. He's constantly getting blamed for goals against that are not his fault, not sure why. He messes up sometimes but so does every other player, overall though he's played Rielly well (pun intended).

f*** the haters Morgan, keep up the good work!

 

[Stephen]

Mike Futa is commenting on how his hockey sense seems to be a question mark where it wasn’t in years past. I think he always had those quirks but this year it is very noticeable.

 

[Twine Tickler]

Mike Futa is commenting on how his hockey sense seems to be a question mark where it wasn’t in years past. I think he always had those quirks but this year it is very noticeable.

Ya I'd have to agree there as well. Prime example was last night on the GWG. Matthews stick explodes on a blocked shot. Almost impossible for Moe not to take notice of this, yet he still manages to gain possession and instead of wheeling for a bit to bide time, he throws it up the wall towards Matthews without a twig. Just bonehead shit. 3 on 3 is a possession game and he just willingly gave it up because he lacked any sort of awareness on that play. I love Mo, but that just can't happen. Seen way too many plays like that this year for my liking. Still believe in Moe, and think he's a great player, but I have started to question his hockey IQ this year as well. Campbell is the real reason we lost the game and realistically if Jack makes that save in OT we don't talk about Moe's giveaway that started the whole thing. Just not good all around

 

[usernamezrhardtodo]

Can one of the skilled players at forward please sit down Morgan and explain his going down the wing and circling the net only to give the puck away without any scoring chance is just plain stupid? How many times does he do that? How many times has he failed to create something and ended up shooting into a shin pad after his tour?

 

[Martin Skoula]

Can one of the skilled players at forward please sit down Morgan and explain his going down the wing and circling the net only to give the puck away without any scoring chance is just plain stupid? How many times does he do that? How many times has he failed to create something and ended up shooting into a shin pad after his tour?

What drives me nuts isn't that he fails to create offense the vast majority of the time he decides to pinch, it's that whatever choice he makes consistently loses the zone. His shot either hits a shinpad and clears the zone or misses the net and clears the zone.

When your PP has to gain the zone 2-3 times before they get an actual chance on net, I'm not surprised when they go 1 for 40.

 

[WTFMAN99]

How do you guys feel about him going forward? I would personally explore moving him this off-season.

 

[JT AM da real deal]

How do you guys feel about him going forward? I would personally explore moving him this off-season.

Yes I think that will occur too .. Rielly has some value but $5M per is way too much for a guy who only brings great skating and transition play .. he has no power ... no hitting .. no shot .. limited hockey IQ .. i think he could look better with a faster paced PP breakout (in fact whole team would) .. under Keefer's system Rielly does not FIT right.. but he is a great leader and he is our pick .. it will be a tough call but it will depend on what he wants .. likely he gets much more elsewhere which is why he will likely be traded

 

[Tak7]

How do you guys feel about him going forward? I would personally explore moving him this off-season.

I'm still higher on Rielly than most people on here - his speed / transition, combined with his experience of the Toronto market, still makes him a really valuable asset. If he's willing to resign for similar money that he is on now, I think he's great value.

I think we have a habit in this market of focusing too heavily on what players can't do, and ignore the good things they DO provide; Mo still provides us with a lot of good things, which for me outweigh the defensive struggles he's been experiencing over the last little while

 

[Superstar]

Mike Futa is commenting on how his hockey sense seems to be a question mark where it wasn’t in years past. I think he always had those quirks but this year it is very noticeable.

I hope he's not thinking on most nights, 'how do I get more money on my next contract with my next play?'

 

[ShaneFalco]

How do you guys feel about him going forward? I would personally explore moving him this off-season.

As would I - his contract demands will not line up with his play

 

[Superstar]

I'm still higher on Rielly than most people on here - his speed / transition, combined with his experience of the Toronto market, still makes him a really valuable asset. If he's willing to resign for similar money that he is on now, I think he's great value.

I think we have a habit in this market of focusing too heavily on what players can't do, and ignore the good things they DO provide; Mo still provides us with a lot of good things, which for me outweigh the defensive struggles he's been experiencing over the last little while

It depends on what his next contract demands are.

 

[WTFMAN99]

I don't know how comfortable I am with him at 5v5, he can't pk and even the PP under him isn't really special because there isn't much of a shot threat, so I don't see him as much of an asset.

 

[LeafGrief]

I think the line in the sand for re-signing him is right around the 7m mark. I really disagree with a lot of people thinking we wouldn't miss him. We have a team built around elite forwards, keeping an elite transition defenseman that Keefe is happy to play 24 minutes a night is 100% an asset we're interested in keeping. But he's not the all-situations #1 that would justify cutting yet more depth to fit in.

And if, hockey gods forbid, we flame out in the first round again he might be traded as part of the shake-up, purely because he's one of the only core players who isn't figuratively nailed down.

He's been playing fine lately. Not creating a whole lot offensively, not getting burned defensively either.

 

[Fogelhund]

How do you guys feel about him going forward? I would personally explore moving him this off-season.

I'm still higher on Rielly than most people on here - his speed / transition, combined with his experience of the Toronto market, still makes him a really valuable asset. If he's willing to resign for similar money that he is on now, I think he's great value.

I think we have a habit in this market of focusing too heavily on what players can't do, and ignore the good things they DO provide; Mo still provides us with a lot of good things, which for me outweigh the defensive struggles he's been experiencing over the last little while

Rielly is who he is. He does drive offense, and transition well, but for whatever reason, his game has deteriorated some.

What we do with him, depends on his ask, and the availability of other options. So, we move on from him. Do we make a trade, or do we hope that Sandin can replace him? Do we explore a trade for Ekholm?

I mean, if we can improve the team, and also help the Cap, I'm all for it. I'd do a swap for Ekholm. Or, I'd play the crap out of Sandin and Liljegren next year, and see if that makes Rielly expendable in the future.

How much is Rielly even demanding? If it's $4 mil, (probably not), maybe you resign him. If it's $8 mil, we better look at other options.

Maybe you take a run at Dougie Hamilton, but he might price himself out of what we can do, as a UFA.

It all depends on his price, and what our other options might be.

 

[WTFMAN99]

Rielly is who he is. He does drive offense, and transition well, but for whatever reason, his game has deteriorated some.

What we do with him, depends on his ask, and the availability of other options. So, we move on from him. Do we make a trade, or do we hope that Sandin can replace him? Do we explore a trade for Ekholm?

I mean, if we can improve the team, and also help the Cap, I'm all for it. I'd do a swap for Ekholm. Or, I'd play the crap out of Sandin and Liljegren next year, and see if that makes Rielly expendable in the future.

How much is Rielly even demanding? If it's $4 mil, (probably not), maybe you resign him. If it's $8 mil, we better look at other options.

Maybe you take a run at Dougie Hamilton, but he might price himself out of what we can do, as a UFA.

It all depends on his price, and what our other options might be.

I see some fixed spots

Top 4

Muzzin is in the top 4 LD slot and Brodie is in the top 4 RD slot.

Holl has been on for the most 5v5 goals amongst our D group. 2M is a nice price tag and all but can we improve on him? Maybe.

Sandin and Liljegren are complete wild cards.

Hamilton would basically push Holl off the roster.

Sandin COULD make Rielly expendable.

 

[Stephen]

Depends on what kind of season finish we have. If things click and we go on a run with Rielly leading the charge you keep him. If it’s the same or regression I would not mind trading him and pivoting to a long term investment in Dougie Hamilton who has been a real horse for the Hurricanes. Or the middle ground would be to finish up his contract and make a run for Seth Jones. But there’s more risk there since you’d be timing things for next year and probably can’t get a return for Mo. I think there are options. Muzzin and Holl are other factors too and our attitude would be shaped by the playoff run.

 

[Tak7]

It depends on what his next contract demands are.

From my post:

. If he's willing to resign for similar money that he is on now, I think he's great value.

 

[Fogelhund]

I see some fixed spots

Top 4

Muzzin is in the top 4 LD slot and Brodie is in the top 4 RD slot.

Holl has been on for the most 5v5 goals amongst our D group. 2M is a nice price tag and all but can we improve on him? Maybe.

Sandin and Liljegren are complete wild cards.

Hamilton would basically push Holl off the roster.

Sandin COULD make Rielly expendable.

That Holl stat surprises me... had to double check

GA/60 5v5

Holl 2.8
Muzzin 2.3
Rielly 2.2
Dermott 2.2
Bogosian 2.1
Brodie 1.8

I appreciate that there are different levels of quality of comp here, but those are the raw stats. Holl is quite the outlier.
This isn't a thread about forwards, but those numbers are interesting too... Nylander one of the best a 1.7 GA/60, Galchenyuk at 4.0 Matthews at 3.0.

 

[WTFMAN99]

That Holl stat surprises me... had to double check

GA/60 5v5

Holl 2.8
Muzzin 2.3
Rielly 2.2
Dermott 2.2
Bogosian 2.1
Brodie 1.8

I appreciate that there are different levels of quality of comp here, but those are the raw stats. Holl is quite the outlier.
This isn't a thread about forwards, but those numbers are interesting too... Nylander one of the best a 1.7 GA/60, Galchenyuk at 4.0 Matthews at 3.0.

Holl: 33 GA
Rielly: 29
Muzzin: 29
Brodie: 22
Dermott: 18
Bogosian: 16
Sandin: 0

Hutton: 28

Apparently Hutton not drawing in because Sandin is a priority as per Keefe.

 

[LeafGrief]

Depends on what kind of season finish we have. If things click and we go on a run with Rielly leading the charge you keep him. If it’s the same or regression I would not mind trading him and pivoting to a long term investment in Dougie Hamilton who has been a real horse for the Hurricanes. Or the middle ground would be to finish up his contract and make a run for Seth Jones. But there’s more risk there since you’d be timing things for next year and probably can’t get a return for Mo. I think there are options. Muzzin and Holl are other factors too and our attitude would be shaped by the playoff run.

Hamilton is going to get 8m+ easy, it would be real hard to cobble that kind of cap space together. An equally big question for the cap will be how our goaltending shakes out. We're counting on some of the Andersen savings to fit in Hyman, but if we need to get a more stable goaltending solution there's no real way to pay for that and Hamilton without a huge trade at forward as well.

I'm not completely opposed to that course of action, but it turns into an enormous shakeup.

 

[WTFMAN99]

Hamilton is going to get 8m+ easy, it would be real hard to cobble that kind of cap space together. An equally big question for the cap will be how our goaltending shakes out. We're counting on some of the Andersen savings to fit in Hyman, but if we need to get a more stable goaltending solution there's no real way to pay for that and Hamilton without a huge trade at forward as well.

I'm not completely opposed to that course of action, but it turns into an enormous shakeup.

Anything short of real playoff success should result in massive change.

JT, Matthews, Marner would be safe.

That's it.

 

[LeafGrief]

Anything short of real playoff success should result in massive change.

JT, Matthews, Marner would be safe.

That's it.

Yeah, I see it that way too. Really depends how big they want to go on "massive change". Rielly alone is a shakeup to the group, but if Rielly, Nylander, and Andersen are all gone that's one of the biggest core shakeups the league has seen in years, especially for a non-rebuilding team.

Hopefully they just win and save themselves the trouble!

 

[Fogelhund]

Yeah, I see it that way too. Really depends how big they want to go on "massive change". Rielly alone is a shakeup to the group, but if Rielly, Nylander, and Andersen are all gone that's one of the biggest core shakeups the league has seen in years, especially for a non-rebuilding team.

Hopefully they just win and save themselves the trouble!

Exactly. I can't disagree that those would be the pieces we'd lose. But, let's hope they win, and the movement is less drastic.

Even if they win, I can see moving on from Rielly, unless he is a star in the playoffs.