Player Discussion Morgan Rielly

[Da Mash]

I don't even mind him not putting up the points as much as he used to, clearly the coaching style has affected that, but he's really bad defensively this year.

He really hasn’t been very good defensively his whole career.
We always looked at him as an offensive Dman ….but he has never been good on the PP as he has no shot. He skated better early in his career but it seems he has put on NHL weight that has made his greatest asset skating worse IMHO

 

[sunstersun]

He has to get off the PP1.

My concern is if he's off the PP, where is his points gonna come from?

 

[jiggy35]

He needs to unlock some physicality at this point in his career and evolve

 

[MK78]

He really hasn’t been very good defensively his whole career.
We always looked at him as an offensive Dman ….but he has never been good on the PP as he has no shot. He skated better early in his career but it seems he has put on NHL weight that has made his greatest asset skating worse IMHO

Yeah well when you're scoring points as a d-man you will eventually put your team in a bad spot.

But since he's not scoring anymore, he should be concentrating on becoming a better defensive player. so far that hasn't happened.

He has to get off the PP1.

My concern is if he's off the PP, where is his points gonna come from?

they're not coming either way. maybe someone else will.

 

[BraveCanadian]

He has to get off the PP1.

My concern is if he's off the PP, where is his points gonna come from?

Who cares about his points?

 

[sunstersun]

Who cares about his points?

I do. How are we going to trade his awful contract?

 

[BraveCanadian]

I do. How are we going to trade his awful contract?

Here’s the neat thing about trading awful contracts with a NMC.. you don’t.

 

[MK78]

Here’s the neat thing about trading awful contracts with a NMC.. you don’t.

At least the cap is going up consistantly now, so its not gonna be as much of an issue. Leafs will always spend to the cap.

 

[TopCheeseShotta]

A better night against Boston here than almost any this year - and he still was pretty meh.

Last time he had a good playoff he was BRUTAL in the regular season too. So maybe this will be good for him. Seems like he got up for the Boston game at least.

 

[Stephen]

Yeah well when you're scoring points as a d-man you will eventually put your team in a bad spot.

But since he's not scoring anymore, he should be concentrating on becoming a better defensive player. so far that hasn't happened.


they're not coming either way. maybe someone else will.

Rielly's game is all about free flowing instinct and skating based athleticism. The offense comes when he's on a big rush and it's straight lines or joining a rush as a trailing guy or on a pinch, but there's very little command to his game. He can't control the point like a Quinn Hughes. He can't dictate the pace of the game like a Victor Hedman. He doesn't really shine with offensive skill like a Zach Werenski. And as he's now into his 30s he doesn't seem to be maturing into a really solid defender but still kind of runs around in his own end, doesn't defend odd man rushes that well. It just looks sloppy.

 

[Skullz]

Yeah I think this is someone we try and move off in the offseason. Probably impossible though. We’re likely going to have to eat it.
Would be nice to have someone else on the power play though.

 

[TopCheeseShotta]

If we as fans let him know it somehow, he might look in the mirror a bit and adjust...? In Leaf love-in land, this guy thinks its all good to half-ass it every night. My man needs a wakeup call.

 

[Dough72]

all is forgiven if he shows up big in the playoffs like usual

 

[Schennanigans]

We’re stuck with him. Unless we make a move where we get completely fleeced in a deal.

 

[BraveCanadian]

Nice to see him get that winner, but I still think 3on3 OT is sooo bad.

 

[supermann_98]

I do. How are we going to trade his awful contract?

I love how everyone is putting Reilly in mock trades for Petersson or JT Miller or whoever and conveniently ignore the fact he has a NMC and will likely not agree to a trade sending him anywhere. Regardless of what you think of him as a person or a player or whether he deserves a full NMC in his contract, that is what he wanted and that is what the team gave him in contract negotiations

 

[sunstersun]

I love how everyone is putting Reilly in mock trades for Petersson or JT Miller or whoever and conveniently ignore the fact he has a NMC and will likely not agree to a trade sending him anywhere. Regardless of what you think of him as a person or a player or whether he deserves a full NMC in his contract, that is what he wanted and that is what the team gave him in contract negotiations

I don't get how 7.5 mil for Rielly was construed as a discount.

The amount of NMC we hand out is just another sign of our franchise insanity. I could even understand for Marner, Nylander, and Matthews. But Rielly?

Dubas had no marbles in his head.

 

[mclaren55]

Rielly's game is all about free flowing instinct and skating based athleticism. The offense comes when he's on a big rush and it's straight lines or joining a rush as a trailing guy or on a pinch, but there's very little command to his game. He can't control the point like a Quinn Hughes. He can't dictate the pace of the game like a Victor Hedman. He doesn't really shine with offensive skill like a Zach Werenski. And as he's now into his 30s he doesn't seem to be maturing into a really solid defender but still kind of runs around in his own end, doesn't defend odd man rushes that well. It just looks sloppy.

You left out the part where he isn't paid nearly what any of the players you listed are. He isn't Hughes (who signed that 7.9m contract at 22), or Hedman, or Werenski (who makes 2 sheets more per year) and never was projected to be. He is a guy that eats 21mins a night and gives you .5ppg with average defense. It's insane to me that people have watched this guy since he was a kid, and think he is magically going to morph into something he isn't. His contract isn't even bad at this point.

At the end of the day, he has as many goals than the rest of our D combined. He is the only guy that can walk the line on the power play with any control (I see him knock down clears all the time on the PP), his first pass out of the Dzone is typically good-great, and he bleeds blue and sticks up for his teammates. He sucks at clearing the front of the net, and he is prone (this year especially) to loosing his assignment in the Dzone. If he was amazing at those things guess what, he would be getting 9+mil.

He has been paired with mostly AHL level defenceman his entire career (or over the hill vets) and that doesn't seem to be changing anytime soon. Stop complaining about one of the few people on this team that actually shows up in the playoffs.

 

[mclaren55]

I don't get how 7.5 mil for Rielly was construed as a discount.

The amount of NMC we hand out is just another sign of our franchise insanity. I could even understand for Marner, Nylander, and Matthews. But Rielly?

Dubas had no marbles in his head.

He is somewhere around 30th highest paid Dman in the league. He took a discount at the time considering his 20 goal season was only 2 or 3 removed from that contract. It was reported at the time he could get 8+ on the open market.

 

[sunstersun]

He is somewhere around 30th highest paid Dman in the league. He took a discount at the time considering his 20 goal season was only 2 or 3 removed from that contract. It was reported at the time he could get 8+ on the open market.

Sigh, you're right. I'm just devastated at the albatross of a contract and performance that is Rielly this season and projected going forward.

 

[Stephen]

You left out the part where he isn't paid nearly what any of the players you listed are. He isn't Hughes (who signed that 7.9m contract at 22), or Hedman, or Werenski (who makes 2 sheets more per year) and never was projected to be. He is a guy that eats 21mins a night and gives you .5ppg with average defense. It's insane to me that people have watched this guy since he was a kid, and think he is magically going to morph into something he isn't. His contract isn't even bad at this point.

At the end of the day, he has as many goals than the rest of our D combined. He is the only guy that can walk the line on the power play with any control (I see him knock down clears all the time on the PP), his first pass out of the Dzone is typically good-great, and he bleeds blue and sticks up for his teammates. He sucks at clearing the front of the net, and he is prone (this year especially) to loosing his assignment in the Dzone. If he was amazing at those things guess what, he would be getting 9+mil.

He has been paired with mostly AHL level defenceman his entire career (or over the hill vets) and that doesn't seem to be changing anytime soon. Stop complaining about one of the few people on this team that actually shows up in the playoffs.

I don’t want to be especially hard on Mo after he scores a game winner in OT vs Philadelphia the night before.

But I will push back on your general sentiments that we didn’t pay max super premium so just deal with it. What Mo gives us is generally not number one defenseman material.

Sure he isn’t overpaid like a Darnell Nurse, and of course he makes less than Quinn Hughes. But we pay him enough on the salary scale that he could be a strong number one defenseman. Victor Hedman made $7.8 on his two time championship winning contract. Don’t make excuses on this mileage vs pay scale nonsense. A player can outperform the dollars he’s making. If anything this just underscores the need to have a $9 million plus defenseman playing at a $9 million value.

 

[LeafsNet]

Put some respek on my name - Morgan Birdman Rielly

Are ya hearing or are ya listening?

 

[JT AM da real deal]

all is forgiven if he shows up big in the playoffs like usual

Not last year he was da reason we lost in game 7 OT .. most D get cut for that .. but he was great against Tampa to be fair in our only playoff win .. i would say his playoff performance is UP and DOWN like a toilet seat .. anywho I think he is a great leader but his defensive play is so weak it hurts team overall .. as his skating continues to decline he will work his way out of da league

 

[mclaren55]

I don’t want to be especially hard on Mo after he scores a game winner in OT vs Philadelphia the night before.

But I will push back on your general sentiments that we didn’t pay max super premium so just deal with it. What Mo gives us is generally not number one defenseman material.

Sure he isn’t overpaid like a Darnell Nurse, and of course he makes less than Quinn Hughes. But we pay him enough on the salary scale that he could be a strong number one defenseman. Victor Hedman made $7.8 on his two time championship winning contract. Don’t make excuses on this mileage vs pay scale nonsense. A player can outperform the dollars he’s making. If anything this just underscores the need to have a $9 million plus defenseman playing at a $9 million value.

The fact that since he has entered the league he is 13th in P/GP in the playoffs while logging 24.5mins a night should be more than enough to convince you that he is worth his contract. Nevermind the fact that he is +14 post season, and blocks/fights/hits. Outside of McCabe recently, I haven't seen anyone on this team sacrifice as much as Reilly post season.