Player Discussion Morgan Rielly

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Timmins has the 4th most points/60 of our D. He's our second best goals against/60 D, while on the ice.

Benoit certainly is physical. He is also the worst of our seven D in possession, expected goals %, is the worst offensive player.

They are both limited players, for different reasons. Benoit is one of our 4 LD, the fourth best. Timmins is one of our 3 RD, the 2nd best. Benoit had a better year last year, but hasn't been good this year.
I’ll take physical in the playoffs over whatever you see in Timmins. He’ll be spinning like a top out there and falling down as soon as the temperature gets dialed up.
 
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I’ll take physical in the playoffs over whatever you see in Timmins. He’ll be spinning like a top out there and falling down as soon as the temperature gets dialed up.
Agreed, for whatever else they might be I see Timmy carrying a higher likelihood of being a liability and exploited in the playoffs versus Benny.

Ideally Benny sharpens up a bit down the stretch though.
 
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Not for nothing, but this Tampa game was Morgan's best game in what seems like a century.

Simple, nearly mistake free, a couple good finds and rushes on the O side, and not a single unforced icing!!!! Hahaaaa..

Good for him. Baby steps at this point.

Silver lining of positivity here. Sure. I get it.

But our best defenseman offensively and Defensively - Mccabe, is now playing NOT at 100% his best self on his off side. Bandaid solution here. BIG TIME.

Not a joke when you're talking about playing Florida in a best of 7.
NJ? Caps? Avs? Oilers? Stars?

Mccabe is going to make weaker pass plays because he needs to shelter our 7 Million dollar Dman.
WHAT A JOKE. With 7MIL we can get 2 guys who can play like OEL and we would be better off, and stop cycles much faster and start wearing out teams.

I'm glad everyone's starting to say him being a good guy, good locker room guy bla bla bla isn't good enough. A lot of guys have babys and still play fine FFS. Not an excuse. Millionaires can get another silent room FFS.Pasta just had one and he kicked our asses every year.

ITS NOT WORKING.

Time for management to grow a pair after 9 years and make some real moves. We aren't winning anything by sheltering 7 million dollars for a -14 dman.
 
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Silver lining of positivity here. Sure. I get it.

But our best defenseman offensively and Defensively - Mccabe, is now playing NOT at 100% his best self on his off side. Bandaid solution here. BIG TIME.

Not a joke when you're talking about playing Florida in a best of 7.
NJ? Caps? Avs? Oilers? Stars?

Mccabe is going to make weaker pass plays because he needs to shelter our 7 Million dollar Dman.
WHAT A JOKE. With 7MIL we can get 2 guys who can play like OEL and we would be better off, and stop cycles much faster and start wearing out teams.

I'm glad everyone's starting to say him being a good guy, good locker room guy bla bla bla isn't good enough. A lot of guys have babys and still play fine FFS. Not an excuse. Millionaires can get another silent room FFS.Pasta just had one and he kicked our asses every year.

ITS NOT WORKING.

Time for management to grow a pair after 9 years and make some real moves. We aren't winning anything by sheltering 7 million dollars for a -14 dman.
I hear ya. Not a lot we can do in his case, unfortunately. So ya gotta give Craig a chance to see what he can do with a pretty bad and aging even worse contract situation we're in. If we can get tonight's performance out of him, and honestly - McCabe was stellar too on his off-side - then I guess Chief knows a thing or two, and we all need to hope for the best.

You're right --> The reality is we can't do without a better version of this player than he has shown to date - so we gotta hope he can work through the cobwebs in time to flip a switch for rhe playoffs. Last time he had a good playoff, he stunk in the regular season too - so let's hope it's at least a positive trend here again.
 
I hear ya. Not a lot we can do in his case, unfortunately. So ya gotta give Craig a chance to see what he can do with a pretty bad and aging even worse contract situation we're in. If we can get tonight's performance out of him, and honestly - McCabe was stellar too on his off-side - then I guess Chief knows a thing or two, and we all need to hope for the best.

You're right --> The reality is we can't do without a better version of this player than he has shown to date - so we gotta hope he can work through the cobwebs in time to flip a switch for rhe playoffs. Last time he had a good playoff, he stunk in the regular season too - so let's hope it's at least a positive trend here again.
Last time he had a bad regular season(last season) he had a bad playoffs so eh....

I'm just hoping for a clutch playoffs.
 
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He isnt a great leader at all. What can he say to the room ? Dig in ? He doesnt dig in, He cant talk about "winning matters" because he does nothing to prove that. The way he plays he shouldnt be saying one word to that room.
Regardless, I just hope the team realizes he's a problem, and I think Berube does. I don't believe Berube really likes his game, as it doesn't align well with how he wants to play. Hopefully, we can get a trade done this year or next year.
 
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Regardless, I just hope the team realizes he's a problem, and I think Berube does. I don't believe Berube really likes his game, as it doesn't align well with how he wants to play. Hopefully, we can get a trade done this year or next year.
I dont think u can trade him this year, he makes 10 million. Next year he makes 8 million. After that he has 4 years left and is paid 6 million per, while carrying a 7.5 million cap hit. Only a dummy like Dubas would want Reilly at that money.
 
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I dont think u can trade him this year, he makes 10 million. Next year he makes 8 million. After that he has 4 years left and is paid 6 million per, while carrying a 7.5 million cap hit. Only a dummy like Dubas would want Reilly at that money.
You can trade anybody if you really wanted it done. Worse contracts have been traded/moved, he still has value just not with us.
 
How would that work in this case?
By telling him he's not apart of the plan anymore, and then trading him... the same way it would work for any team trying to get rid of a player they no longer want... No player is going to stay somewhere they aren't wanted, if they make it clear to him they want to move on he will give the team his trade list.
 
By telling him he's not apart of the plan anymore, and then trading him... the same way it would work for any team trying to get rid of a player they no longer want... No player is going to stay somewhere they aren't wanted, if they make it clear to him they want to move on he will give the team his trade list.
I suppose it could happen but I'd be surprised that he would want to leave his teammates.
Players do enforce their NMC's though, not sure it happens all that often unless the team is out of the playoffs, looking to rebuild, player is pending UFA, stuff like that.
 
Hard to move a player if he wants to stay.
I mean we had so many posts about trading Marner and he wont waive and just hit free agency and there is nothing the team can do.

How about we just move Rielly to forward. I mean he plays no D.
A 6'1" 230lb winger sounds good. He can skate and even though he has no slap shot his wrist shot isnt bad. :)

Can he be any worse than Domi and the likes we have in our bottom six?
 
How about we just move Rielly to forward. I mean he plays no D.
A 6'1" 230lb winger sounds good. He can skate and even though he has no slap shot his wrist shot isnt bad. :)

Can he be any worse than Domi and the likes we have in our bottom six?
Ahhh.. the dream that never dies.

Would love to see it, but somehow / unfortunately - I doubt we ever will.
 
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Huge fan of him, always thought he was miscast as a #1 guy here, and usually had shit partners (be objective, none of his partners have been first line material really). However his play this year is inexcusable. If he can't turn the ship around come playoffs we have to explore trading him.
 
Put Morgan and Tanev together and keep them together until the end. When they click you have a capable cup winning 1st pairing in the playoffs. McCabe and Tanev are a very nice thing but that's not going to get us there.

I like Berube a lot but he's not playing the cards he was given.

McCabe can wait for his new shutdown pairing partner. We're going nowhere with Rielly and Myers together and we ain't going to find Rielly a cup capable 1st pairing defender to play with that's better than Tanev (unless we do...).
 
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You can trade anybody if you really wanted it done. Worse contracts have been traded/moved, he still has value just not with us.
Right now he’s 51st in the league in PPG for defenseman and he has the 6th worst +- . If he’s playing like this they’ll have to eat some of his AAV. Other teams won’t want an aging defenseman who can’t defend and isn’t that good offensively.

Hard to move a player if he wants to stay.
I mean we had so many posts about trading Marner and he wont waive and just hit free agency and there is nothing the team can do.

How about we just move Rielly to forward. I mean he plays no D.
A 6'1" 230lb winger sounds good. He can skate and even though he has no slap shot his wrist shot isnt bad. :)

Can he be any worse than Domi and the likes we have in our bottom six?
It’s worth a try but I don’t think he plays hard enough to be effective and has no jam.
 
Put Morgan and Tanev together and keep them together until the end. When they click you have a capable cup winning 1st pairing in the playoffs. McCabe and Tanev are a very nice thing but that's not going to get us there.

I like Berube a lot but he's not playing the cards he was given.

McCabe can wait for his new shutdown pairing partner. We're going nowhere with Rielly and Myers together and we ain't going to find Rielly a cup capable 1st pairing defender to play with that's better than Tanev (unless we do...).
No way Rielly can ever play top pairing minutes in the playoffs. He’s terrible defensively. He’ll get eaten alive out there and you’ll see him fishing the puck out his own net even more than he is right now. Berube would never take that chance.
 
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No way Rielly can ever play top pairing minutes in the playoffs. He’s terrible defensively. He’ll get eaten alive out there and you’ll see him fishing the puck out his own net even more than he is right now. Berube would never take that chance.
Rielly has always been strong in the playoffs and he hasnt been a minus in five years. Two years ago he may have been the best first round defender league wide. Last year he led the team with 25 mins a game on the strongest playoff d corps we've seen.

Its a mixture of not worrying so much about January hockey and realizing that we have to take what we have and make it work. Realistically, it's impossible to do otherwise at this point.
 

He’s at 22 in 48 total games, way off his pace in his best years, up in the 50-to-60 range. But those Leaf teams weren’t this close to holding first place in the Atlantic Division, a perch Toronto has never held through a full season in this competitive pod. So Rielly isn’t grading his progress just on goals and assists.

“I’m just trying to play in the (Craig Berube) structure,” he said after Tuesday’s practice. “There are more important things for the team. We’re in a good place, growing, learning, improving. I’m no different.”
 
Not for nothing, but this Tampa game was Morgan's best game in what seems like a century.

Simple, nearly mistake free, a couple good finds and rushes on the O side, and not a single unforced icing!!!! Hahaaaa..

Good for him. Baby steps at this point.
Tampa seems to play a fast paced game which suits Rielly's playing style .. it is worth noting that Rielly had his best playoffs against Tampa
 
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Rielly has always been strong in the playoffs and he hasnt been a minus in five years. Two years ago he may have been the best first round defender league wide. Last year he led the team with 25 mins a game on the strongest playoff d corps we've seen.

Its a mixture of not worrying so much about January hockey and realizing that we have to take what we have and make it work. Realistically, it's impossible to do otherwise at this point.
He was terrible against da Bruins .. he couldn't handle da hard forecheck/board play .. he couldn't control his net front .. and he made several brain dead defense reads/errors which concluded with game 7 OT goal against which was by far worst play by a Dman i have ever seen
 
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Rielly has always been strong in the playoffs and he hasnt been a minus in five years. Two years ago he may have been the best first round defender league wide. Last year he led the team with 25 mins a game on the strongest playoff d corps we've seen.

Its a mixture of not worrying so much about January hockey and realizing that we have to take what we have and make it work. Realistically, it's impossible to do otherwise at this point.
Rielly hasn’t played well since the playoff series against Tampa almost two years ago. He was awful against Boston in the playoffs last year. He’s not a consistent playoff performer as Rielly fans like to claim and since when are players only paid to show up for the playoffs when ironically they aren’t getting paid. As the team’s highest paid, longest serving player we should expect him to show up every game and lead the team not have the team need to search for a babysitter to play with him who can cover up for his frequent miscues. Riley will need to play sheltered minutes in the playoffs. They may be able to bring in a RD to help him out but he shouldn’t get too many dzone starts, kill penalties or be on the PP. If he gets his game straightened out and stops floating around his zone and guards the net front he may be able to play some second pairing minutes but Tanev/McCabe should be the shutdown pair and OEL is better LD than Rielly for half the price so to me Rielly should play sheltered minutes on the third pair.
 
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Rielly hasn’t played well since the playoff series against Tampa almost two years ago. He was awful against Boston in the playoffs last year. He’s not a consistent playoff performer as Rielly fans like to claim and since when are players only paid to show up for the playoffs when ironically they aren’t getting paid. As the team’s highest paid, longest serving player we should expect him to show up every game and lead the team not have the team need to search for a babysitter to play with him who can cover up for his frequent miscues. Riley will need to play sheltered minutes in the playoffs. They may be able to bring in a RD to help him out but he shouldn’t get too many dzone starts, kill penalties or be on the PP. If he gets his game straightened out and stops floating around his zone and guards the net front he may be able to play some second pairing minutes but Tanev/McCabe should be the shutdown pair and OEL is better LD than Rielly for half the price so to me Rielly should play sheltered minutes on the third pair.
Over the last three years Rielly is 5th among all defensemen points per game in the playoffs (>7gp). Only Makar, Bouchard, Fox, and Hedman are above him.

He's a +13, which is higher than each of them by a good margin.

24min a night.

Your cup aspirations include parking this asset on the third line and deploying a shutdown top pairing unit with OEL leading the second pair?

Tanev is the perfect partner for Rielly, they should have been together from the beginning of the season until the end. They have both, at their peaks, been by far our best playoff defenseman and phenomenal league wide. That's what Berube needs to get out of them for our best chance at a cup.

He was terrible against da Bruins .. he couldn't handle da hard forecheck/board play .. he couldn't control his net front .. and he made several brain dead defense reads/errors which concluded with game 7 OT goal against which was by far worst play by a Dman i have ever seen
That was regrettable. We need that to not happen this year.
 
Why do people lie and gaslight so much when it comes to discussing this player? It's like none of his detractors can discuss him without constantly telling lies lol.

Just a few takes I've seen on the last couple of pages alone:
  • Rielly is a PP merchant, and that's why his production is as good as it's been (Rielly has been one of the top 5v5 producing d-men for a while now and our PP has sucked of late)
  • Rielly was bad last season and has been bad for multiple seasons now (Rielly has produced at a 55-60 pt pace or better since 2018, and last season paced for 65 pts, was a +7 and was 15th amongst all NHL D in 5v5 pts and 4th in 5v5 GF/60)
  • Rielly sucks at the PP (Rielly is in the top 10 for power play Pts/60 amongst D-men the last 5 years)
  • Rielly hasn't been good since the Tampa series (Rielly was literally our best player against Florida, he led the team in points and +/-, and him and Schenn were our only positive +/- d-men)
  • Rielly was horrible against the Bruins (While this was not his best series and he did not produce as much, he was still on the ice for 6 out of Toronto's 12 measly goals for, and going into game 7 he had only been on the ice for 3 goals against, unfortunately he was terrible in game 7 but he otherwise had a very steady series and controlled the ice when he played)
I will concede that Rielly isn't the strongest defensively, and from D-men who have played at least 1000+ minutes at 5v5 the last three seasons, he's within the bottom quartile for xGA/60, but he's also in the top 15% for xGF/60, so you take the good with the bad. Plus, he generally tightens up defensively in the playoffs. Again, this season he is not doing well and producing below his usual level, but let's not rewrite history and tell lies to try and manipulate people into believing that he has been some junk d-man who fluked his way into putting up points or try to make him look worse.
 

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