Player Discussion Morgan Rielly

[Stephen]

That same Pietro summer signed also had Josi (6'1) and Spurgeon (5'9) signing big money deal. If I look at comparable deals around that time, say kicking in from 2020 (Pietro, Josi) to 2022 (Mo, Nurse, Jones, McAvoy) the average height is 6'2.

I'd argue that Werenski, Mo and McAvoy are a closer build to eachother than they are to either Adam Fox or Seth Jones as well.

That’s fine.

I mean I wouldn’t say Spurgeon is part of that group, similar to the way Morgan isn’t he isn’t in that pay bracket. Maybe the recap on market trends is Norris guys like Josi and Fox got paid as deserved, but the market was willing to also overpay for Nurse and Jones based on the value of Petro setting the bar around $9 million.

End of the day, a 6’3” plus cornerstone defenseman is something I could understand teams speculating on and overpaying for. Imagine a prime age Tanev with offense. It’s a $$$ player type.

 

[IPS]

They're all 6ft2 until you meet them in person

I'm sure there's some D who have their height listed right. Darnell Nurse for example just watching him you could easily believe he's 6'4", but yeah i'd honestly think 80+% of all player heights listed aren't correct at all.

 

[Dekes For Days]

There was a run on 5 defensemen of massive quality difference each making between $8.8 million and $9.5 million all signed within a 12 month time period between late 2020 and fall 2021. Pietrangelo, Jones, Nurse, Werenski and Hamilton. Each were seen as number one workhorse defensemen who brought size but of varying career track record, age, RFA vs UFA status.

McAvoy and Fox didn’t fit into that size requirement but got $9 million plus. Fox was a Norris winner and McAvoy is a classic franchise defenseman at any size.

Morgan was paid a lot less than that group but you could make the argument he was better than at least Jones and Nurse at the time. So obviously he didn’t get paid like a 6’3” plus franchise cornerstone on D that the market valued.

Cherry picking a handful of tall defensemen that got big contracts does not mean they got big contracts because they were tall. Defensemen of all different sizes get big contracts, as you've been shown. You even gave multiple examples that contradict your own claim.

Close to half of the 7m+ defensemen in the league are Rielly's height or smaller. The smallest defenseman in the league got more than Rielly. The highest defenseman cap hit belongs to a 6'0" defenseman. The second highest defenseman contract belongs to a 6'1" defenseman. And in a couple years, we will likely see a 5'11" take the lead.

Rielly's contract has nothing to do with his height, which for the record, is an average height.

 

[Stephen]

Cherry picking a handful of tall defensemen that got big contracts does not mean they got big contracts because they were tall. Defensemen of all different sizes get big contracts, as you've been shown. You even gave multiple examples that contradict your own claim.

Close to half of the 7m+ defensemen in the league are Rielly's height or smaller. The smallest defenseman in the league got more than Rielly. The highest defenseman cap hit belongs to a 6'0" defenseman. The second highest defenseman contract belongs to a 6'1" defenseman. And in a couple years, we will likely see a 5'11" take the lead.

Rielly's contract has nothing to do with his height, which for the record, is an average height.

These guys were all considered number one-ish defensemen who signed in the 2020 and 2021 calendar years who would be considered number one defensemen.

Other guys making $9 million plus who don’t fit into the size category would be Josi, Fox and McAvoy, while someone like Spurgeon and Rielly would be number one-ish guys who didn’t hit the $9 million.

So between Pietrangelo, Hamilton, Werenski, Jones, Nurse, I see a market trend where a range of variance in ability, track record, RFA vs UFA but the common thread is teams were willing to get to a certain level to have that type of 6’3” guy as a number one.

Beyond that, feel free to disagree.

 

[Ports]

Other than a season of Barrie we have never really had a mobile or offensively capable defense this window. Dubas’ adds on D were Muzzin, Brodie, McCabe and a who’s who of Polak impressionists like Lyub, Schenn, Bogosian, Benn, etc. Sandin was our most offensively inclined guy behind Rielly and he was slow as shit. We never tried to go full Colorado where they had a smooth skating high IQ D on every pair. Possession heavy speedsters is having one of Makar, Towes, Girard, and Byram on the ice all 60 minutes, we never came close to that.

No money to pay those type of players. Too much money used on similar type star forwards. Perhaps that changes this summer.

 

[Ports]

Terrific game last night. Notably, he was using his legs to jump in on the rush and create chances. That's what he needs to do: can't play scared. He is a Ferrari, not an F150.

Some good. Some bad but definitely better. I’m not buying Rielly stock yet though. One game is too small a sample.

 

[Gallagbi]

These guys were all considered number one-ish defensemen who signed in the 2020 and 2021 calendar years who would be considered number one defensemen.

Other guys making $9 million plus who don’t fit into the size category would be Josi, Fox and McAvoy, while someone like Spurgeon and Rielly would be number one-ish guys who didn’t hit the $9 million.

So between Pietrangelo, Hamilton, Werenski, Jones, Nurse, I see a market trend where a range of variance in ability, track record, RFA vs UFA but the common thread is teams were willing to get to a certain level to have that type of 6’3” guy as a number one.

Beyond that, feel free to disagree.

Some numbers/info for you, do with it what you want

- 8 D had $9M (or higher) deals kick in between 2020-2022
- 4 of them are 6'1 or less
- Average height of that group of 8 is 6'2
- Werenski who you've mentioned a number of times is listed at 6'2, 219lbs

 

[arso40]

Other than a season of Barrie we have never really had a mobile or offensively capable defense this window. Dubas’ adds on D were Muzzin, Brodie, McCabe and a who’s who of Polak impressionists like Lyub, Schenn, Bogosian, Benn, etc. Sandin was our most offensively inclined guy behind Rielly and he was slow as shit. We never tried to go full Colorado where they had a smooth skating high IQ D on every pair. Possession heavy speedsters is having one of Makar, Towes, Girard, and Byram on the ice all 60 minutes, we never came close to that.

Sandin is better than rielly higher iq more physical not a defensive liability the move should have been to move off of rielly and keep sandin