Morgan Rielly

[Ports]

Carlo was really, really bad in game 7.. did Rielly finish consuming another D partner so quickly??

No. Give Carlo an actual defenseman as a partner and he’ll be fine. Exactly what you want for $3.5M. A long dman who will clear the net front and can play in their top four. He’s not an issue.

 

[Ports]

How would we replace Rielly? Rielly himself is a mediocre #1 and we don't have anyone close to being able to step into a #1 role and not be seriously miscast.

You don’t need to replace Rielly as a #1 because he’s actually a bottom pairing defender being paid $7.5M. His periodic offensive contributions can be made up for and his cap hit can be used way more effectively. Too many fans think these guys are all irreplaceable. And they’re not. There are plenty of ways to put together a team and dependable goaltending and defense are the start. And without Riellly they will be better in their own zone.

 

[Ports]

It is unfortunate as Rielly seems like a decent human being unlike some of the other passengers here... but Tree needs to play hard ball here. Worst case, he makes his money as the captain of the Marlies. We still have to take the hit but he needs to eat the humble pie that comes with it.

Full NMC. Can’t be sent down to the Marlies. Thanks Dubas.

 

[Ports]

Hey, Oilers fan here. You guys were my team in the east though. Sucks the way it ended for you.

Kinda surprising to see so many of you want to get rid of your best offensive D in Rielly. I felt like a lot of your issues against the Panthers stemmed from your D (the defensive guys everyone here seems to love) being unable to move the puck cleanly through the Panthers aggressive forecheck. We had the same issue against them last year.

Funny to see the weight comments though, he is a lot beefier than I remembered from a couple years ago lol.

Lastly, im seeing the "we'd have to retain to move him" comments, and it makes me wonder how receptive you'd be to a deal for Darnell Nurse? He's our "no one would want this contract" Dman, so it has me curious. Maybe we retain to close the gap in salaries somewhat, or add, idk, more so just think each guy could be maybe improve a bit with a team swap, and fit the teams wants a bit better. Nurse gets a bad wrap, but he isn't a "passenger" but rather quite a good leader, and plays the game you guys seem to be going for, but can put up more pts than anyone else on your blueline(besides rielly). I won't lie, I was a big hater of his last year (especially playoffs) but he has been much better this year for the most part, though he still has moments where he turns his brain off.

Sounds good but there’s no way the Oilers make that trade.

 

[PanniniClaus]

Full NMC. Can’t be sent down to the Marlies. Thanks Dubas.

That is excellent news

 

[Stephen]

Im so sick of the cheerleader bullshit too man.

Rielly used to compete but either his body won't let him do it anymore or his heart isn't into it anymore.

Rielly talks up a real earnest game but good luck remembering the time he came to camp in shape ready to compete, and button down his defensive coverage.

 

[Roo]

You only need a competent D to replace Rielly, it doesn’t have to be a #1, though that doesn’t hurt.

 

[likecheese]

You don’t need to replace Rielly as a #1 because he’s actually a bottom pairing defender being paid $7.5M. His periodic offensive contributions can be made up for and his cap hit can be used way more effectively. Too many fans think these guys are all irreplaceable. And they’re not. There are plenty of ways to put together a team and dependable goaltending and defense are the start. And without Riellly they will be better in their own zone.

Yeah but who is every playoff opponent going to target mercilessly when he's gone?

 

[Ports]

11th in scoring amongst all Dmen over the last 4 years including this year and a player who appears to increase offensive production come playoff time absolutely will get offers from other teams for his full cap hit, if he was made available..

the biggest issue with us moving Mo is that we were already one of the worst defenses in terms of offense in the league and removing Mo makes that significantly worst. so if you remove him who are we replacing him with?

His limited occasional offense is not worth his defensive deficiencies. Other defenseman can step up. It will be a net positive.

 

[Stephen]

His limited occasional offense is not worth his defensive deficiencies. Other defenseman can step up. It will be a net positive.

Sporadic spastic outbursts of rush play and distance shots turning to offense is not worth all the headaches at every other aspect of the game.

 

[Ports]

most offensive Dmen are not great defensively and don't need to be. yes Mo wasn't good this year but he's been fine defensively in the past considering his Offensive production. so I wouldn't move him this year without seeing if he can bounce back. because again there really is no one in UFA that plays his type of game capable of putting up 50-60 points from the back end that we desperately need. a guy who can jump up into the play to create odd man rushes as we have no one else.

Edit: and like I said we were already one of the weakest offensive team from the blue line.

Rielly had 41 points this year and he may continue to regress considering how little he puts into his game and he had by far the worst +/- on the team and one of the worst in the league. Not worth $5M never mind $7.5M. The Leafs have won two playoff rounds in his 12 years on the team. Time to move on. They won’t miss him.

 

[Ports]

Sporadic spastic outbursts of rush play and distance shots turning to offense is not worth all the headaches at every other aspect of the game.

Agree. I don’t see him on the team next season. He’s been given more rope than a schooner.