What's the time on ice cut off exactly to be labeled a #1 Dman? I'm curious.
It's obviously subjective. But IMO to be accurately labeled a #1, a defenseman should AT LEAST be in the top 60 of aTOI leaguewide and in the top 2 of aTOI on his own team. He should also be at least one of these three things: elite offensively, outstanding in all situations while posting decent offensive numbers, or top end shutdown defensively.
Rielly is currently 68th among defensemen in aTOI w/ 21:07. He is currently 4th on his own team in aTOI behind Zaitsev w/ 22:55, Gardiner w/ 22:19, and Hainsey w/ 21:44.
Rielly is also 3rd in average shTOI on his own team w/ 1:29, well behind Zaitsev and Hainsey w/ 4:05 and 5:09 respectively. He is much closer to Polak at 0:56. I would argue that this lack of PK time for Rielly shows 2 things: Babcock trusts Hainsey and Zaitsev more than Rielly on the PK and that Rielly cannot truly be said to be outstanding in all situations. Rielly puts up good offensive numbers but not elite IMO, especially 5v5, and I don't think he is not a top end shutdown dman.
Therefore, he is not a legit #1 D-man.
Chris Pronger was 3rd in ice time per game among defenceman on the 2007 Ducks in the playoffs. Clearly he wasn't a #1 guy, right?
You really want to compare 2007 Pronger w/ 2017 Rielly?
Also, where are you getting your stats from? By my count, in the ducks 2006-07 playoff run, Pronger's aTOI was 30:11 second only to Beauchemin w/ 30:33 and ahead of Niedermayer w/ 29:51.
Regardless, it's a really dumb comparison. The situations are nothing alike.