Rielly

[HamiltonNHL]

Horrible pinch on the last goal.
Cost us the game

We beat Montreal 8.5/10 in OT.

And he's suicide pinching

Matthews falls/gets tripped and it's over after that.

 

[Stephen]

60 point players, especially d-men, are great but what they do when not scoring is also crucial to any evaluation of them. Rielly normally is a streak scorer, he piles up points for stretches but even then his d is not good, when his scoring goes dormant he's still poor defensively and as someone TO needs to rely on for success he might be TO's poster boy for lack of success in the playoffs. He needs to be propped up to be part of a somewhat respectable 1st pairing d so his future contract isn't any kind of a bargain. Considering that Muzzin and Holl, yes Holl, have been relied upon as TO's defensive mainstays even tho Brodie, a true quality d-man, has been paired with Rielly gives us a the perfect understanding of even what the Leafs think of Rielly.

I think Rielly lacks natural defensive hockey sense and vision at times. He's a terrific rush defenseman who can pile on the offense like you say, but ever notice how the Leafs have always struggled to give him a defense partner? Usually the high end, do it all guys are ones that can babysit anyone and turn them into serviceable partners.

 

[zeke]

Shocking that knives come out for Rielly as soon as he's forced to play with an anchor like Boosh.

 

[HamiltonNHL]

Shocking that knives come out for Rielly as soon as he's forced to play with an anchor like Boosh.

Boosh made Rielly suicide pinch with 3 minutes left in the third ?

Rielly’s offensive mindset blows up more than it should.

Very bad decision last night

 

[TMLAM34]

Hopefully Muzzin comes back soon. Reilly should be reunited with Brodie. Keep Giordano with Liljegren and then Muzzin and Lyubushkin on the third.

 

[ULF_55]

60 point players, especially d-men, are great but what they do when not scoring is also crucial to any evaluation of them. Rielly normally is a streak scorer, he piles up points for stretches but even then his d is not good, when his scoring goes dormant he's still poor defensively and as someone TO needs to rely on for success he might be TO's poster boy for lack of success in the playoffs. He needs to be propped up to be part of a somewhat respectable 1st pairing d so his future contract isn't any kind of a bargain. Considering that Muzzin and Holl, yes Holl, have been relied upon as TO's defensive mainstays even tho Brodie, a true quality d-man, has been paired with Rielly gives us a the perfect understanding of even what the Leafs think of Rielly.

He is an offensive d-man, lack of any physical ability, and average defensively.
I think his new contract is appropriate.

Just watching the winning goal last night and Rielly did no favors to Matthews. Matthews double covered and Rielly heads towards the Habs net rather than supporting Matthews.

 

[HamiltonNHL]

He is an offensive d-man, lack of any physical ability, and average defensively.
I think his new contract is appropriate.

Exactly

I’m glad to have Rielly. He plays a key role for Toronto, seemingly off the ice as well.

I like Defensive D and wouldn’t have resigned him but I’m not in the locker room to assess his contribution there

 

[CabanaBoy5]

He is an offensive d-man, lack of any physical ability, and average defensively.
I think his new contract is appropriate.

Just watching the winning goal last night and Rielly did no favors to Matthews. Matthews double covered and Rielly heads towards the Habs net rather than supporting Matthews.

Rielly has to understand the moment in the game. There was no reason for him to foray into the offensive zone at that point. His poor decision making is compounded by his defensive inadequacies.

 

[Mugzy97]

Rielly is a beast, underrated and under-appreciated by Leafs fans IMO.

 

[Mugzy97]

Shocking that knives come out for Rielly as soon as he's forced to play with an anchor like Boosh.

I don't understand why people want the Rielly - Boosh pairing. We traded Nick Ritchie for the guy, all he can do is hit. He's not very good.

 

[geo25]

It would seem that the easy assumption is that TO's goalies are crap, change the goalie(s) and the problem goes away. I've never seen so much traffic in front of the goalies nor have I seen so many deflections, personally I think the goalies might give up an easy 1 goal per game but beyond that they literally need x-ray vision to have any idea where the puck is at any time. Earlier in the year TO owned the puck and still does , mostly, but teams know that traffic against TO isn't something the Leaf team can handle so those teams are making their opportunities pay. I don't think this is a physicality issue, altho added physicality might help, it is a personnel issue.

It's not totally a d-man issue, the forwards as a whole have wavering commitment to d, but TO's marquee d-man has been and still is not the type of d-man that can be relied on to be productive/responsible when the puck is in his zone. Rielly is a excellent offensive d-man but his d is horrible, don't believe me go back and watch the goals being scored against TO while he's on, zero physicality, no gap control, possibly the best puck watcher on TO even better than the forwards, out of position, rarely/never wins puck battles, the list is quite impressive. I would think that in order for Rielly to be worth his new contract starting next year he absolutely needs to be able to defend, he needs to be able to show and tell Lily, Sandin and Dermott how to play their position because he can. He's the worst offender of TO's d-men who doesn't do the right things to stop the opposition from clogging up the areas in front of Leaf goalies, he drives me nuts.

Kevin Papetti has tracked Dermott's 5v5 xGF% over the last 10 games and also Rielly's, guess who looks considerably worst, incredibly worse.

Why the Maple Leafs may need more than just a defenseman

I see Rielly has a better +/- than any other Leaf d-man but as most tell us that's a crap stat, well Rielly has always needed a responsible/excellent defensive partner which shouldn't be a need of a d-man who'll be making $7.5 mil. per for the next 8 years, TO will always have to pair him with a partner making $5 mil. or more per which adds significantly to the cost of retaining Rielly.

Anyways, I've been pretty much on board with most of Dubie's moves/decisions but the Rielly signing has me very nervous, it screams desperation like the Phanny signing. If TO feels the need to move Dermott, then what should they do with Rielly? Ya, I get that Rielly has to face far tougher opposition than Dermott but then Dermott who is paid like a #6 d-man is outplaying who he plays against and therefore an asset, Rielly as a soon to be paid as a #1 d-man is definitely not outplaying his opposition.

I've been saying that for a couple of years....oh, and he isnot a true #1 D either. Remember his mentor was the great Dion Phaneuf who also was full of bad habits....just my 2 cents

 

[IPS]

Boosh made Rielly suicide pinch with 3 minutes left in the third ?

Rielly’s offensive mindset blows up more than it should.

Very bad decision last night

Boosh also used his telekinesis to force Nylander to give the puck away 2 feet from his own net.

 

[IPS]

Horrible pinch on the last goal.
Cost us the game

We beat Montreal 8.5/10 in OT.

And he's suicide pinching

Matthews falls/gets tripped and it's over after that.

Rielly has a bad habit of putting his D partner into some impossible situations. TJ Brodie basically became the master of defending 2-on-1's because of Rielly's untimely pinches.

 

[The Apologist]

Exactly

I’m glad to have Rielly. He plays a key role for Toronto, seemingly off the ice as well.

I like Defensive D and wouldn’t have resigned him but I’m not in the locker room to assess his contribution there

Thank goodness you're not our GM then....

 

[ULF_55]

Exactly

I’m glad to have Rielly. He plays a key role for Toronto, seemingly off the ice as well.

I like Defensive D and wouldn’t have resigned him but I’m not in the locker room to assess his contribution there

Can't say I love the re-signing, but at least it didn't get to the huge overpay category.

Trouble is even if you had Rielly's cap hit, you probably would be hard pressed to capture another d-man to take his minutes as a UFA.

Good defenders are getting overpaid. And the best defenders are retained.

 

[hobarth]

Rielly is a beast, underrated and under-appreciated by Leafs fans IMO.

Is he tho, I like Rielly being dynamic which he is and can be but some games he's not even noticeable like he goes into some sort of defensive shell which is something he's not good at, in this state he's not an asset. Rielly is having a great year because he is being more consistently dynamic and TO needs dynamic Rielly especially in the playoffs.

What drives me nuts about Rielly is that he's 6'1", 219 lbs but he plays like he's 5'4", he doesn't have a physical thought in his head, he won't under any circumstance use his body as a tool to defend so always loses puck battles, he also has atrocious gap control which means his ability to stymy offensive forays in his zone are severely compromised as he only has his speed and stick to defend with.

 

[AuraSphere]

Come playoff time - I expect the pairings to be as follows:

Rielly - Brodie
Muzzin - Holl
Giordano - Liljegren
Boosh

People are going to say no way Boosh drops out - but really, Holl isn't going anywhere and him and Muzzin have really good chemistry together. Gio and Lilje look great together and Rielly-Brodie look great together.

He'd be the odd man out IMO.

 

[BertCorbeau]

Rielly has eclipsed 60 points for the second time in his career this season.

Having a very strong season.

Fun fact - if he plays out his entire 8 year contract with the Leafs, he’ll pass George Armstrong for most games played as a Leaf.

Actually he could do that in year 7 of his contract if he stays healthy.