Is Morgan Rielly a legit #1 D-man? As in legit top 15 D-man in the league?

[North Cole]

Has Rielly finally emerged as a legit #1D in the eyes of HF?

Can you avoid asking one question in the OP and a different question/multiple questions in the title?

Or give us 4 options - pick two:
Yes/No - 1D
Yes/No - top 15D

I believe he is a 1D. I'm on the fence for him being top 15, but that's not a slight to him...

 

[elmaco]

This is why these threads go on and on.

Aww, i'm sorry to burst your bubble.

 

[Regal]

A little ironic haha.

He's currently sitting at 113th in QoC CF% for defensemen with at least 100 minutes at 5v5 and has a significantly lower QoC xGF% than last season(Corsica sucks and won't sort by it to give you a ranking).

Seems early in the season to use CF metrics. Or is it based on a larger sample? Otherwise someone playing against, say, the Avs top line is going to look like they played easy conpetition

 

[CujosMask]

Voted no. It takes more than a month of great play for me to put someone in the top 15.

Did you discover hockey a month ago?

 

[BM14]

For sure, Tavares is one of our two #1C's.

But in fairness..........just because there are 31 teams, that doesn't mean there are 31 #1D's out there.

Ottawa has no #1D on their team(no #1C either but that's another thread). Neither does Vancouver, Detroit, Colorado, NYR, Edmonton or Anaheim.

That's a bunch of teams without that clear-cut #1D on the roster. To offset that, teams like Nashville and San Jose have several.

Toronto is lucky to have Rielly. He's a #1D for sure.

Absolutely it means the there is a #1 D on every team.
There is one D man deployed as such.

I get what you're saying, but there's no logic in saying there is not 31 #1 Dmen when there are 31 teams who utilize at least 1 player as such.

 

[Andrei79]

Yes, easily. Ignored the #15 caveat because it's a ridiculous and arbitrary number to define what a number 1D is.

But, watching Leafs fans getting all pissy about posters having different opinions has been entertaining.

 

[Pyrophorus]

Aww, i'm sorry to burst your bubble.

Blind hate, you just said because he's a Leaf.

 

[elmaco]

Blind hate, you just said because he's a Leaf.

That's a negative, i love Matthews.

 

[typicalsavage]

Let’s see. In no order.

Doughty
Subban
Hedman
Karlsson
Burns
Josi
Suter
Pietrangelo
Giordano
Jones
Carlson
Letang
Klingberg
OEL

Off my top are better but he’s right there with the next group so I guess I’d vote yes. Top 15ish, but certainly a number 1.

He's better than Klingberg and Giordano. I think he's as good as Jones, Carlson.

 

[A1LeafNation]

This is only the beginning for Rielly.

He is elite.

 

[typicalsavage]

He's a fringe number 1 Dman. He's as much a number 1 D as Turris is a number 1 C. Both kind of fit the description of their roles and even production but you won't win with either as the head of the charge. So therefore he isn't a number 1 D for me.

The current number 1 D's in the league

Karlsson
Doughty
Subban
Josi
Hedman
Giordano
Burns
Pietrangelo
Letang
Suter
McDonagh
Keith
Jones
OEL
Lindholm
Ekblad
Carlson
Byfuglien

Then you have those young guys who have potential to be legit number 1's but need a season or two more to be solidified with that title

Dahlin (already close)
Provorov(already close)
Werenski (already close)
Miro
Chabot
MacAvoy
Sergachev

Then you have those bordering number 1 D territory but more as offensive defenders who don't have a bit more pedigree to be considered flat out number 1s. Or defenders who are absolutely elite defensively but need to add a bit more offensive to be legit number 1's. IMPORTANT NOTE: These defenders can put up seasons like legit number 1 guys but they fluctuate and are not consistent enough to be considered established flat out number 1 guys but rather TOP PAIRING DEFENDERS.

Klingberg
Yandle
Rielly
Barrie
Vlasic
Seabrook
Faulk
Risto
E.Johnson
Fowler
Slavin
Brodie

and a few more

Theres so much wrong with this I wonder if you actually watch hockey. Im not even referring to just Rielly. McDonagh, Lindholm and Ekblad are not #1d. Rielly, Klingberg, Vlasic and Slavin are much better than those guys and the fact that you've have them grouped with Yandle, Risto, Brodie, Faulk is an insult. . Dahlin already close to a #1d? Yeah you're funny. Byfuglien doesn't even play a shutdown role, Trouba and Morrissey do. Brent f***ing Seabrook is a top pairing dman??? I don't even think he's a top 4 dman at this point. Kyle Turris is a 2nd line centre. Morgan Rielly is a bonafide #1dman, totally different. Jesus Christ im questioning whether this was a troll post because it is downright awful.

 

[typicalsavage]

Provorov and Ghost are easily better

You would think with two men better than Rielly on their d-core along with Sanheim who Flyers fans fawn over the Flyers wouldn't be awful.

 

[StoneHands]

You would think with two men better than Rielly on their d-core along with Sanheim who Flyers fans fawn over the Flyers wouldn't be awful.

Provorov and Ghost are great and Sanheim is looking better and better but still not close to being a top pairing guy. After that they have Gudas, Hagg, MacDonald and Folin who are all 3rd pairing or 7th defenseman. Provorov and Ghost have spent a lot of time playing together so they essentially have a #4 and four #6-#7s playing 40 minutes a night.

 

[KingTux]

He's a #1 defenceman

He's not in the top 15

 

[member 147413]

This thread will look funny at the end of the year.

 

[triggrman]

He's better than Klingberg and Giordano. I think he's as good as Jones, Carlson.

I'll have to respectfully disagree, he's not close to Jones' level. I think Jones is one of the leagues elite defenders, top 5.

 

[ReginKarlssonLehner]

Theres so much wrong with this I wonder if you actually watch hockey. Im not even referring to just Rielly. McDonagh, Lindholm and Ekblad are not #1d. Rielly, Klingberg, Vlasic and Slavin are much better than those guys and the fact that you've have them grouped with Yandle, Risto, Brodie, Faulk is an insult. . Dahlin already close to a #1d? Yeah you're funny. Byfuglien doesn't even play a shutdown role, Trouba and Morrissey do. Brent ****ing Seabrook is a top pairing dman??? I don't even think he's a top 4 dman at this point. Kyle Turris is a 2nd line centre. Morgan Rielly is a bonafide #1dman, totally different. Jesus Christ im questioning whether this was a troll post because it is downright awful.

Cant wait to see the leafs win a cup with Rielly as their best defender. Can't wait. Btw, McDonagh, Lindholm and Ekblad > Rielly. Absolutely hilarious how you call me out for saying Lindholm is not a number 1 D then you turn around and say Vlasic is much better. You don't know Lindholm do you, lol.

 

[Saidin]

Cant wait to see the leafs win a cup with Rielly as their best defender. Can't wait. Btw, McDonagh, Lindholm and Ekblad > Rielly. Absolutely hilarious how you call me out for saying Lindholm is not a number 1 D then you turn around and say Vlasic is much better. You don't know Lindholm do you, lol.

Agreed. Anaheim is SOOO FAAAAR away why would anyone watch him.

 

[LivingRentFree]

Cant wait to see the leafs win a cup with Rielly as their best defender. Can't wait. Btw, McDonagh, Lindholm and Ekblad > Rielly. Absolutely hilarious how you call me out for saying Lindholm is not a number 1 D then you turn around and say Vlasic is much better. You don't know Lindholm do you, lol.

The guys you named are closer to Jake Gardiner than Morgan Rielly. Lindholm is not, and will never be, anything more than a #2

 

[triggrman]

Teams with worse #1s than Reilly have won the cup, so I don't understand that argument. Hell, Vegas last year played in the finals with who as their number 1?

The year my Preds played in the Finals, I don't know who was Pittsburgh number 1 was, it didn't matter, they had Malkin, Crosby, a team commitment to defense and a hot goalie.

 

[CantLoseWithMatthews]

Cant wait to see the leafs win a cup with Rielly as their best defender. Can't wait. Btw, McDonagh, Lindholm and Ekblad > Rielly. Absolutely hilarious how you call me out for saying Lindholm is not a number 1 D then you turn around and say Vlasic is much better. You don't know Lindholm do you, lol.

none of those guys are better than Rielly. Ekblad in particular isn't even close

 

[Volica]

He's better than Klingberg and Giordano. I think he's as good as Jones, Carlson.

 

[Volica]

none of those guys are better than Rielly. Ekblad in particular isn't even close

Lindholm, for you guys that can't stay up to watch him, is a legit #1 Dman.
At best, those two are a wash. At worst, Lindholm's track record far supersedes Rielly's. Lindholm's been a big dog in the Pacific for a few years now. Two different D's though. One guy is a stay-at-home elite shutdown guy. The other is an offensive Dman.

Like I said before. Reilly is a 1D on a lot of teams in the league, so I think he's a 1D... I have a hard time putting him in the top 15 on any given night; especially when considering more than a 14 game track record. I thought he was quite good last year; but not above some of the guys who have been doing it for 5 years+.

 

[Silky mitts]

To me by definition there are 31 #1 D, some teams can have 0 or 2 or 3, but saying there are 15 when SJ has Burns, EK, and Vlasic, then how many teams have any

 

[CantLoseWithMatthews]

Lindholm, for you guys that can't stay up to watch him, is a legit #1 Dman.
At best, those two are a wash. At worst, Lindholm's track record far supersedes Rielly's. Lindholm's been a big dog in the Pacific for a few years now. Two different D's though. One guy is a stay-at-home elite shutdown guy. The other is an offensive Dman.

Like I said before. Reilly is a 1D on a lot of teams in the league, so I think he's a 1D... I have a hard time putting him in the top 15 on any given night; especially when considering more than a 14 game track record. I thought he was quite good last year; but not above some of the guys who have been doing it for 5 years+.

Even if you think there's no argument to take Rielly over Lindholm (which is wrong), there is really no argument to say Rielly is a whole tier behind. imagine how he'd look if he had Manson as his partner instead of Hainsey. Calling Lindholm an elite shutdown guy while Rielly is merely an "offensive Dman" is using biased language that is fooling nobody