Morgan Rielly scores 60th point of season- First Leaf defender since 2006

[BayStreetBully]

I’m loving his game this year. Looks so much more assertive on the puck, and fantastic production to boot. Already has career highs in goals, points and assists.

Only Turnbull, Salming, McCabe and Kaberle now have more points among Toronto defencemen than Rielly’s 63, and Rielly is certain to pass both McCabe and Kaberle’s high.

And with a +31, he’s 2nd league-wide among all NHLers, only behind partner Ron Hainsey with a league-high +36.

Safe to say he’s having the greatest season by a Leafs’ defenceman since Borje Salming in the early 80’s?

 

[Loosie]

Reading the Norris thread on the main board Rielly's apparently not even worthy of mentioning anymore.

The main board will never call a Leaf a favorite for any major award. Even in Matthews rookie season there was a large amount saying Laine deserved it more than Matthews.

 

[NoName]

The main board will never call a Leaf a favorite for any major award. Even in Matthews rookie season there was a large amount saying Laine deserved it more than Matthews.

I mean to be fair right now Burns has to be the favorite for the Norris; he has name recognition and his offense this season is insane (he has a real shot at cracking 90 points, which would be something we haven't seen from a defender in decades).

Anyway, take solace in the fact that the only award that really matters isn't decided by a popularity contest. If Morgan leads this team to ending their drought I don't think anyone will care about the other hardware.

 

[BayStreetBully]

I mean to be fair right now Burns has to be the favorite for the Norris; he has name recognition and his offense this season is insane (he has a real shot at cracking 90 points, which would be something we haven't seen from a defender in decades).

Anyway, take solace in the fact that the only award that really matters isn't decided by a popularity contest. If Morgan leads this team to ending their drought I don't think anyone will care about the other hardware.

I think it’ll go down to the wire. All 3 of Toronto, San Jose and Calgary are playing extremely well, as are Rielly, Burns and Giordano personally. It should go down to whoever has momentum to end the season, in addition to how their respective teams fare. If Toronto plays better than SJ and Calgary down the stretch, and if Rielly can further close the points gap between him and Burns, then he’s got a shot at the Norris.

 

[zeke]

Burns really shouldn't be in the conversation. He's a truly sheltered dman, with Vlasic-Braun taking all the heavy competition, and even Karlsson facing much tougher competition. He's also far more PP-reliant for his scoring than either Rielly or Gio. He's the poster boy for offensive stats being misleading.

Meanwhile, Mo and Gio both face elite quality of competition and are their team's matchup dman for every team's top line.

For my money, the 3 norris finalists should be Gio, Rielly, and Letang. And I'd probably give it to Gio in the end.

 

[The Man with a Plan]

17 points in his last 16 games to set the Leafs record for points in a season by a D.

Norris or not. He has had one hell of a breakout season.

 

[diceman934]

I have always said that Rielly will be and then is a number one D man. We get Muzzin and people start with Muzzin is better crap. Well he is not and it’s not close at all. Rielly is not the most physical D man for sure but he is among the strongest and we are watching a transformation of him being far more assertive physical in his game as well as an offensive beast playing head to head against the best players in the Lesgue.

Norris would be nice. But he could win the Lady Bing as his stats are fantastic and I highly doubt there is one player in the league that would not agree that Morgan is a class act at all times.

 

[notDatsyuk]

What I find interesting is the partner aspect. When Turnbull and Salming set the records for Leaf D, they played together. When Kaberle and McCabe were the most recent, they played together. Rielly is doing it by himself, as far as a defence partner goes. Gardiner is second in points, but with less than half as many, and they don't play together. Larry Murphy is the only other one who did it 'by himself'.

A large part of it is the trend of only one defenceman on the PP. Salming and Turnbull worked the PP together, as did McCabe and Kaberle.

 

[NoName]

What I find interesting is the partner aspect. When Turnbull and Salming set the records for Leaf D, they played together. When Kaberle and McCabe were the most recent, they played together. Rielly is doing it by himself, as far as a defence partner goes. Gardiner is second in points, but with less than half as many, and they don't play together. Larry Murphy is the only other one who did it 'by himself'.

A large part of it is the trend of only one defenceman on the PP. Salming and Turnbull worked the PP together, as did McCabe and Kaberle.

Yeah, Rielly doesn’t have another 60+ point defender anchoring the blue-line and the powerplay for him. However, he does get to pass to a much better forward corps then Salming or Kaberle ever had, so somehow I don’t think he minds that much

 

[BayStreetBully]

Yeah, Rielly doesn’t have another 60+ point defender anchoring the blue-line and the powerplay for him. However, he does get to pass to a much better forward corps then Salming or Kaberle ever had, so somehow I don’t think he minds that much

It’s a shame Sittler and McDonald were traded so soon into their careers. Salming was en route to becoming one of the most accomplished defencemen in history (even moreso) when those trades happened. I wasn’t around to witness it, but I wonder if it was coincidence or if he lost motivation/support after that. He looked to be a monster every year until those trades happened.

 

[notDatsyuk]

Yeah, Rielly doesn’t have another 60+ point defender anchoring the blue-line and the powerplay for him. However, he does get to pass to a much better forward corps then Salming or Kaberle ever had, so somehow I don’t think he minds that much

Yeah - Rielly doesn't have Salming or McCabe playing the right point on the PP. The poor man has to make do with Marner!

 

[1specter]

Here's a great piece on Rielly, even though it's a Koshan Toronto Sun article.

Rielly’s initial thoughts about the Leafs have helped bring him to where he is today

In the weeks before the NHL draft, Dave Morrison, the Leafs’ director of amateur scouting at the time, and Dave Poulin, then the Leafs’ vice-president of hockey operations, travelled across the country to meet with Rielly and his parents at the family home in West Vancouver.

The Leafs knew all about Rielly the player, even though a knee injury limited him to 23 games, including playoffs, during his draft year with the Moose Jaw Warriors of the Western Hockey League.

As much as the club wished to learn more about the 18-year-old they were quite certain they were going to pick with the fifth selection, Rielly was just as curious to wonder what he would be thinking once the day was over.
The group, including Rielly’s parents Andy and Shirley, settled at the dining room table to have a meal.

“I really recall my mom and dad taking it really seriously, which was a big indication to me that the two of them wanted me to have success because of the lengths they went to make a good impression,” Rielly said. “They really wanted to paint a good picture for those guys.

“I was over the moon with what was going on. When they left, all I could really think about was playing for the Leafs.