I think my frustration with Rielly boils down to feeling like he was part of the solution and taking that for granted without more serious examination and critique.
Then you return to the same old year after year and you look at Rielly’s defensive lapses, low compete level, poor details, special teams work and it just adds up to a player who looks complacent on the ice.
i agree about his defensive lapses, but hard to blame the player for alot of this stuff.
morgan riellys best asset are his legs, which are completely neutralized on the PP, his shot isnt good he doesnt make quick enough decisions with the puck. BUT, when he was taken off the top PP unit he never complained, just went about his work.
hes also been put in a position to have to be our "best" defender when clearly he isnt that. the problem is we have no cap to get him a true 1st pairing shutdown guy to play with.
as for the post season, regardless of recent history i can recall a few series at least where he was our best player(and was that in our only series win with this team).
my reasoning for him is solely that we need a real shakeup of our cap allotment and this teams core has too many ghosts in the playoffs and are too accustomed to losing at this point. i really do think hes worth his salary and a very good player when used properly.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen him throw a hit!
You can’t play D without being somewhat physical IMO.
hes been alot more physical for the most part than marner/JT/willy in the post season. you saying you never seen him throw a hit is just flat out disingenuous. hes not a physical player but hes never run from physical play.