Starting a team: Morgan Rielly vs Charlie McAvoy

[Spirit of 67]

Oh, no. I apologize. I was more elaborating my feelings on what you said. You obviously didn’t agree, and I agree with you that this does seem to be the case recently. It’s not a trend I like.

I don’t care what Rielly was last season, in regards to the Norris. If he deserves to win it when the final game is played, he deserves to win it. I don’t care if his competition has more history and longevity. The award is for this season only.

Yes it should.

But, like so much with this league, it is what it is. I don't lose sleep over it.

 

[34]

Giordano isn’t in this poll.

Gio ain’t going to win anything.

 

[Regal]

At 27 he'll be declining?

You guys really need to stop taking everything so negatively. McAvoy is 21. The logical reading of that post is that the poster believes he will improve to being the better player in a few years, not that Rielly will decline.

 

[wintersej]

Honestly it’s too early to say and this is just pouring gasoline over a couple of fan bases that live to fight.

 

[Sojourn]

Gio ain’t going to win anything.

Not based on half a season, certainly. And neither is Rielly.

 

[34]

Not based on half a season, certainly. And neither is Rielly.

That is it... still hockey to be played.

 

[Bando]

That is it... still hockey to be played.

Thank you for such an astute observation

Tough choice, I think I take mcavoy just because I think he will be a stalwart captain type on the back end. But it is such a fine line I would probably vote rielly on another day.

 

[Takasugi]

Macavoy is a walking bandaid. Cant stay healthy.

Rielly ANIEC. Next please.

 

[Orfieus]

As a Leaf fan why does every other thread have to involve the Leafs?

 

[WetcoastOrca]

Macavoy is a walking bandaid. Cant stay healthy.

Rielly ANIEC. Next please.

So you’re saying Macavoy is the Matthews of defensemen.

 

[Sasso09]

Since Rielly was pretty amazing last season, and REALLY amazing this season, and since he's still just 24 years old.......Rielly.

"Since Rielly was a Leaf last season, and REALLY a Leaf this season, and since he's 3 years older. ...... Rielly"

What everyone read that as

 

[CantLoseWithMatthews]

"Since Rielly was a Leaf last season, and REALLY a Leaf this season, and since he's 3 years older. ...... Rielly"

What everyone read that as

that's still a better analysis than what you came up with for Rielly though

 

[lebdafor norris]

Dude, no. Rielly has been great so far, there is no doubt, but this is not an Erik Karlsson type of offensive year. That’s the type of comment you make when you’re ignorant to what Karlsson was doing, or the circumstances involved.

Karlsson was doing that when no one else was coming close, and he was doing it on a team where he was the leading scorer, or just barely not. Rielly is doing that on one of the best offensive teams in the game, isn’t even close to the top scorer on his team(a 7 point difference between him and the #1 guy), and at a time when scoring is up and there are 4 defensemen currently at a PPG or higher.

Rielly is having a great season, but calling this Erik Karlsson caliber offense is not doing him any favors, or you. You can’t even pretend Rielly is not benefiting from the offensive talent surrounding him. Karlsson was the offensive talent.

Fine, then his putting up Karlsson type numbers almost halfway thru the season (tied for 18th in the league in scoring, which is around the spot Karlsson usually ends up in the scoring race, his 15/16 season being the exception) despite only getting 22:20 minutes per game and fairly low PP minutes in comparison to the other high scoring Dmen in the league. Also, Brent Burns has lead his team in scoring these past 2 seasons so the statement that no one else came close to EK in terms of pure offence might be a bit off, off course if your talking about the full package then you may have a point, EK is a very effective high danger, shot suppressor against top line competition as well, he had Burns clearly beat in that department.

 

[ReginKarlssonLehner]

Definitely McAvoy.

 

[Pay Carl]

McAvoy has been amazing since coming back from injury

If he can stay healthy this is an absolute no-brainer

 

[Isaac Nootin]

"Since Rielly was a Leaf last season, and REALLY a Leaf this season, and since he's 3 years older. ...... Rielly"

What everyone read that as

Rich coming from the guy who believes Gostisbehere > Rielly.

Or Provorov > Dahlin, going forward.

 

[Future]

What has McAvoy done to warrant better results in this poll over Rielly?

Be a non-leaf player?

Rielly, a former top 5 pick, is playing out of his mind right now. A top 3 defenseman this season and on pace for 96 points nearly halfway through the season. Also had a great year last year.

 

[bearcountry17]

What has McAvoy done to warrant better results in this poll over Rielly?

Be a non-leaf player?

Rielly, a former top 5 pick, is playing out of his mind right now. A top 3 defenseman this season and on pace for 96 points nearly halfway through the season. Also had a great year last year.

Because this is not about who’s better now and Mcavoy at 20-21 is a significantly better player than Rielly was at that age.

 

[Future]

Because this is not about who’s better now and Mcavoy at 20-21 is a significantly better player than Rielly was at that age.

Well Rielly was a more highly regarded prospect and he also played on some pretty bad teams his first few years in the league. He never had other great defenseman to rely on and learn from, nor had the fortune of playing on a team with good defensive structure.

Not surprising to see good young players excel in that type of environment. Especially young defenseman.

I get it’s about projection; however, Morgan Rielly is a Norris favorite near the half point of the season and like I said before, on pace for 96 points at the moment. I don’t see that upside in McAvoy.

 

[BostonBruins11]

McAvoy is significantly better at defending and probably has top 5 league passing accuracy

 

[Halla]

McAvoy is gonna be a norris contender, but how do you not go with the guy thats a norris favorite right now?

on pace for 27g/95pts/+50

 

[WetcoastOrca]

Rielly is a great offensive guy but McAvoy projects as the better all round guy. Given their ages I’d have to go with Mac.
What a pick up by the Bruins at that point in the draft. They’ve hit some real good players later in the draft.

 

[Big Cactus]

Rielly is a great offensive guy but McAvoy projects as the better all round guy. Given their ages I’d have to go with Mac.
What a pick up by the Bruins at that point in the draft. They’ve hit some real good players later in the draft.

While I completely agree I’d like to see Reilly once he gets a real defence partner. QOT and more specifically Quality of Linemates is one of the bigger influencers on individual stats/success. Obviously the team around Reilly is great but Ron Hainsey playing on his offside is not. Having even an average 3/4 defenceman playing his strong side could have a large impact on Reilly’s defensive numbers. Both Defencemen are fantastic so I’ll avoid taking a side on this one.

 

[DanM]

Because this is not about who’s better now and Mcavoy at 20-21 is a significantly better player than Rielly was at that age.

In all fairness, Reilly played for some horrid coaches and teams early on. He was always highly regarded coming through junior.

The last two years he has been growing into that hype.

I love Charlie, and he has been great, and played for great teams, with great partners, and I also assume he will only get better, but development is not the same for everyone.

This is a tough one. Not sure who I would choose for sure.

 

[SoldiersOfFilth]

Macavoy is a walking bandaid. Cant stay healthy.

Rielly ANIEC. Next please.

Really? He has missed significant time twice: First was for a heart condition that was fixed and won't ever bother him again. Second was a concussion, which he has quite obviously recovered from.