I’m sorry, longest tenured current Leaf, plays with heart sure but Rielly has been the common denominator for all of the playoff failures in the last 10 years, but he’s gotta go.
At this point even trading him for future considerations and picking a guy up from the waivers would benefit the defence more than continuing to roll out 44.
Arguments of the cap going up and his 7.5M salary not being as bad anymore is not relevant anymore when he’s a net negative out there.
Yes he will score a clutch goal here and there but playing with our top two lines, anyone playing 20 mins out there with them would. I fail to see any arguments of keeping him now.
There’s being cut throat and there’s being intentionally antagonistic. The leafs doing that would dissuade guys from coming here like the other Canadian teams already struggle with
It’s literally one thing that is hurting Rielly and it’s his gap control and ability to prevent zone entries. That is quite literally the only thing his is below average in defensively, and he’s so far below average at that one thing that it just doesn’t matter.
The one issue I have with Entry Denial is that I wish there was a stat for Exit Denial.
Rielly is bad at stopping the rush, but he's actually really good at preventing the Zone Exit on the offensive blueline that leads to the rush. That portion of defence largely goes untracked still.
Carolina has Slavin and Miller on LD ahead of him, Leafs currently have McCabe and OEL on LD. I think its a bit of a different situation and harder to shelter Mo without much better guys ahead of him.
According to OP's own graphic, he's not worse, he's better. That's the most ridiculous part of this post. OP suggests picking up a guy from "the waivers" would be a better option, but that's literally the definition of a replacement level player.
He’s not worse than a #4, that’s just not up for debate for me. So then the haters (if they make it to this step) suggest a buyout. Ok then we have 4M to replace him now instead of 7.5.
We signed bloody 4th liners to 4+ and you think we’re replacing a top 4D for that money? Keep dreaming and stop hating guys.
Leafs fans need to accept that he's not going anywhere this season or next. He's not getting traded, he's not getting bought out, and he's not getting healthy scratched.
He's not getting bought out (at least not yet) because we need him. He's not getting healthy scratched (at least not yet) because we need him. If he gets to the point where he's tradeable, it means he's worth his contract and we absolutely need him.
After next season though, the Leafs will be going through another major transition. A ton of contracts expire, and more relevantly, Mo's NMC becomes a 10-team NTC. Until then, he will most likely remain a Leaf.
So let's all take a step back and accept that Rielly and Leafs fans are stuck with eachother. Might as well root for him.
The problem isn’t Morgan Rielly, the problem is that they have Morgan Rielly, Darren Raddysh, and OEL who frankly all absolutely suck at defending especially off the rush.
You can have one guy like that, maybe two if you if have a very strong minute eating defensive pair, but having three guys that are atrocious at the exact same time is not good team building.
I suspect OEL will be gone by the deadline and someone else from outside the organization will be here in a top 4 role, if that helps to balance the lines and the Leafs can have two truly amazing offensive defenders then that is not something to complain about.
East-West style hockey teams dream of having a guy like Morgan Rielly.
Both Sandin (who barely played with Mo) and Ceci got paid after leaving. Brodie was also very good with Mo until his individual play fell off a cliff (he couldn’t even make our lineup). If anything, that list of partners is damning proof on how hard this team failed to help a miscast #1D.
If you’re gonna say Rielly has been awful then you must also think McCabe and OEL have been bad as well? I get it Rielly doesn’t defend but he’s also the only competent puck mover so far.
There is an inability from hockey fans to understand a dman like McCabe who defends reasonably well but creates zero offence is somehow leaps and bounds better than Rielly who creates chances the other way.
If they could ever properly shelter Rielly and have him play second pair minutes with a reliable defender he’d be more than serviceable.
He still plays d like a forward, I expect those plays when Marner was back there but on the But goal he played the puck instead of the body. Always puck watches, never looks at the chest. Two on ones he takes the shooter and they cross crease goal.
Yeah, I thought the same, he just had to take the man there. Didn't even have to hit him hard. Some light interception there just to throw But half a second off. Hell even taking a penalty would've been better, given our PK.
nobody wants him though that’s the problem. honestly if we moved off him instead of extending him (remember back then his value was high) it would’ve been a steal. def gotten a top 2 guy back imo
The graphic shows that his WAR ranking is at around 25%, i.e. better than about quarter of the players in the league, so about 588th. Currently, the 588th player in WAR ranking is Ethan Del Mastro at WAR of -0.11. WAR of 0 (i.e. right at replacement) is at 528th, or 33% WAR ranking.
So, currently, the OP's chart is showing that Morgan is, in fact, below replacement. Not by a lot, but below nonetheless.
Dude has a full no move clause, so hope he wants to go to Detroit or he is staying. (Moe and Moe would legitimately be a good D pairing.) That being said he was 41st in points among defensemen last year and something like 25th the year before that. Dude scores more than most D in the league even on his bad years.
Here’s what I think needs to happen;
#1. He needs to have his playing time diminished, maybe move someone on a bottom pairing up to see if things work better perhaps someone like OEL or McCabe.
#2. They can outright sit him down, and let them sit in the press box. But that might not do him any good.
I mean, this kind of proves he's still got real value to us, no? He's still great at his offensive niche. We just need to shelter him well and let him keep doing what he's good at.
He's not a top-pair guy at this point and he definitely can't be anywhere close to a shutdown role.
The only time we've seen Rielly come alive in recent years is when he had a stay at home Dman in Schenn. Maybe on the bottom pairing with Stetcher or someone? Unfortunately no Tanev, so there isn't much to work with unless they bring up Danford and put him up in the top 4 (also not ideal right away I feel).
Morgan Rielly is a reminder of all the losing he has been part of on the Leafs including two of the biggest collapses in playoff hockey history.
He represents what it is to be a loser. It's been 14 years, one team. No one looks to Morgan Rielly for inspiration or the future but he's ok with the arrangement and that should be the biggest red flag there is. He's mid. Milquetoast mid but he knows how to be the grey man. Move him asap.
People don't realize how bad Reilly is he is costing us games. Our record without him is 22-5-1, A defensemen needs to be able to play ... you know... defense. His offense is not good enough to offset how horrific he is defensively, just buy him out at this point with the cap going up it won't be that bad for 3 years.
How is it blind hate when it’s been a major topic of discussion for several outlets for years now lol. If it didn’t meet the rules the mods can take it down. Why are you taking time out of your day to comment and express your displeasure if it’s really bothering you are you new to the internet? You’re acting like this sub is your personal bulletin board that should be catered to you
It’s been discussed TO DEATH. There is no discussion happening in this thread, read it. It’s just blind hate and you know it. This should not be a post on a teams subreddit it should go into the daily thread. Sounds like you want this sub to be catered to you from my pov because this IS in fact a low quality hate post and does break r/leafs rules.
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u/Jolly_Concert7503 Clark 17h ago
This isn't franchise mode, you can't just flip him for futures because you're mad at him.