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Since his return from injury, 3 of the 4 pairings that featured Morgan Rielly have been an abomination. The exception being Rielly-Liljegren



Since his return from injury, 3 of the 4 pairings that featured Morgan Rielly have been an abomination. The exception being Rielly-Liljegren

by ieastass69

37 Comments

  1. ieastass69

    those xGA/60 numbers say a lot man. yeah, small sample size and all but fuck…those are disgusting to look at. the “worst” non rielly pairing is gio-holl and they get stapled to d zone starts and still put up better numbers

  2. Nameless908

    Mo is a top 4 puck moving offensive D man. Not a #1 defensive D man. He’s genuinely bad at defence and needs sheltering. Disagree all you want but the evidence is very clear.

  3. HemiKooks

    It baffles me how hard people try and defend him. He’s absolutely atrocious defensively and Keefe consistently throws him out in tough situations.

    He needs to be super sheltered or else we’re never getting through the first round.

  4. OneNutPhil

    All this says to me is that our trade deadline pickup needs to be a top pair dman

    Tj Brodie lost his consistency and has been injured, Muzzin is probably done for.

    Timmins proved that he’s good but not that good, Holl should never be paired with Rielly and we already knew that.

    So, since we’re left with Rielly-Liljegren. I think Liljegren is better suited with Sandin and we should look for someone to play with Rielly (someone better than Chrychrun).

  5. mattfromjoisey

    Almost like he actually is the problem. Numbers don’t lie

  6. Riddic987

    Please just give me Defencemen who play you know….. Defence… Thanks.

  7. Samurai1221

    We have one of the best if not the best forward group in the league, we don’t need our number one guy to be offensively leaning. We need defensive d men throughout to keep the games close. Our forwards will find a way.

  8. At this point people that don’t acknowledge Rielly has been terrible this year are doing it out of spite. They put their flag in the sand, and they’re unable to change their opinion because they don’t want to be “wrong”.

    It’s not about being right or wrong. It’s about constantly evaluating players, and icing the best lineup to win games. Rielly isn’t like Muzzin where he’s our best defender every playoffs. Rielly’s defensive struggles are magnified in the playoffs.

    This team has enough offensive firepower that we don’t need Rielly jumping into every single rush. When Liljegren and Sandin are on the ice they dominate play without having to take chances. That’s why we were so much better without Rielly. His underlying defensive numbers are among the worst in the league, and every partner he’s with has better numbers away from him.

    The simple fact remains that Rielly is no longer one of our top 4 D. Sandin and Liljegren are legitimate studs on the back end and deserve to be playing 22-25 minutes a night.

    Rielly is an offensive D that need to be sheltered. Statistically he’s closer to Tyson Barrie than he is Hedman or Fox. For 7.5M, Dubas made a mistake. However if the Leafs double down on the mistake by continuing to play him 23 minutes a night then this team will never go far in the playoffs.

  9. 123jazzhandz321

    Rielly-Liljegren

    Sandin-Brodie

    Giordano-Holl

    Needs an extended run of games to really gel, Timmins is a nice piece too he just isn’t in the top 6 defenders on this team.

  10. Brodie Timmins my god

    Actually Giordano Holl more impressive considering the 80% defensive zone start

  11. postmodern_lasagna

    When Brodie is healthy, we should try Rielly at 2LW

  12. I’d tell Reilly he’s got the matthews flu. See what happens.

  13. YanksFanInSF

    Reilly just isn’t it anymore. Never thought I’d say this but it’s time to move him. Sooner the better, he’s a liability come playoffs.

  14. That stint when Reilly/Brodie were out was the best D I’ve seen on the leafs in years.

  15. Judge_Rhinohold

    We are better without Reilly. His contract might be Dubas’ worst move yet.

  16. dingleberry51

    He’s unironically the team’s fourth best D. Maybe even worse right now

  17. CashComprehensive423

    Drop pass Reilly.
    So predictable on the PP it hurts.
    I like the guy but our team was optimal when he was hurt.
    I’d like to see McCann given a few more games. He showed a lot in the couple he played in. I’d say a bit more than Hunt.

  18. UNwanted_Dokken_Tape

    Not to mention an absolute squirt gun of a shot from the point.

  19. Gradieus

    I’ve never been a fan of the D pinching the O-zone. Particularly when players like Matthews pass to players like Holl instead of taking a shot himself. I don’t have all the data in front of me, but surely someone of Matthews’ caliber has a higher scoring chance shooting himself than a D-man who’s a bit more open.

    Rielly has 0 goals this year. He hasn’t had over 5% shooting since 2019. I always get downvoted for saying this, but it makes more sense to let the D D and the shooters shoot when the forwards are of this caliber.

  20. Yes, the replacement for Morgan Rielly does not dramatically change the number of wins this team will have. We paid him like he’s a great defensemen which he isn’t. He’s an offensive defenseman that isn’t good at defending.

  21. dres_sler

    Was Reilly not amazing in the playoffs last year? Who was he playing with?

  22. Grouchy_Ad5755

    The guy’s been banged up all year, comes back and logs a tonne of tough minutes and gets absolutely shit on. Let’s revaluate a week or two after the all-star break before we write this guy off as a total bum

  23. itaintbirds

    Leafs looked better without him in my opinion.

  24. Macklebro

    Liljegren is now our best Dman who could have thought?

  25. EntryDiligent6908

    Such a shame that we’re relying on him to be our defensive staple during this window where we have the best offensive talent in franchise history.

  26. Key-Word1335

    He shit. That’s it. Bottom line. Needs to be moved

  27. TheToddFatheer

    Leaf’s defence have gotten worse since he’s been back, plain and simple.

  28. AdvancedAnalytics

    Reilly’s D zone positioning and rotations have been so bad it throws the entire defensive system off when he is on the ice.

  29. Spuddy14

    He’s gotta play with lilijgren. Lilijgren is our best defenceman

  30. DangleWho

    Rielly-Timmins cost us the game yesterday….change my mind

  31. HawtPackage

    Damn the armchair GMs in this sub are truly taking endless dubs saying that Marner needs to be traded months ago to Keefe being fired to now saying that Reilly needs to be benched and scratched. I’m sure you guys are right again 💀

  32. TravisHenderson77

    According to this the most optimal configuration of our pairings should be:

    Morgan Rielly – Timothy Liljegren – 1.82

    TJ Brodie – Connor Timmins – 0.39

    Mark Giordano – Justin Holl – 1.93

  33. MaxWattage432

    Rielly had been low key trash for awhile

  34. _disasterdino_

    rielly is not your workhorse #1 defenceman, it’s time we understand and accept that

  35. gregvalentinejr

    Loving the fans who are just realizing Rielly can’t play D 🤣

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