Toronto Maple Leafs: Has Cody Ceci Played Better Than Morgan Rielly?

Four games into the NHL season and I’m already questioning the Toronto Maple Leafs defense.

A short, but very intriguing start for the Toronto Maple Leafs, who are third in the Atlantic Division after four games. But, there’s one problem:

Has Cody Ceci been better than Morgan Rielly to start the season?

Short Answer: Yes. Long Answer: No.

Yes because Rielly has more points than Ceci. It’s only a two-point difference, it could only take one game to change that.

The underlying numbers are what makes the ice-tilt to Ceci’s favour.

Points are always great to see on a stat sheet and it’s good to have a defenseman who can put up a good amount of points. Yet, they need to have good defensive numbers as well.

What defensive numbers?  Shots blocked, hits and expected goals against, where Ceci leads in every category.

The numbers:

Shot blocks:

Ceci: 13

Rielly: 7

The team needs help in the defensive end, whether that be from the forwards or defense. Shots blocked are key because can help turn the play over and it prevents – shots on net, of course. Career wise, Ceci has more shots blocked and hits than Rielly.

Hits:

Ceci: 5     

Rielly: 4

This is one of the closer totals of the bunch. Again, it’s still the beginning of the season and it’s probably too early to be looking at these numbers, but I’m going to anyways. Hits are one of those stats where if there’s a lot, it’s good and bad. Going to throw a hit sometimes takes you out of the play and while it’s a risk, you don’t always get the reward that comes along with it.

Expected Goals Against:

Ceci: 0.7

Rielly: 0.9

This is one of the more in-depth stats that look at the where shots came from, for and against. Two percentage points isn’t a whole lot, but Ceci still is doing better.

My conclusion:

It’s still the start of the season, and it’s too early to tell who’s playing better. Rielly is coming off a Norris worthy season, and it’s likely he will return to that form soon (he has five points, he’s partly there).

It takes time to get into the rhythm of the play structure and fitness level, if you give Rielly more time, he will get better.

Just watching, I’ve seen Rielly become better as games go on. The game against the St. Louis Blues was pivotal for him, since it was a possible playoff matchup, if Toronto can make it to the Stanley Cup finals.

Wow. Five games in, and again I’m talking about the Stanley Cup. My end point is this; Ceci and Rielly are doing fine. The management think there’s more to Ceci’s game than people think, and we’ve witnessed it in these four games.

Since it’s the start of the season however, their play will vary from good to bad. Ceci may regress or he could get better, and that’s the same with Rielly. They will be fine, yet here I am; it’s the start of the season and I’m already jumping to conclusions.