The Toronto Maple Leafs have a top 20 defensemen on their team in Morgan Rielly, and the question is could he ever win a Norris Trophy during his career?
The Toronto Maple Leafs have a great player in Morgan Rielly who has emerged himself into one of the best defensemen in the league.
While the Norris Trophy is a major NHL award, it’s important to remember that it’s just the subjective opinions of the people who vote on it, and that more often than not, the winner isn’t the actual ‘best defenseman’ in the NHL.
Could the Toronto Maple Leafs Morgan Rielly ever win a Norris Trophy during his career?
Morgan Rielly Stats
Morgan Rielly has become a top defensemen in the NHL today, he may not be the greatest in his own zone but the overall impact he has on game is very positive.
We do know him as an elite offensive defensemen though, as he just came off a stellar year during the 2018-19 season with the Toronto Maple Leafs, and had his current season cut short due to injury and COVID-19.
2019-20 stats – 47 GP – 3 G – 24 A – 27 PTS – 51.65 CF%
Career stats – 517 GP – 54 G – 216 A – 270 PTS
He broke through during the 2017-18 season putting up 52 points in 76 games, then followed it up last year putting up 72 points in 82 games, but this season was cut short as he put up 27 points in 47 games.
Nonetheless Rielly had a decent year this year putting himself on pace for 47 points. (Stats from NHL.com)
Snubbed of 2019 Norris Trophy?
Last season we saw the best version of Morgan Rielly in his seven years with the Toronto Maple Leafs , as he put up 72 points in 82 games, 21 of those points on the power play, as well as putting up excellent statistics overall.
He was fifth in Norris votes last year and that is kind of ridiculous if you ask me. Here is the list of votes through one to five…
- Mark Giordano – 165 first place votes
- Brent Burns – 2 first place votes
- Victor Hedman – 1 first place votes
- John Carlson – 3 first place votes
- Morgan Rielly – 0 first place votes
Morgan Rielly didn’t get a single first place vote last year which is shocking to me, he was the first defenseman in years to score 20 goals, and led the NHL in 5v5 defenseman scoring.
The reason why I think Giordano won the Norris Trophy was because that was his best season in his NHL Career, being 35 years old and putting up those crazy numbers is insane (74 points in 78 games) and he was also a +39 the highest in a single season for him too, which shouldn’t even be a factor, but you know that it is.
When Will Rielly win the Norris?
Now the big question is, will Morgan Rielly ever win a Norris Trophy with the Toronto Maple Leafs and when will it be?
Well he was top five in voting last year at the age of 24 and when the season ended he was 25, so safe to say he will most likely be in conversations until the end of his career.
On the bright side players who have won the Norris Trophy are getting older (Hedman, Burns, Subban, and Doughty) so it gives more room and a chance for younger guys to win it (Rielly, Jones, Chabot, and even maybe Makar, and Hughes very soon).
If Morgan Rielly can keep up his offensive numbers every year and if the Leafs ever find him a halfway decent partner, the odds are good.