Toronto Maple Leafs 2020 Player Grades for Goalies and Defensemen

Morgan Rielly

Rielly was coming off two straight seasons in which he was one of the only players in the NHL to play against top competition, post a positive possession rating and score over 50 points.

That’s a hard thing to do in the NHL, especially when you’re partnered with a 37 year old who is half a decade beyond being a good NHL player.

Rielly not only managed, but he succeeded.   This year, with the possibility of finally getting a peer for a partner, expectations were high.

Unfortunately, Mike Babcock saddled his best defenseman with Cody Ceci, and they did not fare well.

Babcock was fired and Rielly had a great stretch partnered with Tyson Barrie (extremely strong numbers together) but then Rielly was injured and missed 23 games.

He did appear to be trying to play through an injury all year, and he wasn’t as good as last year (leading to a lot of people improperly crediting Ron Hainsey with his success) but the Leafs did win 70% of the games that he played in with Keefe as the coach.

The three goals were disappointing, and he wasn’t on pace to match last year’s incredible 72 points, but Rielly was still the Leafs best defenseman when he played, and if we factor injuries and chaos into the mix, it’s hard to be too upset with his overall game.