Toronto Maple Leafs 2021 Defenseman, Goalie, Management Grades

Morgan Rielly

Morgan Rielly had a great year.  He led the Toronto Maple Leafs in 5v5 ice-time per game and scored 35 points in 55 games, which would be good for about 52 points in a normal season.

Overall, Rielly is probably the Leafs best defenseman when you consider age, impact and talent, though by strictly analytical methods other players may be ranked slightly higher this year.  Overall, Rielly was better than 79% of other NHL defenseman this past season, falling just shy of being an elite player.

Rielly’s power-play production was just average (72nd percentile) and the Leafs PP going ice-cold for half the season is the only thing that dropped him out of the elite percentile (anyone over 80%). I think it’s more than reasonable to consider the Leafs power-play problems an anomaly, given the personnel they can use.

The main problem overall for Rielly is a very bad 5v5 defense ranking.  However, the Leafs scored 12 goals more with Rielly on the ice than they allowed, meaning that his elite offense (better than 97% of NHL defenseman) more than made up for his bad defense.

At 27, Rielly is a bargain at $5 million for one more year, but his next contract has got to be reasonable in order for him to play his whole career in Toronto.

I think Rielly has a bit more to give than we saw this year –  there are times you see him make great defensive plays and wonder why he can’t do that a bit more often. His offense is among the best in the NHL at 5v5 for a defenseman, so if he can get even just slightly better on defense he would be a top ten defender again, like he was three seasons ago.  He was fantastic in the playoffs.

Overall, he led one of the NHL’s best teams in ice-time per game and fell just shy of being an elite player, so I give him a B+