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Toronto Maple Leafs Morgan Rielly Reaches Major Milestone

By Mike Jack

TORONTO, ONTARIO - NOVEMBER 15: Morgan Rielly #44 of the Toronto Maple Leafs skates against the Boston Bruins at the Scotiabank Arena on November 15, 2019 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
TORONTO, ONTARIO - NOVEMBER 15: Morgan Rielly #44 of the Toronto Maple Leafs skates against the Boston Bruins at the Scotiabank Arena on November 15, 2019 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images) /
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Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman, Morgan Rielly, has reached a major milestone that seems to have passed by without much recognition from the media or Leafs Nation.

On December 9, 2021, Morgan Rielly assisted on Ondrej Kase’s powerplay goal against the Tampa Bay Lightning.  That assist put Rielly at 328 career points and pushed him passed Jim McKenny for the fifth most career points by a defenseman in Toronto Maple Leafs history. (stats from QuantHockey.com)

If you weren’t a Leafs fan during McKenny’s playing days (1965-1979), maybe you remember more recent Maple Leaf high scoring defensemen like Bryan McCabe, Todd Gill, Al Iafrate, Jake Gardiner, Dave Ellett or Dion Phaneuf.  As Toronto Maple Leafs, Morgan Rielly has out-scored them all.

Morgan Rielly is now a part of the top 5 highest point scoring defensman in Toronto Maple Leafs history and has more points with the Toronto Maple Leafs than Hockey Hall of Fame defensemen Allan Stanley, Red Horner, King Clancy and Hap Day.

It’s amazing to think that in over 100 years of Toronto Maple Leafs history, only four defensemen have scored more points as a Leaf than Morgan Rielly.  They are Hall of Famers Börje Salming  and Tim Horton, and long time Leafs Tomas Kaberle and Ian Turnbull.

With 331 career points so far with the Toronto Maple Leafs, Morgan Rielly is only 83 points away from catching fourth place, Ian Turnbull (414 points), but after signing an eight year contract extension in October, Rielly should surpass Turnbull at some point in his career.  If he continues his pace, Rielly could pass Turnbull as early as next season.

As members of the Toronto Maple Leafs, Tim Horton had 458 points, Tomas Kaberle had 520 points and Börje Salming had 768 points.  A lot can change over an 8 year contract, but Morgan Rielly has the potential to become the highest point producing Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman of all-time.

Morgan Rielly could have historic season for Toronto Maple Leafs

Morgan Rielly is not getting enough credit for the phenomenal season he’s having this year.  Rielly is currently fourth in the defenseman point scoring race with 26 points in 30 games.  He’s currently on pace for a 71 point season.

Rielly’s best season was during the last 82 game NHL season in 2018-19 where he put up 72 points in 82 games.  That was enough for Rielly to rank third in points by defensemen.  He also lead all NHL defensemen in goals (20) that season and was fifth in Norris trophy and All-Star voting.

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If he can slightly elevate his current pace, Morgan Rielly could have another season point total for the record books.  His 72 point total in 2018-19 is the fifth highest single season point total in Toronto Maple Leafs history.  Börje Salming had seasons with 73, 76 and 78 points while Ian Turnbull holds the Toronto Maple Leafs record with a 79 point season.

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