{"id":715437,"date":"2026-06-04T20:21:10","date_gmt":"2026-06-04T20:21:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/715437\/"},"modified":"2026-06-04T20:21:10","modified_gmt":"2026-06-04T20:21:10","slug":"analyzing-morgan-riellys-play-can-he-bounce-back-in-a-new-system","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/715437\/","title":{"rendered":"Analyzing Morgan Rielly’s play: Can he bounce back in a new system?"},"content":{"rendered":"

It has already been an off-season of significant change in Toronto, and more could be on the way.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Maple Leafs defenceman Morgan Rielly<\/a>, who has played almost 1,000 games for the franchise over 13 seasons, could leave this summer. As\u00a0Sportsnet\u2019s Nick Kypreos wrote late last month<\/a>, \u201cToronto is looking into things, Rielly is aware of it, and he will be presented with a few options if they arise.\u201d Rielly, 32, has four years left on his contract with a $7.5 million cap hit and a no-movement clause, but Kypreos reported that \u201cthe belief is (Rielly\u2019s trade protection) wouldn\u2019t be a major hurdle to overcome.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMy desire to stay in Toronto is always going to be there,\u201d Rielly\u00a0told\u00a0The Athletic\u00a0in April<\/a>. \u201cThere\u2019s a number of (reasons), but a big one is loyalty. Loyalty to the team that drafted you, I think that\u2019s a powerful thing.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Rielly was one of the NHL\u2019s top offensive defencemen at his peak, recording 202 points over 266 games (0.76 per game) between the 2018-19 and 2021-22 seasons. As recently as the 2023-24 season, Rielly totaled 58 points in 72 games (0.81 per game). But his offensive production has been in steady decline over the past couple of seasons. He averaged 0.46 points per game this season, his lowest output since 2016-17.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"\/<\/p>\n

The drop-off in possession-driving plays has been most evident. Rielly\u2019s 19.7 possession-driving plays, which include controlled exits and entries, ranked 41st out of the roughly 200 defencemen who played at least 40 games this regular season. Although that is still respectable, Rielly finished eighth in possession-driving plays in 2023-24 between Norris Trophy winners Cale Makar and Roman Josi. (This season, Rielly was sandwiched by St. Louis\u2019 Colton Parayko and Seattle\u2019s Vince Dunn in that category.)<\/p>\n

Part of that decline can be attributed to former Maple Leafs coach Craig Berube\u2019s style of play, which\u00a0suppressed Rielly\u2019s strengths<\/a>. Toronto relied less on its defencemen to push the puck up ice under Berube compared to predecessor Sheldon Keefe. As a result, Rielly, never known for his defensive prowess, struggled in Berube\u2019s north-south system.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Rielly was on the ice for 78 goals against at five-on-five this season, ahead of only Minnesota\u2019s Quinn Hughes (82) among defencemen. His 48.8 expected-goal rate at five-on-five ranked 116th among the roughly 200 qualified defencemen who played at least 40 games.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe work that this team will have to put in to get back to where we want to be is extensive,\u201d Rielly\u00a0told reporters at the end of the season<\/a>. \u201cBeing outshot and (spending) too much time in (the defensive zone) are things that we need to improve on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Last week, Sportsnet\u2019s Ryan Dixon\u00a0listed six possible trade destinations<\/a>\u00a0for Rielly. They ranged from up-and-coming teams (Anaheim, San Jose) to veteran clubs looking for a boost on the back end (Pittsburgh, Winnipeg).\u00a0<\/p>\n

Rielly\u2019s days as a big-minute, first-pair defenceman are probably behind him. But he still has value as an offensive contributor in the right environment. It all depends on whether Rielly wants to leave the only organization he has known.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve always loved being in Toronto and being a part of this organization,\u201d Rielly told reporters. \u201cIt\u2019s very meaningful to me, and I\u2019ve enjoyed every minute of it.\u00a0\u2026\u00a0After a year like this, after any year but especially one (this) disappointing, change is bound to happen. As an athlete, you have to be prepared for that. It\u2019s not the first time that it\u2019s crossed my mind.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It has already been an off-season of significant change in Toronto, and more could be on the way.\u00a0…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":715438,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[556],"tags":[64,63,575,85],"class_list":["post-715437","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/715437","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=715437"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/715437\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/715438"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=715437"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=715437"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=715437"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}