Wow, Reilly went from a Top 10 to a Top 5 d-men in just a few post. I'd love to hear the breakdown of how the guy is a top 5 d-man in the NHL.

They kept them under 3 goals a game with Andersen and Campbell in net. But I guess Hutchinson being utterly terrible doesn't matter. Losing their two best defenceman at the same time and having to run Martin Marincin out against top competition isn't reason enough for them to struggle either I suppose. Changing systems on the fly? Also doesn't matter. Remember that time St Louis was really bad and then found a goalie and then won the cup? Yeah TO's adversity was different because they aren't allowed to be affected by anything else they have to win every game to get respect and if they don't they are terrible no matter what. Sir you want the Leafs to fail, it brings your joy and that is just sad. Get a better hobby

For a Sage you sure don't have much wisdom.

You are delusional. Go smoke some more crack and then come back.

In all seriousness, a lot of your evaluations are just insane. The leafs don’t have a top of the league team, neither is their defence good. Leafs are a young skilled team, they lack grit and heart, also don’t play great defence. With that you’ll never win a Stanley cup or come close. Until the leafs make some big changes to the lineup, they’re going to keep losing to Boston and Tampa.

You have to be kidding if you think Rielly is not in the top 5 defenceman in the NHL.

The first round is actually the playoffs so your response is inaccurate to the original comment.

You are the guy that is delusional because you do not realize the potential of this team with its great young players and coach and accept the fact that their time has now arrived. You talk like losing to Boston in 7 games makes them a poor team when you do not realize the core of the Leafs was very young and inexperienced. I take it that it was impressive that young Leafs could take Boston to 7 games was major achievement and hint of greatness that is coming now.

No, the League has insisted that the first round is NOT the playoffs. This announcement has been made several times in an effort to resolve some of the conditional aspects of trades and draft picks.

@ON3M4N 's team has two guys who are definitely better than Rielly (McAvoy and Krug), one who was in his prime (Chara), and one who is arguably as good (Carlo). So I think he's a pretty good judge of defenseman class.

I asked a legit question and you have nothing to support your claim expect for an poor attempt at an insult.

Funny part is I never said Reilly was bad, just that I was curious to hear what makes him a top 5 or top 10 d-men. Figured it would be a pretty easy post for the OP, but I guess it easy to just throw out baseless claims vs making a statement with factual evidence.

You can not be serious. Rielly put up 72 points in 82 games in 2018-2019 season when not injured. None of these players have done that and who cares about this other guys team.

Rielly put up 72 points in 82 games in the 2018-2019 season when he was not hurt and that makes him a top 5 defenceman.

Unproven, you must be kidding. These 3 players have the creditentials for greatness and you need to stand back for a minute and think hard about the accuracy of your comment.

He would not.

Kempe is an exceptional defensive player, that's actually the best part of his game. He was drafted as a quality two-way guy and was never really projected to play above the 3rd line, but has enhanced his offensive game enough to where he doesn't look out of place in the top six. He regularly kills penalties, getting the 5th most PK mins per game among Kings forwards. He's also the main reason that the power play wasn't a complete dumpster fire this season as it was in 2018-19, as he pretty much single-handedly solved the zone entry problem that they just couldn't seem to solve. It certainly doesn't hurt that he is one of the best and fastest skaters in the entire league.

As I said to the OP, you can't directly compare points on the Leafs to points on the Kings. Any player coming in is going to see a significant reduction in points, just like players traded away often see a significant boost in production (just look at Toffoli in LA vs Toffoli in Vancouver). Johnsson is a 30 point guy on the Kings, at best.

Johnsson would not be a top six player on the Kings.

How does this help the Leafs keep the puck out of their own net though?

I think i have chosen to be a believer in the Leafs because I can see what they are actually building and they are on the verge of greatness. I might be off on my timing but you and I both know it is going to happen and it is going to shake up the hockey world and alot of people on this CapFriendly.

Oh I see you only look at offensive production to evaluate d-men. Why do you take his career year and say he's a top 5 d-man? Seem like you're trying to cherry pick numbers. Why not look at the last 3 years? Maybe because offensively he wouldn't be top 5? He's still up there within the top 10 offensively, but there is more to offense when looking at DEFENSEmen.

Puck possession and a great offense helps on the defence. Look at great Canadiens and Islanders teams that each won 4 cups and they both had great offensive and defensive teams.

ON3M4N

I look at how he was trending and he is trending upward until being hurt all of last year. He is going to regain his production next year and then you will be saying he is a top 5 defenseman when he already is right now.

I mean I probably still wouldn't as I put as much stock into what you can do to defend as you can to produce offensively. If you look at his advanced numbers over the last 3 years he's similar to Torey Krug and I wouldn't consider Krug a top 5 d-man in the NHL.

Again, Morgan Reilly isn’t a top 5 dman,
Carlson
Hamilton
Hedman
Both Better than him in both Categories
Slavin
Much Better Defensively
Josi
Peitrangelo
Theodore
Even with there flaws are better than Reilly,

Also you can’t judge a dman by JUST Points, if so Every dman who had more points than him this year is better than him

I agree, I think they are going to be a top team for a while no matter what happens in the pandemic playoffs

Rielly is becoming the most underrated player in hockey. And that is exclusively because he plays for TO. He's far better defensively than anyone gives him credit for, he's one of the best offensive defenceman in the game and he's legit never had a decent partner. Although with Barrie they had a GF% of 60% which is insane. Imagine if he actually had a good partner to play with instead of the hacks Babs put with him all the time.