Rielly is actually very good at defense but ok

Yikes. You're better off moving Lehtonen or Dermott up, instead of the guy who's eating 28 minutes per game on the point for you right now.

Rielly has drastically improved defensively but say what you want

He's not our best defensive defenceman, but he's by far our best transition dman (you know that part that the puck leaves the Leafs zone and gets on Marner/Matthews/Nylander stick) which is a fairly important part of the game.

he has certainly improved with Brodie as his partner but his relative xGA has been poor for a couple years now.

Take the following with a grain of salt cuz it's a small sample size

out of the 7 dmen we have used Rielly (at 5v5) after 6 games is

6th in xGF%
5th in CF%
4th in xGF/60
7th in xGA/60
6th in xG±/60


just an idea for a player that is very good with zone exits and entries (when he has the opportunity)

It's not about the advanced numbers. Watch him play and you'll see

why not both? if what you're seeing with your eyes doesnt line up with what the numbers are saying then it's certainly something to look at and not disregard.

very good point about his transition play, and there would obviously be a drop off to lehtonen or sandin, by how much who knows, both those guys are pretty decent with the puck,

it's just a random thought i had, wanted to see the reception.

Ummmmmm....... NO!

And I would argue that his advanced stats are more a coorelation to the super awesome defense partners he has had.

When we can probably all agree his best was Hainsey....... that's a problem.

Brodie will allow Reilly to take his game to anither level, I mean didn't Giordano win a Norris with Bordie as his partner?

yes you're right his playing partners historically haven't helped, but a lot of the information out there takes into account playing partners, and Reilly has consistently been poor defensively, even relative to his partners.

Also the stats I quoted are from this year, playing with brodie.

The idea to move Mo up may not be a good one, that's fine, but it's really hard to make an argument mo is very good defensively.

The idea may not be great, that's fine its just a random idea, but Mo is hardly a defensive stalwart.

Rielly on the ice for 24min per night moving the puck in the right direction is a better idea then him on the ice for 16 min per night wheeling around the offensive zone.

He's also not Brent Burns. Burns had some success as a forward because he has a lethal shot, and paired very well with a generational playmaker.

Your idea takes a No. 1 dman and turns him into K. Kapanen pretty well. That seems like a pretty big loss.

fair point. Just trying to downplay some of Mo's defensive issues while still giving him opportunities on offense. It's clearly not a popular idea, which I completely get, I like Mo's game overall and it's obviously a massive risk when Mo is a huge part of the d core and plays a ton of minutes.

The only posters I disagree with are the ones that say Mo is very good defensively. He's not, that's not his strength and never has been. He's still a very good defenseman.