The red hot Morgan Rielly earns praise from his coach for his vast defensive improvements
When Morgan Rielly signed his 8-year, $60M extension with the Toronto Maple Leafs on October 29th, the contract was looked at as an enormous win for the Leafs - especially when you consider the deals that some of his counterparts, including Dougie Hamilton, Seth Jones and Darnell Nurse, had signed this year.
Rielly, who is set to earn $7.5M per season from 2022-23 through 2020-30, is certainly enjoying a strong 2021-22 campaign. Rielly has notched 4 goals and 26 points in 30 games for the Buds this season, good for 5th overall in scoring among defensemen and just 5 points back of Adam Fox, who leads all defenders with 31 points.
With Rielly on pace for another 70+ point season, it's worth noting that he's also made huge strides on the defensive side of his game, and is now looking like one of the league's elite - and that is not lost on head coach Sheldon Keefe.
"Confident. Reliable on both sides of the puck. I think he's got more to offer us here offensively, and it's on us to as a team to get him engaged more, get more happening on the rush where he can get involved. But he's defended really well," Keefe told Sportsnet's Luke Fox on Thursday.
Rielly has always been a more offensive-minded defenseman, so with the improvements that he's made in his own end, the 27-year-old is quickly becoming one of those "total package" defensemen.
"The defensive ability that he's added here on both five-on-five and the penalty kill has really come a long way - and he's really embraced that. We're just seeing a more complete version of Morgan.
"He's an elite defenseman in the league, and I think elite defensemen in the league should be contributing to your team in all facets. That's a really important thing," Keefe concluded.
Barring any setbacks due to COVID-19, the Leafs are expected to take on the Vancouver Canucks and the Seattle Kraken on Saturday and Sunday in a back-to-back on the road.
| G | A | PTS | ||
| Kyle Connor | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Alex Tuch | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Owen Power | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Michael Bunting | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Drew Helleson | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Jirí Kulich | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Isac Lundestrom | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Vladislav Namestnikov | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Nino Niederreiter | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Gabriel Vilardi | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Jason Zucker | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Leo Carlsson | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Nikolaj Ehlers | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Ross Johnston | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Evgeni Malkin | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Josh Morrissey | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Cole Perfetti | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Bryan Rust | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Mark Scheifele | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Trevor Zegras | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Complete stats | ||||
| STANDINGS 2024-2025 | ||||||
TOP 10 | GP | W | L | OL | PTS | |
Jets | 20 | 17 | 3 | - | 34 | |
Wild | 19 | 13 | 3 | 3 | 29 | |
Hurricanes | 19 | 14 | 5 | - | 28 | |
Devils | 22 | 13 | 7 | 2 | 28 | |
Capitals | 19 | 13 | 5 | 1 | 27 | |
Golden Knights | 20 | 12 | 6 | 2 | 26 | |
Maple Leafs | 20 | 12 | 6 | 2 | 26 | |
Rangers | 18 | 12 | 5 | 1 | 25 | |
Panthers | 20 | 12 | 7 | 1 | 25 | |
Flames | 20 | 11 | 6 | 3 | 25 | |
| Conference | Cumulative | ||||||