Morgan Rielly, Toronto Maple Leafs
Rielly was a legitimate powerhouse for the Leafs during last year’s mini-run, building hope that the team had finally found a player who could upgrade his game in crunch time. But this year was a step back, as Rielly managed just three assists. His underlying numbers were OK, but with the playoff story in Toronto being a lack of timely scoring yet again, Rielly’s lack of offense was crushing.
Mitch Marner, Toronto Maple Leafs
Marner’s become the lightning rod in Toronto, which means he’s probably getting ripped harder than he actually deserves. He did have two spectacular plays that led to goals against the Boston Bruins, but that was pretty much it for him offensively, and it’s fair to say the vibes were awful.
Dishonorable mentions: John Tavares did create an overtime winner, but it was pretty much his only real contribution to the Leafs’ short run.
Toronto’s Timothy Liljegren had the worst expected goal-for percentage of any defenseman who played more than three games.
Defensemen
Darnell Nurse, Edmonton Oilers
Morgan Rielly, Toronto Maple Leafs
Brent Burns, Carolina Hurricanes
Matt Dumba, Tampa Bay Lightning
Aaron Ekblad, Florida Panthers
Adam Fox, New York Rangers
Dishonorable mentions: None of Alex Pietrangelo, Shea Theodore or deadline addition Noah Hanifin were as good as the Vegas Golden Knights would have hoped in their early exit. Adam Pelech had a rough go for the Islanders. Toronto’s Timothy Liljegren had the worst expected goal-for percentage of any defenseman who played more than three games. And while you’d hardly call it disappointing given the lack of expectations, let’s send some kudos to Washington’s Vincent Iorio, who played exactly three shifts for a total of 1:50 in ice time and still finished the playoffs as a minus.
Forwards
Elias Pettersson, Vancouver Canucks
Pierre-Luc Dubois, Los Angeles Kings
Joe Pavelski, Dallas Stars
Bo Horvat, New York Islanders
Mitch Marner, Toronto Maple Leafs
Tomas Hertl, Vegas Golden Knights
Chandler Stephenson, Vegas Golden Knights
Ryan O’Reilly, Nashville Predators
Alex Ovechkin, Washington Capitals
Charlie Coyle, Boston Bruins
Sean Monahan, Winnipeg Jets
Valeri Nichushkin, Colorado Avalanche
Dishonorable mentions: John Tavares did create an overtime winner, but it was pretty much his only real contribution to the Leafs’ short run. Corey Perry hasn’t done much for the Oilers yet. Kaapo Kakko has been a scratch for the Rangers. And injuries aside, Ilya Mikheyev was a total non-factor in Vancouver.
by malliabu
10 Comments
That is impressive.
4 players mentioned from the Leafs which include Our #1 winger (Marner), our #1 D (Reilly), our #2 C (Tavares) and our young RHD (Liljegren).
Well if the rumours are true two are likely traded this off-season (Marner & Lilly).
Here for the Rielly slander, it’s time to move on and get someone competent in their own zone.
People won’t agree until it’s too late, but I’d be looking to flip Mo this offseason if the price is right. Wrong side of 30, and that contract isn’t going to age well. Not good signs for an offensive D that can’t run a PP, and has some of the worst defensive numbers since joining the league.
Compare that to some of the top pair guys on teams still left. Forsling, Ekblad, Fox, Heiskanen, Harley, Bouchard, Ekholm. Rielly doesn’t compare to any of them.
Would be nice to see them keep Mo hea been through the trenches at war with this team. Leafs longest serving player and once considered captain material. Would be a shame to trade him, would be the end of an Era. What could be a fair trade if it’s even possible? It just seems odd that we’re at the point of trading a very well-respected member of the team and community. We hear about players taking team friendly deals and being loyal to the crest. Would be nice to see a team loyal to a player after all these years of service.
This is some cheap, skin-deep analysis of Rielly, even for Sean at his most obstinate—oh, were his numbers OK? Riveting stuff—but it sure padded out that summer hockey story word count.
I’ve posted this elsewhere, but nobody in the core four was particularly good, though you can argue that Nylander showed up at least at the end.
[Marner had 3 points and was held pointless 4/7 games](https://www.statmuse.com/nhl/player/mitchell-marner-8267/game-log?seasonYear=2024&seasonType=postseason)
[Matthews had 4 points, but was held pointless in 3/5 games he played](https://www.statmuse.com/nhl/player/auston-matthews-4412/game-log?seasonYear=2024&seasonType=postseason), and had 3 points come in one game.
[Tavares had 2 points, and was held pointless in 5/7 games](https://www.statmuse.com/nhl/player/john-tavares-6867/game-log?seasonYear=2024&seasonType=postseason)
[Nylander showed up near the end with 3 Gs, with points in 2/4 games](https://www.statmuse.com/nhl/player/william-nylander-8368/game-log?seasonYear=2024&seasonType=postseason)
Contrast that with McDavid who had 12 pts in 5 games in the first round, Kucherov having 7 points in 5 games in the first round, and MacKinnon having 11 in 6 games in the first round.
The weird thing with the 3 kids is that they aren’t bad overall.
Marner has 50pts/57GP (.88 ppg), Matthews has 48pts/55GP (.87 ppg), and Nylander has 43pts/54GP (.8 ppg)
They are just inconsistent so they have games where they rack up points, and others where they just disappear off the score sheet for games on end in the playoffs. As much as I like great defense, hits and blocks, these guys need to lead the team and take over offensively every playoff game.
FWIW, Tavares is at 46pts/62GP (.68 ppg) with NYI and TOR.
Hopefully Berube will be able to get consistent high effort from them during playoff time.
I wonder which fanbase hated their disappointments the most.
Oh my god they’re calling us making it out of the first round a “mini run”. Can’t even hate, by our standard of success I guess it is.
I’m genuinely shocked by Reilly’s no show this series against Boston. All of game 7 I was waiting for him to show us what he’s got and he…didn’t.
It’s telling that ALL our big guys underperformed. There’s no way that they all “suck”, or are “scared”…
There’s something rotten in that room and I have no idea if it’s the combination of players, the coaching style, or what…
The Morgan Reilly hate is stupid. He was playing 24 mins a night , which is by far the most on the team, with Lyaboosh as his partner, and was still +2 playing against the Bruins top lines. He only had 3 points but it’s not a D man’s fault the forwards aren’t producing.