Morgan Rielly not making excuses for the Leafs' struggles, puts the onus on the team to figure it out
Morgan Rielly has struggled defensively this season so far, it's not exactly a secret. The slick-skating blueliner has rarely made excuses for his or the team's poor play throughout his tenure in Toronto and tries to hold himself and his teammates accountable.
When asked about his team's less than ideal start, their subpar performance in Anaheim and about head coach Sheldon Keefe, Rielly said, "You can get frustrated all you want about a lot of different things, but this is on us. Players are in control of the outcome."
Rielly is absolutely correct in saying that the players are at fault for the way things are going right now. Poor execution and horrendous decision making is costing this team easy points in the standings against inferior opposition.
"These things are tough to turn around & tough to get out of, but it's important to not be discouraged, not lose confidence, not lose your direction. You want to keep working ... We're going to just keep going until we right the ship. Nobody's making excuses saying, 'It's early in the season,' and that this is OK. We're not saying that. But, it's important that we keep our focus on it's a long season & we have an opportunity here to start playing some good hockey. We have the belief in the group," said Rielly after the OT loss to the Ducks.
Quite the message from Rielly about the team. When the guy that has been there since before the Auston Matthews draft, since the darkest days of the team, stands up and not only admits to lackluster play, but also commits to fixing it, that should tell us all we need to know about the team's mindset as they head home. Better days are ahead.
It's obvious that Keefe is struggling to get through to the players so maybe having one of the leaders on the team, like Rielly, call out their work ethic, perhaps it will spark the team.
| POLL | ||
OCTOBRE 31 | 296 ANSWERS Morgan Rielly not making excuses for the Leafs' struggles, puts the onus on the team to figure it out What do the Leafs need to do to turn their season around? | ||
| Fire the coach | 76 | 25.7 % |
| Fire the GM | 67 | 22.6 % |
| Make a trade | 95 | 32.1 % |
| Nothing, they'll be fine. It's 10 games in. | 58 | 19.6 % |
| List of polls | ||
