On Morgan Rielly's contract and why he's the heartbeat of the Leafs
What an off-season it was for UFA defensemen. Huge deals for huge money were the theme, with many of the deals not starting until next season. Yet despite most of his comparables landing deals that exceed their on-ice value, Leafs defender Morgan Rielly took a bit of a sweetheart deal to remain in Toronto past this season.
Some of the aforementioned deals include that of Seth Jones, who signed in Chicago at $9.5M for 8 years, Zach Werenski, who signed at $9.583M for 6 years with Columbus and Darnell Nurse, who secured $9.25M for the next 8 seasons in Edmonton. All 3 were set to become UFAs either last off-season or this upcoming one.
Meanwhile, Rielly entered the 2021-2022 season on an expiring deal, with many fans wondering if it would be his last season with the blue and white, given the rich contracts that had recently been signed. Kyle Dubas wasn't about to let the longest tenured Leaf walk to free agency though, and inked Toronto's #1 blueliner to an 8-year deal at $7.5 million per season - far less than most were anticipating.
Compared to the contracts signed by Werenski, Nurse and Jones, Rielly took a significant discount to stay with the Leafs. Not only that, he's having one of, if not the best season of his career. Rielly is averaging a massive 24:22 per night over 43 games in all situations, which is the highest of his career. In those 43 games he's potted 5 goals and a whopping 35 assists for 40 points, that's a 76-point pace and is set to eclipse that of his 72-point 2018-19 season. He sits 7th among NHL defensemen in points. Of the 6 that are ahead of him, Makar excluded because he's on an ELC, none of them cost their team less than Rielly against the cap next season.
Not only is Rielly racking up points, his defensive game has been better this season than in years past. He ranks 3rd among Leafs defenders in shorthanded ice time per game behind Jake Muzzin and Justin Holl and his on ice metrics during that time show that he's actually had better results than those two on the PK. He's also third on the team in shot blocks, trailing only Justin Holl and T.J. Brodie, neither of whom are close to Rielly's point totals. He truly is the complete package this season.
As a bonus, Rielly is one of the few Leafs who will grab someone and start a scrum after a late hit or a late dig at Jack Campbell or Petr Mrazek. It's not something that helps on the scoreboard, but the willingness to stick up for his teammates is part of what makes him a fantastic leader on this team.
Rielly hasn't gotten much public adoration for his excellent work this season, but it's time he got his due. He's been one of the NHL's best two-way defensemen this season and he took a discount of around $2 million per year and left as much $16 million over 8 years on the table to be a Leaf. To me, that's worthy of some recognition.
