Two Popular Toronto Podcasters Let Maple Leafs' Morgan Rielly Have It Amid Rough Stretch
Morgan Rielly has not been good for the Maple Leafs this season, and two popular Toronto podcasters have really let Rielly have it over his lackluster play.
The Maple Leafs dropped a disappointing 6-3 loss to the New York Islanders on Saturday, much to the dismay of the fans who paid way too much to take in a rough game at Scotiabank Arena on Hockey Night in Canada.
There were a lot of key factors in the loss, but Morgan Rielly being -2 inside of the first 5 minutes of the game certainly didn't do the team any favours.
Rielly has elevated his game at times, especially in the playoffs, but in many cases, he has become somewhat of a liability for the Leafs on some nights -- something you just can't do if you're making $7.5M per season.
Following the loss last night, popular Toronto podcasters JD Bunkis and Sam McKee took to their show "Leafs Talk" to discuss the game. Rielly's name came up, and for good reason.
The Maple Leafs have scored the least number of goals from the blueline of any teams in the 3rd period in the entire league, according to Bunkis, who had a clear message for Rielly following the missed opportunity to steal two points against a mediocre Islanders team.
Rielly, who recently dropped the gloves with Tage Thompson in response to a hit on Auston Matthews, has just 4 assists in his last 10 games with the Leafs, which is still somewhat respectable, but nowhere near the level of production a team needs from their top defenseman. It's made worse by the fact that Rielly has not scored a goal since November 5th.
Sam McKee went on an impassioned rant about Rielly during the segment, pointing out the fact that fans are finally beginning to turn their attention to Rielly in the absence of a true blueline whipping boy, reminiscent of Liljegren, Holl and Gardiner, who drew much of the heat in years past.
With Jake McCabe and Chris Tanev taking most of the tough matchups away from Rielly, he really should be a lot more productive than he is and should be taking advantage of the softer matchups -- especially as an offensive defenseman.
How the Leafs use him may have a little bit to do with the lack of production, with just 18 points across 34 games this season, but he also needs to be able to make the most out of his opportunities and contribute where he can offensively, given the fact that he's playing more than 21 minutes per game this season.
There's a reason fans are starting to get on Rielly's case, but the real question is, will Rielly figure this out and start to produce a little more or will the fan base turn on him first and run yet another defenseman out of town? The truth is probably that the answer lies in what he can do in the playoffs, so we may have to wait until May or June for our answer to that question.
