herman
Well-known member
princedpw said:herman said:Nik the Trik said:Where Rielly ends up ranking among that draft class' defensemen is still a pretty interesting question. That he's better than the guys picked ahead of him seems like a safe bet. That he's better than the guys picked right after him(Lindholm, Dumba, Trouba) is still up in the air. Then there's the third rounders in the mix as well(Gostisbehere, Parayko).
Depends on what?s being measured, I think. Offensively speaking, he?s always been a very good pseudo-forward. Defensively could be considered very meh.
His points are lighting up now because of the forwards he?s getting the puck to, not necessarily that he?s improved significantly.
Yeah, he has 6 points in 5 games on the pp due entirely to its structure. Swap Rielly and Gardiner or Dermott on that #1 pp and Rielly would have 6 points (still great, but it?s the beginning of the season) and the other guy would have the other 6 points.
Heck, Nikita Zaitsev nailed a 20+ pt season spending time with Marner on the PP, so...
Counting points from defensemen as a means of comparing them needs to be filtered for Quality of Teammates, situation, and opportunity.
By no means am I saying Rielly is trash; he's a keeper and kind of perfect for the way the Leafs play if properly supported. What I am saying is that he's always been this good; it's just showing up on the scoresheet now because of who else he plays with. You'll see a huge step forward for his numbers when he gets better partners.