Surging Maple Leafs Getting Amazing Effort From Star Blueliner Rielly

The Toronto Maple Leafs are surging as we reach the final leg of the season and it’s thanks in large part to defenseman Morgan Rielly.

The Toronto Maple Leafs are on a three-game win streak, and currently are second in the Atlantic Division, and while much of the credit deservedly for the team’s successes goes to star forwards Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner, a good amount of their success this year is because of their defense corps – in particular, veteran blueliner Morgan Rielly.

Rielly was coming into a contract year at the beginning of this season, but he quickly put the money question to an end when he signed an eight-year, $60-million extension at the end of October. And since then, the 28-year-old has put forth an excellent effort at both ends of the ice.

After his one-goal, two-assist performance in Toronto’s 6-3 road win over Philadelphia Saturday, Reilly is only four assists from breaking his current personal best of 52 assists, set with the Leafs back in the 2018-19 campaign. His contract extension gives him a relatively modest raise of $2.5 million to a total of $7.5 million. Had he gone to unrestricted free agency this summer, Rielly would surely have landed a more lucrative deal. He would’ve had teams lining up to pay him a $9-10-million-per-season salary over the next six or seven years.

Instead, Rielly gave the team a hometown discount, even though he hails from Vancouver. Quietly but surely, Rielly bonded with Toronto the city over the past eight seasons – Toronto fans always gave him much more landing room than, say, Larry Murphy – and now Rielly will tell you Toronto is home. There’s something pretty great about that.

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Thus far this season, Rielly has averaged 23:59 of ice time, tops on the Leafs. Toronto head coach Sheldon Keefe trusts him as much as any player on the roster, and Rielly rewards that trust by playing low-risk hockey when he doesn’t have the puck, but and he also knows when he’s good to go to jump up into a rush. Rielly may not be a Norris Trophy contender, but he’s the top defender in a defense corps that got notably better and deeper with the trade deadline acquisition of Norris-winner Mark Giordano.

Rielly probably should be a much bigger star in this city. But I’m guessing he likes it the way it is now. He’s a humble young man, always amenable to speaking to media night-in and night-out. He doesn’t need to be worshiped by fans. He has his own internal expectations of himself, and he’s living up to those expectations. His contract extension has given Leafs GM Kyle Dubas $1-2-million in salary cap space, and that could mean another bargain signing Dubas is becoming famous for.

In the immediate years ahead, and barring some blockbuster trade, Rielly will remain Toronto’s highest-paid defenseman. The cap limit for Leafs defensemen will be $7.5-million per year, and Rielly will continue to function as the defense’s leader. If star center John Tavares wasn’t given the captain’s ‘C’, Rielly would’ve made a fine choice to take the role. He is unflappable. He has an on-ice panic threshold as high as the C.N. Tower.

All things considered, the Leafs got a fortunate break with Rielly’s contract negotiations, and they’re leaning on him and getting at least as much out of their investment in him as they could’ve projected. He is going to remain a Toronto sports fixture for a very long time to come, and if the Maple Leafs do ever win a Stanley Cup in the Dubas Era, Rielly will play a massive part.

Let Matthews and Marner have the spotlight. Rielly happily will take the space and time away from the cameras and microphones. You can be a hockey star and still be a normal person. That’s arguably Rielly’s biggest achievement. Yet.