Misleading Stat Puts Morgan Rielly in the Spotlight as Toronto's Scapegoat

Though the Maple Leafs have improved significantly on defense this season, there still lies the question of what the heck happened to Morgan Rielly? Suffering his worst statistical season in a long time, and a brutal minus-22 rating shows that he's been downright bad.

Or has he?

There's more than meets the eye when it comes to Morgan Rielly, and while he is still struggling this year, it's definitely not as bad as it looks, and he could end up salvaging Toronto's season.

While yes, Rielly has been on the ice for 22 goals against, the fact that 72.7% of his goals against have been with an empty net, it shows a much different side of the story.

Being a defensive beast has never been Rielly's strong suit however he hasn't been bad by any means, and more often than not has had to deal with a laundry list of second-rate and mediocre partners playing alongside him, so he's had to shoulder a lot of the load during critical times.

Toronto hasn't had the luxury of having a Chris Tanev, Jake McCabe, or Brandon Carlo until this season, and arguably Rielly's best partner was Luke Schenn in 2022-23, and that was for only a handful of games.

Rielly's offense needs to pick things up though, and 34 points in 70 games isn't really a great point production rate (0.48 PPG) but he always seems to pick things up around playoff time, so if fans are worried about things now; they may not need to hold their breath for too long.

If Toronto can get Rielly to play at his 2018-19/2021-22 level of production, the team will be in good hands. With Carlo alongside him it makes his life a lot easier, and his ability to jump in the play won't hamper the team nearly as much as it has in the past.

But if he doesn't end up picking things up, it could be a rough postseason for the Maple Leafs.

Though don't count Rielly out just yet.