The Surprising Player Leading Maple Leafs Playoff Scoring - and It's Not Matthews or Nylander

The obvious knowledge is that the Leafs have not had a consistent playoff dominator from year-to-year, with all of Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, & William Nylander taking turns in recent years being the key for Toronto, with none of the four being true consistent performers.

However, there's one area in which the Leafs have had postseason consistency up top, and it could be key for the team's success heading into next season.

A post on X (Twitter) from user 'MatthewsFan' showcased that over the Toronto Maple Leafs last five playoff series, it was defenseman Morgan Rielly leading the way for Toronto with eight goals, 11 assists, & 19 points in even strength.

Over the past three playoff stints, Rielly has eight goals, 14 assists, & 22 points, tied for third in goals by a defenseman and ninth in points in the postseason.

Rielly's 22 points bests John Tavares (17) and Matthew Knies (14), but there is a catch. 12 of Rielly's 22 points come from the 2022-23 postseason, with four of them coming in a single game, a 7-2 blowout win against Tampa Bay in Game 3 of the first round.

This season was a bounceback for Rielly in the postseason with seven points in 13 games, although that comes as he faces questions after a difficult regular season in which he seemed to remove some of the challenges in his game, but the concern that his game is exiting his prime is still existent, and Rielly will need to use his playoff performance to prove himself.

If the Toronto Maple Leafs want to succeed in the playoffs, they're going to need Morgan Rielly to step up as a point producer once again in order for the Leafs to be successful.

Rielly has been the Leafs leading defenseman scorer the past five regular seasons, and it's not close. His 35 points in the COVID-shortened 2020-21 season is still six more than the best non-Rielly defenseman in Oliver Ekman-Larsson this past season.

In the playoffs, Rielly has led the Leafs in defensive playoff scoring the past four years, having been their main offensive catalyst on the blueline, a role that should continue this season.

It's not enough for Rielly to lead the Leafs blueline in scoring, he needs to be a strong point producer for the team as well, and be the type of puck moving defenseman and power play Leader that Toronto can rely upon to take them on a deep playoff run.