Morgan Rielly's Ice Time Against the Canadiens Spells Trouble For His Future
Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman Morgan Rielly got very little ice time compared to his defensive counterparts on Saturday and this could be a catalyst for his future.
Morgan Rielly has mostly struggled this season, so much so that Toronto Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube has taken him off of the first Power Play unit.
Morgan Rielly with a reduction in ice time against the Montreal Canadiens
While Rielly has been a good sport about this demotion, it would appear as though he is still losing ice time at 5-on-5.
We say this because despite being the highest-paid defenseman on the team, he had the third-fewest ice time of all D-men against the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday night.
According to Dave McCarthy, Rielly was on the ice for 16:27 which is very low for a player that is supposed to be your number one guy.
In fact, this was the lowest amount of ice time Rielly has logged since 2017 when he exited a game early after playing just a couple of minutes.
One has to wonder if this is because Morgan Rielly is simply incompatible with Craig Berube's system or if he is just nursing some kind of injury.
Overall, Rielly is being paid $7.5 million per season which means there are very high expectations being placed upon him.
Instead, guys like Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Chris Tanev, and even Jake McCabe have proven to be more effective defensemen.
With Rielly's no-trade clause, there is a huge barrier for the Maple Leafs to move on from the defenseman.
Simply put, the Leafs will just have to hope that Rielly finds his stride down the stretch as we approach the playoffs.
| POLL | ||
JANVIER 19 | 208 ANSWERS Morgan Rielly's Ice Time Against the Canadiens Spells Trouble For His Future Do you think the Toronto Maple Leafs will move on from Morgan Rielly? | ||
| YES | 98 | 47.1 % |
| NO | 110 | 52.9 % |
| List of polls | ||
