Morgan Rielly

[BlueWhiteBlood]

Having been able to see Rielly regularly in Moose Jaw, I think we got a good one.  We may not have gotten that big Centre we had all hoped for, but when Rielly is on the ice, he makes things happen.  The Warriors were a threat when he was on the ice and he made the whole team better.  I remember thinking when he came back from the injury and played that we might be taking a hit as he might be tentative, but he came out flying and it didn't look like he had even been away.  Give him a chance to show you what he can do and as you get to see more of him he will impress.  While he isn't the choice I expected either, I'm ecstatic we got him.  Just thought I'd give my thoughts, having seen him play a lot. 

Thanks and welcome to the site.

 

[Redleaf]

Having been able to see Rielly regularly in Moose Jaw, I think we got a good one.  We may not have gotten that big Centre we had all hoped for, but when Rielly is on the ice, he makes things happen.  The Warriors were a threat when he was on the ice and he made the whole team better.  I remember thinking when he came back from the injury and played that we might be taking a hit as he might be tentative, but he came out flying and it didn't look like he had even been away.  Give him a chance to show you what he can do and as you get to see more of him he will impress.  While he isn't the choice I expected either, I'm ecstatic we got him.  Just thought I'd give my thoughts, having seen him play a lot.

Cheers. I was hoping to hear from someone who's seen him play.

 

[maplesyrup]

Thanks Tanaer and welcome indeed!

 

[puckhog78]

Having been able to see Rielly regularly in Moose Jaw, I think we got a good one.  We may not have gotten that big Centre we had all hoped for, but when Rielly is on the ice, he makes things happen.  The Warriors were a threat when he was on the ice and he made the whole team better.  I remember thinking when he came back from the injury and played that we might be taking a hit as he might be tentative, but he came out flying and it didn't look like he had even been away.  Give him a chance to show you what he can do and as you get to see more of him he will impress.  While he isn't the choice I expected either, I'm ecstatic we got him.  Just thought I'd give my thoughts, having seen him play a lot.

Cheers. I was hoping to hear from someone who's seen him play.

Yes, thanks for your opinion. Especially SINCE YOUVE ACTUALLY SEEN HIM PLAY. This is absurdist theatre at its best, there have already been a few pages of posts about this pick in this thread and others and yet there are only a couple opinions posted by people that have actually seen Reilly, Forsberg or Grigorenko play in actual meaningful games. Most people on here already have strong opinions on this kid based on nothing but the pre-draft shows and youtube highlight videos. No one knows where the leafs will be in 4 years when this kid is ready to make a real impact, so whining that we shouldve drafted a Centre is delusional at best and idiotic at worst.

Before the pick was made, I said to myself I wouldve been happy with Reilly or Forsberg. But i only based my viewpoint on the TSN draftcentre page and highlights and interviews of both players. I really like Morgan's determination to come back from his knee injury, it shows his heart and work ethic. I realized my opinion wasnt based on anything concrete, or my own evaluations on the players available. I was just influenced by other people's take on these players. Because of this I knew I didnt have a strong or educated opinion on the subject at hand and wouldnt be upset if either of those players werent called. My point is if you feel that strongly about this one way or the other based on the same info that I used, to the point that youre calling for Burkie's head, or are looking at this a microcosm of all that ails this organization, then you need to throughly evaluate what youre basing your viewpoint on.

anyone calling Reilly a bad pick, or a steal at this point without intimate knowledge of the draft is just flat out guessing. You may end up being right in the end, but the fact is its nothing but a guess. Everyone take a step back from the ledge, grab your paper bag and breathe into it a few times. Relax and trust in the pros.

 

[Tanaer]

Thanks for the welcomes.  It really is more of a welcome back.  I read the posts pretty much every day but my contributions have been very infrequent.  I have season tickets with the Warriors so will try to post more now to let you all know how Rielly is doing through the year from a fan's viewpoint.  I realize my initial thoughts may be a little biased as he is on a team I support, but he really should be a leader on the team this year as we are bound to lose a few of the older guys.  I am really looking forward to the season here now!

 

[moon111]

I think there was something upstairs that set him apart from his peers.  The guy just has the right moxie.
"The psychological evaluation he did was really off the charts," Burke said, noting Rielly's posture, maturity and eye contact. "They said [he had] leadership skills, self-starter, doesn't require extensive coaching [and] if he's put in a situation where he's got to make decisions he'll make the right ones."

 

[hockeyfan1]

This should make us feel better...

WINNERS
'Dub' Defensemen: This was supposed to be a big year for blueliners and obviously that played out with eight of the top 10 picks coming from the 'D' corps. But it was the Western League that reigned supreme, with all of the 'Big Five' going early. Ryan Murray, Griffin Reinhart, Morgan Rielly, Matt Dumba and Derrick Pouliot all repped the 'Dub,' with only Sweden's Hampus Lindholm interrupting at No. 6. As crazy as it looks on the board, these were the players that teams were excited about and all bring different looks, so there were a lot of skill sets to be coveted.

Source:. THN

 

[Heroic Shrimp]

Yes, thanks for your opinion. Especially SINCE YOUVE ACTUALLY SEEN HIM PLAY. This is absurdist theatre at its best, there have already been a few pages of posts about this pick in this thread and others and yet there are only a couple opinions posted by people that have actually seen Reilly, Forsberg or Grigorenko play in actual meaningful games. Most people on here already have strong opinions on this kid based on nothing but the pre-draft shows and youtube highlight videos. No one knows where the leafs will be in 4 years when this kid is ready to make a real impact, so whining that we shouldve drafted a Centre is delusional at best and idiotic at worst.

Before the pick was made, I said to myself I wouldve been happy with Reilly or Forsberg. But i only based my viewpoint on the TSN draftcentre page and highlights and interviews of both players. I really like Morgan's determination to come back from his knee injury, it shows his heart and work ethic. I realized my opinion wasnt based on anything concrete, or my own evaluations on the players available. I was just influenced by other people's take on these players. Because of this I knew I didnt have a strong or educated opinion on the subject at hand and wouldnt be upset if either of those players werent called. My point is if you feel that strongly about this one way or the other based on the same info that I used, to the point that youre calling for Burkie's head, or are looking at this a microcosm of all that ails this organization, then you need to throughly evaluate what youre basing your viewpoint on.

anyone calling Reilly a bad pick, or a steal at this point without intimate knowledge of the draft is just flat out guessing. You may end up being right in the end, but the fact is its nothing but a guess. Everyone take a step back from the ledge, grab your paper bag and breathe into it a few times. Relax and trust in the pros.

Very well put, and I was going to post the same general thoughts myself.  Truly, all I really know about any of these players is what I've read and I've been told.  It's an education based purely on second and third-hand subjective information, comparing a variety of qualities of players playing multiple positions, across multiple teams in multiple leagues and even against multiple age groups.  And so much of that subjective information is presumed to be true and exact based on the amount of attention and repetition.  I don't buy it.

The whole "ranking" concept makes a numerical system out of something so incredibly subjective, and creates a whole a > b > c mindset that's preposterous.  One need only look at not only how things panned out in the long run from the actual draft order in prior draft years, but also at what the final CSS rankings were for those years to realize that the draft is an informed gamble.  It's far from random, but it's also far from the science it's made out to be.  Hell, even look at The Hockey News' annual top 50 players list.  There's no shortage of debate about those rankings, and those are guys who are playing against each other all the time and who have a much longer track record at a much more mature age to go by.

Was I hoping for a big, scoring forward, preferably centre, at #5?  Hell, yes.  Do I know that Grigorenko or Forsberg are going to pan out?  Truly, I have no idea.  I mean, I know what I've been told.  And I know that I've been told wrong before, many, many times.

Will it turn out that Rielly was after all the best player available at #5, or even at #1?  Who knows, despite all the unjustifiably firm opinions out there.  Hell, it's even possible in 10 years that that question will still be debatable with no clear cut answer.

But, as to whether or not Burke should have taken a centre no matter what, based on the team's present needs, and not taken what he truly believed to be the best player available, seems unjustly critical.  If it turns out (and, yes, it may well not) that he picked (to pull names out of a hat) the next Drew Doughty and not the next Olli Jokinen, I'm fully more than okay with that.  And I really have no idea right now whether or not that will be the case, and frankly, neither does anybody else, despite their professed knowledge and strong opinions.

 

[bustaheims]

But, as to whether or not Burke should have taken a centre no matter what, based on the team's present needs, and not taken what he truly believed to be the best player available, seems unjustly critical.  If it turns out (and, yes, it may well not) that he picked (to pull names out of a hat) the next Drew Doughty and not the next Olli Jokinen, I'm fully more than okay with that.  And I really have no idea right now whether or not that will be the case, and frankly, neither does anybody else, despite their professed knowledge and strong opinions.

This. A million times this. While I also would have preferred a centre, I recognize that I'm basing my opinion on the available prospects on a limited amount of information, and, any conclusion I come to is, at best, a mildly educated guess. What I know for sure is that Burke and his scouting staff had a lot more information than any of us to go with, and, while they can't say for sure that they made the right pick (though, obviously, they're unlikely to admit that publicly), I also know that their decision is a much more educated guess. At the end of the day, I have to hope they made the right decision, because, really, other than debating it with people who are unlikely to be significantly more informed than I am, that's all I can do.

 

[Redleaf]

Yes, thanks for your opinion. Especially SINCE YOUVE ACTUALLY SEEN HIM PLAY. This is absurdist theatre at its best, there have already been a few pages of posts about this pick in this thread and others and yet there are only a couple opinions posted by people that have actually seen Reilly, Forsberg or Grigorenko play in actual meaningful games. Most people on here already have strong opinions on this kid based on nothing but the pre-draft shows and youtube highlight videos. No one knows where the leafs will be in 4 years when this kid is ready to make a real impact, so whining that we shouldve drafted a Centre is delusional at best and idiotic at worst.

Before the pick was made, I said to myself I wouldve been happy with Reilly or Forsberg. But i only based my viewpoint on the TSN draftcentre page and highlights and interviews of both players. I really like Morgan's determination to come back from his knee injury, it shows his heart and work ethic. I realized my opinion wasnt based on anything concrete, or my own evaluations on the players available. I was just influenced by other people's take on these players. Because of this I knew I didnt have a strong or educated opinion on the subject at hand and wouldnt be upset if either of those players werent called. My point is if you feel that strongly about this one way or the other based on the same info that I used, to the point that youre calling for Burkie's head, or are looking at this a microcosm of all that ails this organization, then you need to throughly evaluate what youre basing your viewpoint on.

anyone calling Reilly a bad pick, or a steal at this point without intimate knowledge of the draft is just flat out guessing. You may end up being right in the end, but the fact is its nothing but a guess. Everyone take a step back from the ledge, grab your paper bag and breathe into it a few times. Relax and trust in the pros.

Very well put, and I was going to post the same general thoughts myself.  Truly, all I really know about any of these players is what I've read and I've been told.  It's an education based purely on second and third-hand subjective information, comparing a variety of qualities of players playing multiple positions, across multiple teams in multiple leagues and even against multiple age groups.  And so much of that subjective information is presumed to be true and exact based on the amount of attention and repetition.  I don't buy it.

The whole "ranking" concept makes a numerical system out of something so incredibly subjective, and creates a whole a > b > c mindset that's preposterous.  One need only look at not only how things panned out in the long run from the actual draft order in prior draft years, but also at what the final CSS rankings were for those years to realize that the draft is an informed gamble.  It's far from random, but it's also far from the science it's made out to be.  Hell, even look at The Hockey News' annual top 50 players list.  There's no shortage of debate about those rankings, and those are guys who are playing against each other all the time and who have a much longer track record at a much more mature age to go by.

Was I hoping for a big, scoring forward, preferably centre, at #5?  Hell, yes.  Do I know that Grigorenko or Forsberg are going to pan out?  Truly, I have no idea.  I mean, I know what I've been told.  And I know that I've been told wrong before, many, many times.

Will it turn out that Rielly was after all the best player available at #5, or even at #1?  Who knows, despite all the unjustifiably firm opinions out there.  Hell, it's even possible in 10 years that that question will still be debatable with no clear cut answer.

But, as to whether or not Burke should have taken a centre no matter what, based on the team's present needs, and not taken what he truly believed to be the best player available, seems unjustly critical.  If it turns out (and, yes, it may well not) that he picked (to pull names out of a hat) the next Drew Doughty and not the next Olli Jokinen, I'm fully more than okay with that.  And I really have no idea right now whether or not that will be the case, and frankly, neither does anybody else, despite their professed knowledge and strong opinions.

I'm using your logic when I say that Matt Finn could turn out to be just as good or the better of the two D men drafted by the Leafs this weekend. He was slotted in the 1st round in nearly ever mock draft I saw leading up to the draft yesterday. It looks like the Leafs got lucky with him still being there at pick 35. All and all  I think the Leafs did well in this draft. Of course time will tell.

 

[Madferret]

He's the new Luke Schenn!

 

[princedpw]

He's the new Luke Schenn!

One very big difference is that a huge percentage of the fan base instantly anticipated Schenn would be the second coming of Chris Pronger.  Given the reaction to Rielly on the message boards, that ain't happening again (until perhaps he gets an assist in a preseason game).

 

[Madferret]

He's the new Luke Schenn!

One very big difference is that a huge percentage of the fan base instantly anticipated Schenn would be the second coming of Chris Pronger.  Given the reaction to Rielly on the message boards, that ain't happening again (until perhaps he gets an assist in a preseason game).

To the defense of Leaf fans Schenn was trumped around by the media like he was Chris Pronger. Then he was thrown right into things when there wasn't a need to and at the same time a lot of people thought he'd benefit some time developing in the minors or the AHL. So that blame gets shared. The million $ question is have they learned from their mistakes.

 

[Bullfrog]

One very big difference is that a huge percentage of the fan base instantly anticipated Schenn would be the second coming of Chris Pronger.  Given the reaction to Rielly on the message boards, that ain't happening again (until perhaps he gets an assist in a preseason game).

That seems a bit like revisionism to me. I recall most people hoping for and describing him as a potential Adam Foote.

 

[Mr. Leaf]

One very big difference is that a huge percentage of the fan base instantly anticipated Schenn would be the second coming of Chris Pronger.  Given the reaction to Rielly on the message boards, that ain't happening again (until perhaps he gets an assist in a preseason game).

That seems a bit like revisionism to me. I recall most people hoping for and describing him as a potential Adam Foote.

Yeah, I don't recall anybody thinking he would ever put up anywhere near Chris Pronger's offensive numbers.

 

[Redleaf]

One very big difference is that a huge percentage of the fan base instantly anticipated Schenn would be the second coming of Chris Pronger.  Given the reaction to Rielly on the message boards, that ain't happening again (until perhaps he gets an assist in a preseason game).

That seems a bit like revisionism to me. I recall most people hoping for and describing him as a potential Adam Foote.

Yes. He was trumpeted as being Adam Foote-like.

 

[Heroic Shrimp]

One very big difference is that a huge percentage of the fan base instantly anticipated Schenn would be the second coming of Chris Pronger.  Given the reaction to Rielly on the message boards, that ain't happening again (until perhaps he gets an assist in a preseason game).

That seems a bit like revisionism to me. I recall most people hoping for and describing him as a potential Adam Foote.

Yeah, I don't recall anybody thinking he would ever put up anywhere near Chris Pronger's offensive numbers.

Scott Stevens I heard, but Pronger I never did.  It's still an unsuitable comparison, though, because Stevens could not only hit, but he also put up goals and points at a clip pretty comparable to Pronger over his career.

I don't think it took too long for the considerations of Stevens potential to be revised into Foote potential.

 

[ZBBM]

Yes, it's delusional at best and idiotic at worst when you complain about not drafting a center when that's your no 1 need. Thanks for straightening us out on that, Puckhog.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

Scott Stevens I heard, but Pronger I never did.  It's still an unsuitable comparison, though, because Stevens could not only hit, but he also put up goals and points at a clip pretty comparable to Pronger over his career.

I don't think it took too long for the considerations of Stevens potential to be revised into Foote potential.

Well, it was always post-first lockout Stevens when his offence started to dry up. While scouts did point out Schenn had untapped offensive potential, nobody really thought he'd be putting up 40 points on a regular basis.

 

[Rebel_1812]

Yes, it's delusional at best and idiotic at worst when you complain about not drafting a center when that's your no 1 need. Thanks for straightening us out on that, Puckhog.

I think alot of people including myself are not angry at this because he didn't choose according to need.  Rather we are angry because we do not feel Morgan Rielly is really the best player available.  I contend that was Griego.