Young Leafs blueliner sticks up for teammate amid heavy criticism
On November 21st against the Islanders, Morgan Rielly collided with Isles forward Kyle Palmieri. The collision led to a sprained MCL for Rielly and held him out of the lineup for five weeks. In his absence, the Leafs went on a 13-2-1 run and since his return, the Leafs have gone 5-4-1, leading to an abundance of criticism for the longest tenured Leaf. Has he had his blunders? Absolutely, but at the same time, when you miss more than a month with a knee injury, it takes some time to feel comfortable in game action, no matter what the trainers and doctors say.
Before the morning skate today, Rielly's partner for tonight's game against the Panthers, Timothy Liljegren, came to his defense when he was asked about Sheldon Keefe's comments. Keefe's comments were geared towards how Liljegren could help Rielly regain his confidence after a tough stretch to which Liljegren responded by saying, "I think Morgan can take care of himself. He's a pretty good player."
Even though Rielly missed 5 weeks with an injury, and the defense was playing well without him, he still leads all Leaf blueliners in points with 19, 4 ahead of Rasmus Sandin. Rielly will find his game again, but patience will be required.
| POLL | ||
JANVIER 17 | 151 ANSWERS Young Leafs blueliner sticks up for teammate amid heavy criticism How many points will Morgan Rielly finish with this season? | ||
| 25-35 | 53 | 35.1 % |
| 36-45 | 64 | 42.4 % |
| 46-55 | 27 | 17.9 % |
| 56-60+ | 7 | 4.6 % |
| List of polls | ||
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