Bleacher Report has lately launched its record of one of the best defensemen within the NHL for every workforce, and never surprisingly, longtime Toronto Maple Leafs blue liner Morgan Rielly was listed because the membership’s finest participant on the place.
Cale Makar of the Colorado Avalanche was first total on the record, an comprehensible rating contemplating his pair of Norris Trophy wins because the League’s high blue liner.
When Maple Leafs followers noticed Rielly clock in at No. 22, the reception wasn’t precisely the warmest from some choose people on social media. Lots of whom felt that Bleacher Report was being too beneficiant.
Maple Leafs Followers Aren’t Thrilled To See Morgan Rielly So Excessive On The Listing
Of their itemizing, Bleacher Report’s Adam Gretz wrote that whereas Rielly is an efficient participant, he’s struggled together with the remainder of the workforce to recover from the hump when the chips are down within the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
“Rielly is among the longest-tenured members of the Maple Leafs group at this level and has been there by way of the rebuild, the playoff years and no matter is coming subsequent for them,” Gretz wrote. “He’s an excellent participant, however like the remainder of the Maple Leafs’ core, he has struggled to assist get the workforce over the hump within the playoffs. He’s most likely best-suited as a No. 2 defenseman on a championship-level workforce versus the go-to-guy,” he completed.
As this fan wrote, followers of the Maple Leafs weren’t so positive that Rielly would even qualify because the Maple Leafs’ finest defenseman.
One fan says, “I’m unsure that’s the leafs finest dman.”
I’m unsure that’s the leafs finest dman.👀
— Lengthy Reside The King (@Stephenjamills) August 18, 2025
This fan opined: “Rielly is just like the fifth finest blue liner on the leafs.”
Rielly is just like the fifth finest blue liner on the leafs
— scottie2hottie (@scottie2hotti4) August 18, 2025
Retaining in that theme, this fan exclaimed, “Rielly isn’t Toronto’s finest defenseman lol come on.”
Rielly isn’t Toronto’s finest defenseman lol come on
— Spencer Guerreiro 🇨🇦 (@spencerg49) August 18, 2025
One other Leafs fan believed Chris Tanev must be forward of Rielly within the rankings, saying, “Chris Tanev is 3x the Dman Morgan Rielly is.”
Chris Tanev is 3x the Dman Morgan Rielly is.
— Perstormance (@Perstormance) August 18, 2025
Lastly, this fan opined, “At finest Morgan Rielly is the leafs third or 4th d man.”
Rielly, a local of Vancouver, was chosen by the Maple Leafs with the fifth total decide within the 2012 NHL Draft and has performed for the membership ever since. He made his debut within the 2013-14 NHL season, showing in 73 video games.
Rielly is simply 5 video games away from matching 878 profession video games performed in a Leafs uniform, at present held by former Maple Leafs defenseman Tomas Kaberle.
Rielly’s 513 profession factors at present rank third all-time amongst defensemen in Maple Leafs historical past.
Sadly for Rielly and the Leafs, the workforce has solely received two playoff sequence since 2004. The newest got here this previous spring, after they defeated the Ottawa Senators in six video games earlier than being eradicated by the eventual Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers.
