Heading into the 2018-19 season, Toronto Maple Leaf fans were more excited than they’d been in a long, long time. The past few seasons have been full of anticipation, but the addition of superstar John Tavares sent the Leafs faithful to the moon and back.
Of all the offensive weapons they have – Tavares, Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner to name a few – who would have thought that it would be defenceman Morgan Rielly leading the way in points?
Rielly, who is now in his 6th season with the Leafs, enjoyed a breakout campaign last year. He put up a career-high 52 points (6 goals, 46 assists), shattering his previous high of 36 points. Even with the trajectory pointing in his favour, nobody was expecting this kind of offensive output. In fact, it’s a historic offensive output.
When you are mentioned in the same breath as Bobby Orr, you know you’re doing something right. Let us just clarify, we certainly aren’t saying Rielly is on the same level as Orr because of this.
To make things even more crazy, his point total has only been matched by six different forwards in the last 30 seasons.
Some may say it’s unsustainable, which it likely is, but with the Leafs offence looking absolutely lethal right now who really knows?
(H/T NHL PR)
