How one habit will be key to Morgan Rielly’s playoff success
Morgan Rielly has had a tough go for stretches of the 2024-25 NHL season, but the Maple Leafs need him to be effective if the team is going to go on a long playoff run. Vanessa Kezwer writes about a habit that could get him there.
Chess is a complicated game. There are patterns and set plays and plenty of moving pieces to monitor. Performing well at the highest levels requires a great deal of proactive strategizing and prioritizing one basic principle: set yourself up for success early.
The way you position your pieces at the onset of a chess match lays the foundation for the rest of your game. Those first few moves determine which parts of the board – if any – you control, which tactics you’ll be able to leverage, and how vulnerable you may be to opposing attacks. A strong setup allows you to play with composure and confidence, while a poor one chips away at those elements and can shift your mental state, and process, at large.
The same can be said in hockey, at both the team and individual levels. For defencemen in particular, establishing strong positioning early is paramount and failing to do so can be costly on numerous fronts.
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Enter: Morgan Rielly.
The Maple Leafs blueliner had a tough go of it for stretches this season and my theory, upon digging into video and some numbers, is that his “starting points” were a major reason why.
We’ll break down this area of Rielly’s game through the lens of one habit that can set him up for greater success this post-season and has the potential to positively shape every aspect of his performance by extension.
THE HABIT
The more Rielly gets up the ice and to the inside in the early stages of sequences, the more he’ll be able to control how plays unfold and maintain the integrity of his game.
As Paul Boutilier, a defensive development coach who works with NHL players likes to say, the goal is to establish conditions where “you play them, they don’t play you.”
Let’s look at the two components that comprise this habit.
Get to the inside early
The idea here is to situate yourself between the faceoff dots as quickly as possible following a change of possession or in anticipation of an oncoming rush in order to “claim” the middle of the ice.
The attacking team wants to exploit the middle as doing so unlocks higher-quality looks, more options, and the opportunity to manipulate defensive coverage (unpredictability is a powerful weapon).
Moving inside the dots early allows Rielly to not only discourage and contain interior attacks but also increase his margin for error. It’s a lot easier to recover from a misstep here or a late read there when you’re well-positioned to begin with.
Below are three video comparisons, each showing two clips of similar situations with different outcomes based largely on Rielly’s positioning relative to the dot line, as decided early by his routes.
The first illustrates how a few inches can determine his capacity to keep pace with the play:
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Many believe Rielly has lost a step this season and while the numbers suggest that’s true (his top speed and bursts over 20 mph have declined, per NHL Edge), clips like that first one make you wonder how much of him seeming to be behind is a reflection of poor positioning. As we see in that example, starting from further out means having to make up ground and travel greater distances, which also translates to expending more energy.
On that note, it’s worth mentioning that the 31-year-old has skated more miles per 60 minutes this season than he has in each of the previous three.
The correlation between Rielly’s positioning and his capacity to close space quickly enough to disrupt plays is also significant.
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Defence partners are responsible for protecting the middle of the ice in tandem and when one is a little too wide, as Rielly is on the first rush entry against, the gap between the two becomes large enough that the puck carrier can cut through prime ice unimpeded.
Playing wide also gives opponents clear lanes to drive to the net through the middle without the puck, setting the stage for dangerous attacks like the one in the first clip here:
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In the second clip, moving to the inside right away at the blue line allows Rielly to cut off the path of, and pass to, the player driving into the zone.
These examples collectively show how this positional detail impacts whether the game happens to Rielly or he controls it.
Get up the ice early
We’ve outlined the importance of “horizontal gaps,” if you will, and now we move to those of the vertical variety.
Defending is all about limiting the opposition’s time and space, and establishing a tight gap – reducing the distance between yourself and your opponent – early is one of the best ways to do so.
Routes are once again key, but the emphasis this time is on covering ground in front of you and curling up-ice prior to retreating to ensure you stay close to the play. This premise of “grabbing ice” before backing up requires a fair bit of poise.
Below are three sets of contrasting clips that highlight this principle in different contexts with Rielly. Here’s the Coles Notes rundown:
• Set 1: Staying high in the offensive zone (near the blue line) versus curling low (closer to tops of the circles) is the difference between a gap that culminates in a slot shot against, and one that forces and kills a play.
• Set 2: Skating back into the defensive zone versus skating up to challenge the play closer to the blue line is the difference between allowing a chance off a controlled entry and forcing a dump-in.
• Set 3: Failing to follow up the play quickly enough in transition versus heading north right away is the difference between allowing a cross-slot pass (nothing spells “too deep” like a cross-slot pass) and denying an entry.
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The other piece of the gap puzzle involves attaching to your check early in the offensive zone or neutral zone and staying on top of him rather than sagging back. The latter is basically the equivalent of handing the reins over to your opponent, which often results in chasing.
The contrast is stark in these two sets of clips (note the in-game adjustment against Vegas after the goal):
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Gap control isn’t quantifiable on most parts of the ice, but Sportlogiq does measure gap distance on controlled entries against and Rielly’s has become progressively larger over the past five seasons. Here are his average gaps at 5-on-5:
• 2020-21 – 11.8 ft
• 2021-22 – 11.9 ft
• 2022-23 – 12.1 ft
• 2023-24 – 12.9 ft
• 2024-25 – 13.0 ft
No. 44’s approach is more aggressive in some games than in others (his gap in April shrunk to 12.3 ft which is a good sign), but when he’s more passive, he puts himself in compromised spots. Yes, there’s the gap, but there’s also the physical response to try to correct it.
In an effort to close space, it’s not uncommon for Rielly to overreach with his stick or widen his base to slow his momentum, both of which throw off his posture and cause his mobility to suffer. When his back angle lowers or his feet grow wide, he ends up having to “move to move.” In other words, he needs to reset his posture before he can change direction.
Translation: he’s usually in deep doo-doo.
It’s hard not to fall a step behind (and then chase further as you enter recovery mode) under those circumstances, as the following clips demonstrate.
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I think this equation captures the gist of this section nicely:
Passive defence = too early to the play = too late to influence the play.
THE BIG PICTURE
If Rielly can consistently start sequences from a position of strength rather than one of vulnerability, it’ll influence the complexion of his whole game.
It seems he’s been allowing opponents to dictate play too often this season, putting himself in positions where he’s reacting and chasing repeatedly. When you’re reacting and chasing, the game speeds up on you and your system starts operating in a “fight or flight” type of state.
When that’s the case, your composure tends to go out the window, you’re less aware of your surroundings, and you can’t process whatever information you do gather as clearly. Your decision-making both with and without the puck subsequently suffers.
Ultimately, you lose your foundation, confidence, and ability to play your game.
The Leafs need Rielly to play his game this post-season – it’s very good when he’s on it – and if he can make a habit of setting the board up in his favour, who knows how many times they’ll both be saying checkmate?
Vanessa Kezwer worked as a scout for the USHL’s Chicago Steel for three seasons and was a video analyst for TMU’s women’s hockey team.
