Getting Over off-nights Still a Work in Progress for Maple Leafs’ Rielly
Finding a balance.
Morgan Rielly acknowledged he remains on that quest well into his fourth season on the Maple Leafs blue line.
Rielly won’t celebrate his 23rd birthday until March, but he doesn’t want to hear the suggestion that he remains young and in the early stages of his National Hockey League career.
“I don’t think of myself like that,” Rielly said on Monday before the Leafs played host to former coach Randy Carlyle and the Anaheim Ducks at the Air Canada Centre.
“Every game you want to be the best player on the ice, whether you are young or not.
“It’s not like I’m just starting out. I think I have been here long enough to have the expectation that I am going to be able to do my job every single night.”
Rielly is in a comfort zone every time he takes a shift. But does he like where his game stands with two games to go before the Christmas break?