The Maple Leafs’ second-busiest skater is getting his second wind.
Morgan Rielly looks and feels a lot better almost three weeks after an upper-body injury hastened his break as the team’s non-Olympians practised for a second day.
Only fellow defenceman Jake McCabe has seen more ice than Rielly’s 21:34 average time this season, which finds the Leafs six points out of a playoff spot with 25 games remaining and Rielly flirting with a career-worst rating of minus-17.
While the Leafs are still alive, coach Craig Berube will keep leaning on Rielly’s 927 NHL games of experience.
“Watching him out here, looks like he’s in a lot better place than he was,” a concerned Berube said Wednesday. “Mentally for sure.”
If it wasn’t defensive miscues popping up too frequently, it was lack of production as the featured point man on the power play weighing on Rielly. It took him half the season to notch his first man-advantage goal.
The Leafs’ five-game losing streak at home in January brought more pressure on Rielly than other teammates as armchair general managers speculated on him considering a change of scenery. Never mind finding some team willing to take on his hefty $7.5-million US contract up to 2030.
Rielly was hurt in his lone hometown game of the season in Vancouver, a game Toronto won, then tacked on two more before the break to fuel hopes of a March-April rally.
“I was dealing with something and it got to a point where we just needed some time off,” Rielly said of his injury. “The break was good, I’m able to come back ready to go.
‘It’s been a good chance for everyone to get away, have a reset and understand the challenge ahead of us.”
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