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Is Rielly a realistic Norris candidate? Leafs vs. Blue Jackets

November 19, 2018, 4:25 PM ET [799 Comments]
Mike Augello
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The Toronto Maple Leafs return home for the start of a busy stretch of five games in eight nights against the Columbus Blue Jackets at Scotiabank Arena. The Leafs play in Carolina on Wednesday, have a rematch with the Blue Jackets at Nationwide Arena on Friday, host Philadelphia at Scotiabank Arena on Saturday and the Boston Bruins on Monday.

The Leafs are coming off a successful swing through California, with consecutive victories over Los Angeles, San Jose and Anaheim and just one point behind the Eastern Conference and Atlantic Division leading Tampa Bay Lightning, but face a Columbus club leading the Metro Division with 26 points.

Toronto will start Frederik Andersen and likely go with the same lineup that played on back-to-back nights against the Sharks and Ducks, including defenseman Morgan Rielly, who leads all NHL blueliners with 25 points and tied his career-high in goals with his overtime game-winner on Friday.

The 24-year-old tied Jake Gardiner for the lead in defensive scoring with 52 points last season, but is on pace to eclipse that total by the halfway point of the season and has been mentioned as an early candidate for the Norris Trophy.

When asked for an explanation for his hot start, Rielly quickly gave the credit to his teammates.

“(There’s) a lot of new faces, compared to the first couple years (in Toronto). Rielly said. “The way we play as a team is different and tends to impact guys in positive ways. Your team is better and you feel comfortable with a group and a coaching staff and that can have a positive influence on guys.”

Though many things can change between now and the end of the season, it is possible that Rielly could be in the mix for the NHL’s top defenseman based on how some of the top vote getters for last year’s Norris are doing this season.

2018 winner Victor Hedman and Seth Jones (4th in voting) have missed significant time with injuries, runner up Drew Doughty leads the NHL in ATOI for defenseman (but the Kings is at the bottom of the NHL standings), PK Subban has a pedestrian 12 points and Erik Karlsson has struggled early in San Jose.



So far, the leading contenders are Brent Burns of the Sharks, Washington’s John Carlson, John Klingberg of the Dallas Stars (who will be out three weeks with an upper body injury) and sophomore phenom Thomas Chabot.

Sergei Bobrovsky will start in goal for the Blue Jackets (9-3-0, 2.00 GAA, .929 save percentage vs. Toronto) and Columbus winger Nick Foligno will replace Oliver Bjorkstrand in the lineup.

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