A few guys have struggled mightily in March. At 5v5 OEL is -7, Rielly is -5, Laughton is -5, Lorentz is -4,

Rielly and OEL together have been the worst defensive pair for the month at -4 in only 65 minutes together; for context Carlo and Rielly have been even (5/5) in 97 minutes. If Rielly doesn't have an adult with him to actually play defense he's simply brutal and drags everyone around him down. OEL, similarly, does need a good defenseman to partner with. He and McCabe were even in 40ish minutes and he and Benoit were -1 in 60 minutes.
- Monkeypunk

I could live with Rielly's defensive problems if he was a force offensively. The problem is that he is meh on offense also. I would rather have Phanoof! on the team, maybe.

Do other 7Mish D men in the NHL have to play with Depth Ds every season?

I have no idea, would be interesting to see.

He has been playing like a 5-5.5M D this year...in a bad year. I don't know, I am not too concerned.
- Santo_44

Rielly is a hard one to defend. I mean in most models he sits in the bottom 5% in defense metrics. He is poor at denying zone entries, at standing guys up with the puck, at defending off the rush; in things I don't typically see in models, but we do see with our own eyes - he's among the worst defenders I've ever seen play a 2 on 1 and his route selection is often abysmal as is his ability to win board battles or compete for a contested puck.

He is decent, as you'd expect with his skating, at puck retrieval and zone exits - but he's not exceptional at any of it.

So when we see his offense has tailed it's worrisome. His even strength goals are basically in line with his average EV scoring with 6, but his assist totals have plummetted to their lowest rate since he was 20.

For me, you accept Rielly's defensive failures because he makes up for them by driving the play - but if he's not driving the play . . .what is he bringing to the table? I'm not even talking about his salary at all. Simply put - if he were making $1m is he bringing enough to the table to be on the team? Because he feels like he's below replacement level right now.

I could live with Rielly's defensive problems if he was a force offensively. The problem is that he is meh on offense also. I would rather have Phanoof! on the team, maybe.
- Aetherial

Exactly. See above!

I could live with Rielly's defensive problems if he was a force offensively. The problem is that he is meh on offense also. I would rather have Phanoof! on the team, maybe.
- Aetherial

Don't you speak of that evil Ricky Bobby.

Rielly is a hard one to defend. I mean in most models he sits in the bottom 5% in defense metrics. He is poor at denying zone entries, at standing guys up with the puck, at defending off the rush; in things I don't typically see in models, but we do see with our own eyes - he's among the worst defenders I've ever seen play a 2 on 1 and his route selection is often abysmal as is his ability to win board battles or compete for a contested puck.

He is decent, as you'd expect with his skating, at puck retrieval and zone exits - but he's not exceptional at any of it.

So when we see his offense has tailed it's worrisome. His even strength goals are basically in line with his average EV scoring with 6, but his assist totals have plummetted to their lowest rate since he was 20.

For me, you accept Rielly's defensive failures because he makes up for them by driving the play - but if he's not driving the play . . .what is he bringing to the table? I'm not even talking about his salary at all. Simply put - if he were making $1m is he bringing enough to the table to be on the team? Because he feels like he's below replacement level right now.
- Monkeypunk

An advanced stats echo of 4 hours ago.

Do other 7Mish D men in the NHL have to play with Depth Ds every season?

I have no idea, would be interesting to see.

He has been playing like a 5-5.5M D this year...in a bad year. I don't know, I am not too concerned.
- Santo_44

He was aupposed to have the talent to make other dmen better

Hes been meh since the tampa playoff series.

Reilly does too much coke.. Now he can't play