Before that start of last season, all eyes were on Rielly to take the step and become a franchise defenseman for the Toronto Maple Leafs. After registering 37 points in 2015-2016, he took a step back offensively. In 76 games last year, he only had 27 points. (Though much of the decline was from getting significantly less power-play time).
When it comes to his defensive game, there were was the good and the bad for Rielly. He was paired with Nikita Zaitsev on the Leafs top pairing. They were tasked with playing the toughest minutes on the team and finished with a CF% just below 50 which isn’t bad.