Morgan Rielly: not first overall, not Rookie-of-the-Year, but maybe the best selection of 2012…

You know how the analysts and “experts” nowadays will often write a column reflecting on drafts from years ago?  They take a retrospective look at what players were drafted when, and they consider if the draft were to be held again now, would teams draft differently based on how payers have performed since they joined the NHL.

With that in mind and with the 2014 NHL entry draft just hours away, I can’t help but look back and think that the Leafs just may have the very best player from the 2012 graduating class.

VLM readers will know I was not keen on Morgan Rielly staying with the Leafs this past season at the end of training camp. I was hoping he would stay another year in junior hockey and play for Canada at the World Junior championships.  I did not see him having the kind of experienced support needed on the Leaf blueline to thrive at this level. But while losing a year of his entry-level contract may turn out to be a concern down the road, there is little doubt in my mind that the former Moose Jaw rearguard is already an emerging star in this league.

When I look back at the players drafted before and after him (while things can always change, of course) it seems clear to me that Rielly may be the best of the lot.  Sure, he struggled in his own zone at times this past season, but that’s to be expected for any young defenseman.  He is not the most physical guy, but I have vivid memories of moments when he was on the ice this past season where he did things that are hard to describe, but were impossible not to notice.

Rielly seems to have the ability to move so fluidly and be at high gear so quickly that he stands out on pure skill alone.  There were times when he would block a shot in front on his own goal and an instant later was leading a rush up ice the other way.  He just has those offensive instincts that separate him from most players who lack the ability or confidence to make the kind of plays he does.  He is a risk-taker, yes, but smart. And he strikes me as an ultra-competitive guy, someone who has a desire to be the best.

So I may be wrong, but I think the Leafs have a legitimate blue-chip, “untouchable”-worthy player in their midst right now.  He wasn’t the first overall selection in 2012 (that was Yakupov to the Oilers) or even the first defenseman selected (that was Murray to the Jackets) and he did not win the Calder Trophy on Wednesday night (that went to MacKinnon).  But I believe we have the player, still just 20, who may prove to be the the most outstanding player of the entire draft when we look back on the 2012 lineup a few years from now, and the “experts” re-assess what will have become a possible turning point selection for the blue and white.

This year, the Leafs sect 8th overall. Can they pick someone with the same upside as Rielly, who was chosen 5th overall? Toronto grabbed Darryl Sittler (right) 8th overall back in 1970, one of the earliest of the "universal" drafts, as I believe they were called back then.  The Leafs would be fortunate indeed to make that kind of impact choice this time around.