Leafs’ Morgan Rielly is finding joy after so many disappointing endings

When Morgan Rielly arrived as a Toronto Maple Leaf, Randy Carlyle was the coach, Dion Phaneuf was captain, Brendan Shanahan was still chief disciplinarian for the NHL, and his partner on the blue line was Cody Franson.

Oh, and the 19-year-old rookie was a healthy scratch for the first two games of the 2013-14 season.

Since then, Rielly has had a revolving door of defensive partners, though he is hard-pressed to list their names. “Oh my God, I can’t remember them all. There have been quite a few.”

That cohort includes Jake Gardiner, Ron Hainsey, Roman Polak, Nikita Zaitsev, Matt Hunwick, Stéphane Robidas, Phaneuf, Carrick Connor, Tim Gleason, Martin Marincin and Cody Ceci.

Forgetful or not, Rielly, who was selected fifth overall by Brian Burke in the 2012 draft, has been the Zelig of the roster across eight seasons, the longest tenured on the current team and a repository of Leafs history. Much of which was cringe-inducing. Rielly didn’t get a sniff at the playoffs until his fourth season.

All those bad old days.

No one else on these Leafs could even imagine it. No one else on these Leafs takes more pleasure from what the team has become.

“When you’re winning, it’s just a joy to be at the rink, to be around your teammates,” says Rielly. “If we’re able to have that joy, that translates onto the ice and everyone just plays better. Go out there and just keep rolling.”

While Rielly could have been the captain — should have been, says here — he’s definitely the backbone on the rear end, leading the team by averaging 23:48 of ice time and orchestrating the offensive breakouts. He has nine assists in 12 games, six over the last five games.

In T.J. Brodie, who joined the team from Calgary this season, he has found a symbiotic yin to his yang. The tandem was a little wobbly out of the chute as Brodie adjusted to Toronto’s system but the jagged bits have smoothed out nicely.

“He’s able to make plays in the D-zone and is able to skate and keep a tight gap, which helps me to keep a tight gap,” says Rielly. “He’s just really solid and he’s been able to provide some confidence to me to kind of do my thing.”

Carlyle, who played the position, often said it took at least 300 games to truly assess an NHL defenceman. On Monday, when Toronto hosts the Canucks for the third time in five days, Rielly will be playing his 530th game.

“At 200 games, you don’t really know who you are yet. Then you get to 300 and 400 and you’re pretty well established, or at least you try to be. After that, it’s not like you plateau and that’s just who you are until you’re done playing. For me, I want to play a long time and I expect to improve year after year until I’m into my mid-30s, hopefully beyond.”

Rielly led the league in goals by a defenceman (20) two seasons ago and was third in points (72). “I felt really confident and I was able to play quite freely. I didn’t have that last year.” A fractured foot sidelined him for two months. If healthy, there’s no exaggerating the possibilities.

“This year I feel good. I don’t know what the ceiling is but I expect myself to get better every year. I think the sky’s the limit.”

Rielly inexplicably wasn’t a finalist for the Norris Trophy in 2018-19. If it annoyed, he’s never said. Although trying to wring self-promotion out of Rielly is like pulling teeth. “It’s not anything I really think about,” he says, of personal glory. “Honestly, at this point in our team’s lifespan it’s all about the wins.”

Truth is the 26-year-old is an early candidate to include in those Norris discussions this year and will likely be named to Canada’s Olympic team should the NHL return to the Games after passing on Pyeongchang in 2018.

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A former boldface Leaf, Steve Thomas, once observed that there are only two kinds of NHL players — those who have hoisted the Stanley Cup and those who haven’t. Rielly has never progressed beyond the opening round of the post-season. Last summer was a dull thud, ousted by the Blue Jackets after the Leafs had been widely touted to make the final. So, he agrees with Thomas.

“That’s why you play the game. That’s the ultimate accomplishment for a player and for a team. For our team, and also for me personally, I don’t think there’s any aspect to hockey that can trump winning the Cup.”

Certainly he likes what he’s seeing. What’s not to like? He points to Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner as the obvious catalysts. “That’s not surprising.” The two teammates that have most impressed him, however, are fellow defencemen Brodie and Justin Holl. “In our room and in our team the past two years, we had an internal belief in Justin, what he’s able to do. He’s extremely valuable and his teammates have always known that. People that watch our games are just starting to catch on. With T.J., he’s been a huge part of our back end. Makes some really good first passes, breakout passes.”

The Leafs have enjoyed a pair of blowouts against Vancouver but all the games before that were grinding affairs — not the Toronto template. Thus the centrifugal identity of the team hasn’t quite been established so far through a dozen games.

“I don’t think we have purely made our case for who we are just yet but we’re en route. If you look back at years past, how we’ve opened up a season, the first month or so we were pretty high-flying, high-scoring. That’s not the case right now and I think we’re totally OK with that. We’ve talked about it. The fact that we’ve won these close games, had grinding games and ended on top, that’s a good feeling. We take pride in that and we’re happy it’s gone down that way. As we keep going here, that offence will come, like you’ve started to see.’’

It is, of course, a freak of a season in this pandemic world. Truly sad that fans can’t witness it in person. On the road, the Leafs are restricted to the hotel and the arena, can’t even visit each other’s rooms, and get tested for COVID-19 daily. But don’t feel sorry for hockey players, Rielly says.

“In the grand scheme of things, it isn’t more challenging what other people are dealing with. We’re very fortunate to be working right now, to be travelling around and playing hockey.”

In days of normal yore, Rielly was often content to sit alone at the bar of a favourite restaurant, just reading a book, listening to conversations around him, sometimes hearing his name mentioned. Like everybody else, his universe has shrunk. Home and rink.

But one dazzling element has been added. Rielly is romantically involved with the beauteous Tessa Virtue, the most decorated figure skater in Olympic history with ice-dance partner Scott Moir. Rielly and Virtue met through a mutual friend. While aware that a whole lot of people are intrigued, he is protective of their privacy.

“Right now, I’m choosing to not address our relationship too much. But I will say that I’m extremely fortunate and she’s an incredible person. I’ll leave it at that.”

Cutest couple ever.

The life of Rielly is good.

Rosie DiManno is a Toronto-based columnist covering sports and current affairs for the Star. Follow her on Twitter: @rdimanno