I don't think anyone is saying that Rielly is the next coming of Karlsson...you never really know. But just to possess some of the same skill/characteristics of Karlsson ... or even drawing comparisons to Letang a/o Keith, definitely warrants attention and keeper consideration NOW...before his true potential is acheived and those late to the party are left pining for him ( as is the case for many past and still pining Karlson non-owners).
12 Team, H2H, Keep 6 (in Bold)
G, A, Pts, PPP, FW, SOG, Hits, Blocks
W, Saves, S%, GAA, Game Started
2C, 2LW, 2RW, 4D, 1Util, 2G, 5BN, 2IR, 1IR+, 1NA
C: Horvat, Trocheck
LW: J. Robertson, Byfield (C), Guenther
RW: Pavelski (C), Giroux (C), Svechnikov (LW)
D: Fox, Makar, Bouchard, Morrissey, Gudas
Util: Meier (LW, RW)
G: Oettinger, Georgiev, Samsonov, Woll
He doesn't even have the same skillset as Karlsson IMO
You're right. He's better defensively.
But in all honestly, you can't really compare anyone to Karlsson right now. Letang is even a stretch. Have high hopes, but let's wait until we see it before annointing the kid, which is what I think people are doing here. Cautious optimism.
I would definitely stash him. Great skater with excellent hockey sense... fun to watch. He's got some traffic ahead of him, especially on the PP next season. Phaneuf (if he's still around) Franson, and Gardiner will all be vying for first wave minutes.
He's also well over 200lbs which doesn't hurt.
A less-sexy comparison would be Brian Campbell (with more upside).
12 tm pts only dynasty
F (count 12): Bedard, Boldy, Beniers, Cooley, Michkov, Norris, Landeskog, Rossi, Reichel, Pelletier, Tomasino, Foerster, Bordeleau, Lysell, Wahlstrom, Bourque, Stankoven, Nazar, Othmann, Ostlund, O.Moore
D (count 6): McAvoy, Kylington, Byram, Boqvist, Perunovich, Lundkvist, L.Hughes, Zellweger, Morrow
G (count 2): Askarov, Wallstedt, Wolf, Kochetkov, Levi
3 round draft and 1 waiver per team per year
Direct Head To Head Comparision...
Morgan Rielly (who's apparently getting close to exploding and making himself hard to buy as soon as THIS season)
vs
John Carlson (who had a coming out year so to speak last season, but is facing just as much competition for PP time now with the new faces in camp...PLUS...he's very well regarded as a strong 2 way D...suggesting to me that he may take a bit of a hit in my scoring).
All this Rielly comparision to Karlsson(Sorry Ev), Letang, Keith, Campbell vs Carlson...who I rarely hear compared to ANYONE but decent in his own right.
Who wins THIS cage match?
(yes...vested interest... i've been forced to try and decide between the two... no intention on hijacking this thread)
I have been high on Rielly since day 1 and snagged him in my big league a couple years ago. I have high hopes for him soon becoming a 50-60 point defenseman but he is a different beast than Karlsson and most comparable to Duncan Keith with slightly higher offensive instincts. He'll be a gem - might even break 60 in the perfect season down the line. Don't expect another Karlsson though, you'll be disappointed.
8-GM / WK-H2H
Forwards: G=2, A=1, PP/SH= +1, GWG= +2, Shootout G=1, HT= +1
D-Men/Captain: G=3/A=2
Goalies: W=3, OTL=1, SO= +2, SV= .10
Start = 13F, 6D, 2G / Keep 44 (3G)
Captain: Matthews
(F): MacKinnon, Pasta, Marner, Rantanen, Malkin, Barkov, M.Tkachuk, W.Nylander, Pettersson, Gaudreau, Laine, Keller, Miller, B.Tkachuk, Stutzle, DeBrincat, L.Raymond, K.Johnson, Cozens, Quinn, Guenther, Kulich, Cooley
(D): Makar, Dahlin, Q.Hughes, Ekblad, Rielly, Werenski, Letang, Jones, Chychrun, Seider, Edvinsson, Jiricek, Korchinski, Mintyukov, Ceulemans, Hutson
(G): Shesterkin, Demko, Vejmelka