Rielly benching sends Leaf message

Carlyle scrambling for ways to awaken D, Winnik ‘100 per cent’

Maybe it’s because he spent six-plus seasons in a California market where nobody paid much attention to him, but on some nights Maple Leafs head coach Randy Carlyle has a way of making statements that take you aback. On Thursday in Denver he said at least a couple of things that fell into that category. One was regarding Morgan Rielly, the Toronto defenceman who sat out Toronto’s 4-3 shootout loss as a healthy scratch. The decision was as puzzling as Carlyle’s explanation.

“We felt that Morgan needed to improve in some areas of his game. That’s as plain as I can say it,” Carlyle said. “We think there’s more for Morgan to give, and Morgan’s got to use his skating ability to play the game to a higher level.”

Fair enough. Everybody can improve. And Rielly, by virtue of being 20 years of age, clearly has much to learn about the rush and how to drive it. But of Toronto’s seven defencemen, it’s impossible to make the case that he’s anywhere near the worst. The truth is he’s on a fast track to being the best.

Carlyle knows this. So why would the coach make Rielly a healthy scratch for the first time since February? Clearly he was trying to take more than the media aback. He was attempting to make a statement to a defence corps that remains prone to being outskated and out-toughed and caught out. While the Maple Leafs have chopped a healthy chunk off last season’s monstrous negative shot differential, they’re still the league’s sixth-worst possession team with the 11th-best save percentage. They’re still getting by while getting regularly hemmed in their zone thanks to solid goaltending and just enough scoring.

This week’s two-game mini-trip to the West was often a study in defensive-zone foot-dragging. In Arizona, when the team began “turtle” slow, to use Carlyle’s word, the Leafs had registered all of four shots by the time they were down 3-0.

So there’s a zillion reasons why Carlyle wanted his team to focus its attention on the defensive end. But if he sat Jake Gardiner instead of Rielly on Thursday — well, Gardiner is his well-established whipping boy, so nobody pays much attention. If he sat Stuart Percy — Percy hadn’t dressed since the Leafs got drilled by the Bruins on Oct. 25, so the status quo makes no impact.