Toronto Maple Leafs: Should Rielly and Hainsey continue to play together?

It appears that Morgan Rielly is planning to play with Ron Hainsey once again this season, but should the Toronto Maple Leafs consider other alternatives?

If there’s one thing we’ve learned about Mike Babcock’s tenure with the Toronto Maple Leafs so far, it’s that he trusts his veterans like Ron Hainsey.

Last season, the Leafs’ head coach announced before training camp that the veteran defenceman would partner with Morgan Rielly to start the season and it looks like this will be the case once again.

When Babcock said Rielly and Hainsey would play together last year, I looked at how the pairing would be a nice temporary solution, considering the lack of options the Leafs had on the right side. With the different patchwork jobs the team has tried over the years, it was tough to criticize using Hainsey on the right side given his experience.

What was clear as the season went on, however, was that Babcock’s usage of Hainsey started to wear out the veteran which is understandable, since he led the league in ice time on the penalty kill at 318:29 with Zdeno Chara behind him at 266:35. He was also fourth on the Leafs in average ice time by a defenceman at even strength at 17:46.

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To give you an idea of how much Hainsey played on the PK, his average time on ice (3:59) was over a minute more than what Nikita Zaitsev played (2:57) and with Roman Polak gone, the Leafs are going to have to find another player to eat up some of that shorthanded time.

An argument can be made that Hainsey could continue to eat minutes on the PK if he was to play less at even strength. But if he’s being partnered with Rielly this season that’s not going to be the case,.

So either Babcock and his staff need to find a way to reduce Hainsey’s time on the penalty kill, or the Leafs need to take fewer penalties. There’s evidence to support the claim that Hainsey was being worn down by his workload.

For the most part, Hainsey was healthy during the season only missing some time with an illness, so unless there was an injury that wasn’t made known by the team, his decline in production can be seen as performance related.

Now the obvious issue with taking Hainsey away from Rielly is figuring out who Babcock would play instead.

Back in December of 2017, James Mirtle of the Athletic (subscription required) brought up the idea of playing Rielly and Jake Gardiner together and he isn’t the only one calling for it. Both have played together and the numbers have not been bad in terms of possession (61.38 CF% in 83:40 together) and the shot differential (63-40) last season.

So why doesn’t Babcock do this? Well if you pair Rielly and Gardiner together, how do you find balance in your second and third pairing? Is there another alternative Babcock could try?

Looking at what the Leafs have with right-shooting defencemen the options are; Zaitsev, Igor Ozhiganov, Justin Holl, Connor Carrick and potentially Jordan Subban. If those options don’t work, then there is another possible choice for Babcock to consider.

In the past, Rielly has played on the right side but not for extended periods; if it is something he is comfortable with, then it would present the Leafs with more suitable partners. Someone like Travis Dermott comes to mind but considering his experience, Babcock would probably hesitate to do that.

What it all comes down to in the end is comfort, not only for Babcock but Rielly as well. It was the reason why Hainsey continues to play with Rielly and why Babcock uses him as much as he does in certain situations.

This will be something to watch as training camp gets underway because if we know Babcock, he’ll need a good reason to change his mind and so far nothing suggests that it will.

What do you think the Leafs should do with Rielly and Hainsey this season? What would be the better alternative? Let us know in the comments below.