There is room for improvement from the Toronto Maple Leafs' pairing of Morgan Rielly and Darren Raddysh. But there is no panic regarding the offensive tendencies of the two blueliners.
There were a whole lot of new faces on display for the Toronto Maple Leafs in their season opener against the Montreal Canadiens. Ten players made their Maple Leafs debut, including defenseman Darren Raddysh, who was paired alongside Morgan Rielly.
It wasn't the greatest outing by Raddysh in his first game for his hometown team, and he was the first to admit that post-game on Tuesday.
In preparation for the Leafs' next game against the New York Islanders on Wednesday, the second night of a back-to-back, Rielly talked about what it felt like in the pairing's first real test and how Raddysh is handling his new surroundings.
"It's been great," Rielly said of his partnership with Raddysh. "I mean, we spend lots of time together talking about, you know, how we want to play. And I think he's done a great job, you know, since he's gotten here, just trying to get comfortable.
"I think he looks great out there. So as we go along here, we're going to look to improve and get better. We have lots of conversations about that. So I think he's done a great job," he added.
Rielly missed some time in training camp and the first pre-season game due to a viral condition. When he returned to full action, he was paired with Raddysh almost immediately, and given the offensive tendencies of both blueliners, some eyebrows were raised at the decision.
Rielly is happy that the two of them are at least getting the opportunity to play alongside each other, he said back in training camp.
But with how Rielly and Raddysh operate, would there be a challenge in balancing the proneness to jump up in the play?
"It's not hard," Rielly said confidently. I think it's just based on opportunity, just based on where the puck is. I think we're both able to kind of recognize the right spots to go. I don't think we both want to go at the same time, but it's not hard. It's just based off game flow."
Raddysh was on the ice for all three goals from Montreal on Tuesday and had a game-high of five giveaways. But there is an opportunity for him and that pairing to brush off the opening-night jitters and rust with the Islanders in town.
Leafs head coach Jim Hiller is also not too worried about the first game from Raddysh and that pairing. After all, there's a lot that comes with being a hometown player, coming off a big contract in the off-season, and the whole excitement and anxiety of the first game of the season.
"We're all human, so you have a little extra pressure," Hiller said Wednesday morning. "No matter what, you can stay relaxed and go out there and play. But I think he'll have to work his way through that. I think getting the first one out of the way probably will help him."
As for the chemistry with Rielly, that'll come along the longer they get the chance to play alongside one another.
"Well, it'll take time," Hiller admitted. "There's no question, and and we've talked about this. Lots of new guys. We're trying to get this thing together as quick as we can, but we all know it's going to take a little bit of time. We just want to shrink that time. So I just I just can't put a date on that. But everybody will get better together."
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