One of the players I’m really excited to see hit the ice this year is William Nylander. When he joined the Maple Leafs last season they were a pretty thin up front, and by thin, I mean like a layer of ice over a puddle on a mild winter day.
Nylander brought some flare, and opened some members of Leafs Nations eyes. Willy being the eighth overall pick back in 2014 was an absolute force for the Marlies in the AHL, scoring 32 points in 37 games in his first season, following up with a 45 point season in 38 games. Those are some quality stats, and they continued at the NHL level where Willy tossed up 13 points in his first 22 games.
Nylander had four multi-point games, and two of them were three point performances. In his last five games of the season he produced six points. Unfortunetly for Nylander and the Marlies, he was feeling under the weather for their playoff run, managing 11 points in 14 games but not playing his best hockey.
Willy has been beefing up over the summer, adding muscle mass and core strength. He found himself getting pushed off the puck at the NHL level and likely got determined to beef up for the upcoming 2016/17 season. Rumour has it, Nylander is up to 190 pounds and looking like a lean machine, and I’ll tell ya, I absolutely love it.
Get that flow going, get that confidence up and prepare to play with some quality talent this season. Nylander is going to put on a show this year, I feel he’s going to gel nicely with Matthews and those two are going to build up chemistry for years to come. I’m really hoping Babcock sticks those two together and gives them some time to get a feel where each other will be in certain situations.
William is the type of forward who not only can produce, but will produce. His vision is excellent and his raw skill with the puck is astounding. If Willy can continue to add core strength he will have no issue maintaining a high scoring pace as he’s the full package offensively. Don’t be surprised to see Babcock toss him on the point when the Leafs are on the powerplay, he has a superb wrister from the point and has no issues threading the needle hitting the tape of his teammate. Nylander I feel has a very good chance of being in discussion for the Calder Trophy, winning rookie of the year; especially if he’s playing alongside Auston Matthews.
Babcock will have some decisions to make as the season progresses and he can assess to see if he likes Nylander with Matthews or perhaps on another line where he fits better. There is also the possibility that Willy continues to play center, especially if the Leafs unload a player or players as the season continues. For example, if Bozak got traded, perhaps Babcock would prefer Willy to play third line center for the remainder of the season.
Nylander is a right handed shot, so I’d imagine if he were to play the wing it would be on the right side. The left handed options for a possible winger at this point include James van Riemsdyk, Leo Komarov, Matt Martin, Kerby Rychel, Josh Leivo, Brendan Leipsic and Dmytro Timashov.
My gut tells me that if Babcock wants to put Nylander and Matthews together, he’s going to want to protect them with a player who has NHL experience and whose presence on the ice will make opponents think twice before messing with the Leafs youngsters.
Perfect, considering the Leafs have Komarov and Martin who both have a good chunk of NHL experience and have no issues mixing it up or throwing the body. As mentioned before, Babs sure does like his grinders out there with his magic makers and there are a few good fits here. I would certainly entertain using Rychel in this position, but perhaps on a line that already has some more NHL experience on it. Rychel may have to wait until the Leafs unload a player or two, or someone gets injured. Giving him some time to settle in with the Marlies isn’t the worst thing.
Who would you like to see on the left wing if Matthews and Nylander are paired up together?
The Maple Leafs Rookie Camp:
September 16-18 – Budweiser Gardens, London, Ontario.
The Toronto Maple Leafs’ prospects will play three games against the Ottawa Senators, Pittsburgh Penguins and Montreal Canadiens rookie teams.
Game 1: September 16 – 7pm – Ottawa vs Toronto (white jerseys) Game 2: September 17 – 7pm – Toronto (blue jerseys) vs Montreal Game 3: September 18 – 4:35 pm – Toronto (blue jerseys) vs Pittsburgh September is just around the corner!
Thanks for reading, enjoy your hump day.