Nylander played well against the rookies, but once the competition against the pros began. He did not force his way into the lineup. It's consistent to what Shanahan said before camp. Unfortunately for us, none of our young guys showed they were NHL ready. I agree with this philosophy. You want players to make the team and do what Larkin or Ehlers are doing. In the past we just had players playing the 9 games that made small contributions, and then being sent down. Nylander will tell them when he is ready. He isn't there yet. But he's close.
To be fair, Nylander and Brown were one of our best forwards in camp. Personally, I think he set himself apart from a vast majority of our forwards. I think they already made up their mind about his development plan. They want their prospects over ready, which I also agree with them on; there is no need to rush him and the team right now is pretty much meat grinder for a young player.
I think he'd be making an offensive contribution on this team, but probably on the wing; it's tougher to contend with stronger and more experienced players on the dot at the NHL. He also has positional issues among other thing and he could work on them at the NHL level. But alas, why do that when he can play centre and work on those things at the AHL level on a winning team while playing as their go to guy. It just makes more sense to send him down at this juncture. I know it's probably tough for leaf fans when other young players are contributing at the NHL level so early, but patience is key.
