Lets talk about William Nylander.

[mapleleaf979]

So are you saying this is another Kessel in Leafs uniform?

I remember Kessel was kind of like that when he played for the Leafs. Elite player with all the tools but he would usually just float around.

At times it has certainly been that way over the last 3 years. I would not classify him that as of yet. His compete level is currently his biggest weakness. He competed hard in all aspects tonight and did it making it look really easy and netted 3 points, created some turn overs and had solid back pressure all game.

Well a big difference this game is his team mates set him up. How often has this been occurring this season? Not often.

Every time Matthews finally finds some chemistry with Nylander in terms of passing to him..

Willy skating hard and reading the D made him open, which led to him being fed the puck. To suggest its because his team-mates dont set him up in the past, is false. The chemistry part is only missing when one or both of them are not competing hard. They can read each other extremely well.

 

[HamiltonNHL]

 

[ULF_55]

Only 8 PiMs.

So he isn't hooking or taking out of position penalties trying to cover his man.

 

[Laista]

Willys Dad is he,s agent by proxie.
Ask yourself IF it would be OK IF another Team Took a Chance on Willie and paid him big money? Or IF he even plays in Europe because Leafs go Cheap on him. Michael Nylander dont joke around. He knows how to deal with suits

 

[Apotheosis]

I think he's more than ready to centre his own line. His 5v5 production has been elite. If he had the same PP production as last year, he would be essentially PPG right now (and Matthews himself would have 78 points in 60 games mind you). Not concerned with them at all from an ES perspective.

 

[Mess]

Lets hope Willy can hit the 20 goal mark this year..

 

[Nithoniniel]

Matching last years numbers while playing tougher minutes and having his PP unit fall apart completely would be impressive.

 

[Drytoast]

Leafs will offer Willie a fair deal based on his output. And Willie would be smart to stay as he has grown up with this group and will continue to grow and improve with this group.

He gets #1 ice time with an elite center, extreme exposure and great coaching.

Any team that wants to severely out bid on the leafs to snag Willie is looking to drop talent in the future and black list themselves from future trade deals.

Willie stays. And he takes a fair deal.

 

[Walshy7]

he is 3rd on our team in points, and only has 10 pp points. Which last season some posters said things like "yeah but he has a ton of PP points". Last year he set the record for rookie PP in team history with 26. if he and that unit had got going properly and not had komarov or brown on it a lot 10 more pp points isn't out of the question and he'd be on 69 points right there with marner. He has gone from -2 to +21, I know +- isn't the greatest stat but it tells you something when its that big a swing and he and Matthews take on tough matchups too. zone starts for him have gone from 43% d zone starts to 51%. He has been given a tougher role and still scored the same as he did last year, and really improved 5 on 5 massively.

He has been fantastic this year and its is awesome that we expect more from him still. He is an elite talent

 

[Raging Bull]

Willys Dad is he,s agent by proxie.
Ask yourself IF it would be OK IF another Team Took a Chance on Willie and paid him big money? Or IF he even plays in Europe because Leafs go Cheap on him. Michael Nylander dont joke around. He knows how to deal with suits

Huh?

 

[saffronleaf]

Matching last years numbers while playing tougher minutes and having his PP unit fall apart completely would be impressive.

Plus not having Matthews for 1/4 of the season and learning how to play center.

 

[Polaris1010]

Nylander will get to 20 goals when it did not look like he will have a chance at it.

He got hot at the right time in the stretch, and only needing one goal in two games, he will be motivated enough to do it.

Last season, once he got to 20 goals, he slacked off a lot.

He was motivated last night. Before he scored his first goal, he was the only man back on the power play when a Sabre got the puck and was rushing on him. Playing defenseman, Nylander made a good poke check. His head was in the game, and he got goals later.

Nylander tunes out as a player. Young players tend to do that.

 

[eddieO]

Nylander reminds me a lot of Alex Mogilny. Amazing release, exceptionally gifted playmaker and good speed off the rush. However people would criticize his “compete level.” Not every player needs to look like Hyman to be competing. Nylander is who he is growing into an elite winger.

If you don’t like his compete level, too bad. This is who he is. This is what he brings. And I’m very happy he’s a Leaf.

 

[CantLoseWithMatthews]

What is the reason for Nylanders relatively poor/underwhelming season?

I think everyone expected much bigger things than he has delivered.

I'm very happy with his season tbh. The raw numbers aren't there (although still very good) and he's been inconsistent at times, but overall he took a very nice step forward.

 

[Martin Skoula]

Nylander reminds me a lot of Alex Mogilny. Amazing release, exceptionally gifted playmaker and good speed off the rush. However people would criticize his “compete level.” Not every player needs to look like Hyman to be competing. Nylander is who he is growing into an elite winger.

If you don’t like his compete level, too bad. This is who he is. This is what he brings. And I’m very happy he’s a Leaf.

Grinder gets out of position and has to hustle over to the puck carrier = great work ethic, outstanding defensive play
Nylander is waiting in perfect position and intercepts a pass = lazy, no intensity, should have been battling on the boards

 

[eddieO]

Grinder gets out of position and has to hustle over to the puck carrier = great work ethic, outstanding defensive play
Nylander is waiting in perfect position and intercepts a pass = lazy, no intensity, should have been battling on the boards

Funny how Connor Brown has looked pretty apathetic of late yet nobody questions his compete level. Another poster said it best, people are looking for examples with Nylander where they can claim he “took a shift off” whereas other guys never get that type of treatment.

It’s Toronto. The land of “you don’t know what you got till it’s gone.” We have a gem in Willy.

 

[Halla]

I'm very happy with his season tbh. The raw numbers aren't there (although still very good) and he's been inconsistent at times, but overall he took a very nice step forward.

agreed. most don't realize he has crushed his ES pt total (49 vs 35)

Last year him and Matthews tandem was the go to PP unit and he had 26 pts. This year it wasnt and he only put up 10 pts. With JVR and Bozak likely gone he will likely get more PP ice time. If he gets the PP pts he had in 2016-2017 with the ES pts he had this year, we are looking at a 75pt player

 

[Halla]

Leafs will offer Willie a fair deal based on his output. And Willie would be smart to stay as he has grown up with this group and will continue to grow and improve with this group.

He gets #1 ice time with an elite center, extreme exposure and great coaching.

Any team that wants to severely out bid on the leafs to snag Willie is looking to drop talent in the future and black list themselves from future trade deals.

Willie stays. And he takes a fair deal.

8 years x 6.25 million (50 total)

More than Ehlers, who statistically had a better 2nd year. Less than Pastrnak, coming off 34g/70pts
Enough of a team friendly deal that the leafs can sign him, marner, matthews and chase a big fish dman next UFA
(after moving the final year of marleaus deal)

 

[MR4]

Can't wait for him to centre his own line next year. Hopefully with Johnsson & Kapanen

 

[pengdeng12]

8 years x 6.25 million (50 total)

More than Ehlers, who statistically had a better 2nd year. Less than Pastrnak, coming off 34g/70pts
Enough of a team friendly deal that the leafs can sign him, marner, matthews and chase a big fish dman next UFA
(after moving the final year of marleaus deal)

If Nylander played with Bergeron and Marchand, he'd kill it as well.

 

[cannucky]

We'll see but I am expecting Lou to get him to sign a Kadri / Reilly type deal , like 5.5 for 5 years to bridge him into UFA , I'm not expecting a Mathews deal this year after the injuries and Marner would be smart to hold out as he just keeps growing and getting better .

 

[IamruKusleaf]

Nylander reminds me a lot of Alex Mogilny. Amazing release, exceptionally gifted playmaker and good speed off the rush. However people would criticize his “compete level.” Not every player needs to look like Hyman to be competing. Nylander is who he is growing into an elite winger.

If you don’t like his compete level, too bad. This is who he is. This is what he brings. And I’m very happy he’s a Leaf.

Nylander reminds me a lot of Alex Mogilny. Amazing release, exceptionally gifted playmaker and good speed off the rush. However people would criticize his “compete level.” Not every player needs to look like Hyman to be competing. Nylander is who he is growing into an elite winger.

If you don’t like his compete level, too bad. This is who he is. This is what he brings. And I’m very happy he’s a Leaf.

I know we all love our leafs and sometime we all have put on our blue shades on , myself included .
I’m not accusing you of anything brotha , but I really don’t see parallel between the two , sorry really at this point or even down the road ,
Mo sometimes would even hit and get a tad nasty once and a while ,
I’m not saying Mo was a complete player at all but boy would I love you to be right if Willie could get to that status wow !
76 freakin goals one year and a threat almost every time he touched the puck

Also

Over I think 1,200 points and almost 500 goals in just under 1000 games

Just saying

Gooooo C.B. 28 LEAFS Gooo !

 

[pengdeng12]

I know we all love our leafs and sometime we all have put on our blue shades on , myself included .
I’m not accusing you of anything brotha , but I really don’t see parallel between the two , sorry really at this point or even down the road ,
Mo sometimes would even hit and get a tad nasty once and a while ,
I’m not saying Mo was a complete player at all but boy would I love you to be right if Willie could get to that status wow !
76 freakin goals one year and a threat almost every time he touched the puck

Also

Over I think 1,200 points and almost 500 goals in just under 1000 games

Just saying

Gooooo C.B. 28 LEAFS Gooo !

So unfair for current players being compared to older players.

It was easy as shit to score back then

 

[Polaris1010]

Nylander really did reach 20 years again in his second full season which is a notable feat.

With about 20 remaining games, he had only around 12 goals (forget), did not look like he will make it at all.

Then he hot, and at 17 goals with 3 games remaining ... he scores on what seems like three shots the last two games. 3 goals in 3 shots to hit 20.

The way his goal went in tonight for the Leafs only tally, was interesting.

No way the Leafs trade away a player like that, with a horseshoe up his hockey-pants.

 

[Battle Lin]

starting off your career with back to back 60 point seasons is pretty dam fine, a lot better at his age than some 80-90 point scorers today and past, theres still so much potential to be even better