Nykoluk didn't have much to work with after Sittler was traded away for next to nothing. The goaltending on these teams was flat out horrible, as the Leafs were always near the league high in goals against during this time frame. Goaltenders during his tenure included Bunny Larocque, Jiri Crha, a past his prime Mike Palmateer and a 19 year old Allan Bester.
The offense was led by Rick Vaive, who scored at least 51 goals in each of the three full seasons Nykoluk was his coach. John Anderson also had some good seasons under Nykoluk, but other than them, the team offense was very mediocre. Bill Derlago was inconsistent, as he went from 34 to 13 to 40 goals during Nykoluk's three full seasons.
Borje Salming was leading the defense, but his best offensive days were over. He managed to be around an even player until 83-84 when he was a -34. Jim Benning looked like a future star, getting 31 points as an 18 year old rookie in 81-82, and a 51 point season in 83-84 when he was 20, before finding himself out of the league at 26.
It seems Nykoluk managed to get the best out of what he had, as these teams, other than a few players, had no talent. Ballard was running the team in the ground, and as we all know, it wasn't until the Cliff Fletcher/Pat Burns era that the Leafs would be a very good team again.