Willy does the most work in neutral zone, breakouts, and offensive zone chance generation on any line he plays on, while being top 5 in the league in adjusted takeaways relative to ice time, yet some still claim that he lets everyone else do most of the work. Completely absurd.
Edit: Actually let's continue. Willy also ranks above average on the team in puck retrieval on dump-ins and loose puck recoveries, so it's not like he's only involved with the puck either.
He basically has a big role in every area of the game except pure defensive zone coverage and puck battles, which is kind of natural since he's playing on the wing.
It should also be obvious that the reason the Leafs went out and got Tavares was not because of how they view Nylander. You don't base your decision on whether to acquire elite talent on which position you prefer another player on, when he can play several.
