If one thing has been proven in the past, it's getting off on the right start. Teams like Edmonton and Carolina have caught fire right out of the gate and show no signs of slowing down. Banking these points for later in the year when possible injuries or losing streaks may occur can be very critical for your team making the playoffs in April. This same logic can be applied to players too, and nobody knows that better than William Nylander.
Leaf's fans and even general hockey fans know the struggle Nylander had fitting in with his teammates after missing training camp and the first half of the regular season. In what ended up being a long drawn out power play, Nylander decided to sit out in lough of contract negotiations. What was implied as being a relatively easy signing turned into a dramatic, old fashioned standoff between Kyle Dubas and Nylander. However on December 1st, 2018, William Nylander signed a lengthy contract of 6 years for what now seems like a bargain price of 41.77 million. The drama did not end there though, Nylander went on to struggle the rest of the season only accumulating 7 goals and 27 points in 54 games, often being criticized by the media (rightfully so) and with Leaf Nation relentlessly calling for his departure.
When you make the amount of money Nylander is making, expectations start to arise. I think most of Leafs Nation would agree that they were expecting another big year out of Nylander, especially when he was playing with a top 5 Center like Auston Matthews, but he just never seemed to be able to get it going and quite frankly he looked uninterested in what was happening. Fast forward to this year, with all the other big contracts taking the limelight and a full training camp under his belt, Nylander looks revitalized. If you're a points guy like me then you would be very impressed with his 5 points in 8 games, which would be a 51 point pace, crushing last year's stats. That being said, Nylander has the ability to get hot and have a few streaks where he goes off. He's also hit 61 points in his other 2 full seasons, so really there is no reason to believe he cannot surpass those numbers and make his case for a top 50 player in the league.
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| (Hockey-refrence.com) |
Although it's a small sample size of 8 games (not including the last game against Boston) Nylander has a 65.4% Corsi for; miles ahead of his personal best of 56.8 %. This means that when Nylander is on the ice he's creating more chances then are being taken on him. Nylander was someone who gave Babcock a bad taste in his mouth all season long in
2018-19, and even he gave Nylander praise, following a game against former Stanley Cup champions the St. Louis Blues. Even from an "eye test" point of view, it's clear as day that he looks a lot more comfortable in his skates. There have been times he's looked like the best player on the Maple Leafs and now with the massive Marner contract, the media seems to have shifted from Nylander, giving him even more confidence.
As I said, 8 games are small sample size for the season, but if Nylander continues to keep grinding away, the points will follow. I hope he has a 70 point season and can shove it everyone's face that he was worth the contract he got. With 74 games left, it will be at the very least entertaining to see whether or not Nylander can live up to the Toronto expectations.
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