William Nylander, left, of the Toronto Maple Leafs shoots the puck as Wyatt Johnston of the Dallas Stars defends at American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas, on Oct. 26.Sam Hodde/Getty Images
It is about time for the William Nylander haters – and there are more than a few among Maple Leafs’ fans – begin to bellow that he needs to be traded. Smug. Lazy. Doesn’t play defence. Blah blah blah. It is bound to happen because it does every year even as his play gets better and better.
No matter what, there are hardheads who won’t forgive him for the lengthy holdout that caused him to miss part of Toronto’s 2018-19 campaign. Nylander eventually signed a deal for six years at US$6.9-million annually – a bargain to the team when one looks at it now.
Nylander collected an assist in Thursday’s 4-1 victory at Dallas and now has five goals and six assists through seven games. Both he and John Tavares (four goals, seven assists) have recorded a point in every game this season and can extend their streaks in Nashville on Saturday.
If they do, they will tie the franchise record for season-opening streaks held by Frank Mahovlich, Lanny McDonald and John Anderson.
While Auston Matthews has seven goals, it is easy to argue that Nylander has been the Maple Leafs’ best player early on in 2023-24.
That still won’t be enough to please detractors, who will paint this run as nothing but a ploy to get a better contract, because his current one expires next summer. That certainly must have dawned on the 27-year-old right wing but it also ignores facts: His numbers improved over each of the previous four seasons, after which he put up 14 goals and 29 points in the past 30 playoff games.
Nylander is quirky, yes. He is not the most talkative guy. And he does have beautiful hair. But the hate-on doesn’t make much sense at this point, other than from people who hopes he fails just because.
On Thursday he set up Toronto’s first goal with a play that was truly McDavidesque. Nylander worked hard to control a puck behind the Stars’ net, looped around in front of the net and slid a backdoor pass to Morgan Rielly as he neared the goal mouth.
“He is unreal,” Rielly said. “He is one of the best players in the world and we are lucky to have him.”
If he decides to re-sign with Toronto, it will be costly for the Maple Leafs. Perhaps they could trade him for a high draft pick and a good defenceman – but they would never get back in return what they lost.
The game against the Predators is the last of a long trip that looked formidable at the outset. A win will be the Leafs’ fourth in a row after a loss in Sunrise against the Florida Panthers. Since then they knocked off Tampa Bay, Washington and Dallas.
The two things that stand out are the play of Nylander and goalie Joseph Woll, who has taken away the starting job from Ilya Samonsov. Woll has won three in a row on the road and has allowed only two goals in the past 97 shots.
“It is not surprising any more,” said Sheldon Keefe, the Toronto coach. “We are at the point where he is a quality NHL goaltender. He gets better with the more lessons he has learned.”
Nylander will never be a fan favourite but he has earned more respect than many fans afford him.
“Willy is Willy,” Tyler Bertuzzi said. The former Red Wing had a tip-in for a goal against Dallas. “He’s a great player. I knew he was really good when I came here, but I didn’t know just how good. He’s real good.”