How William Nylander can challenge for the Rocket Richard this season

This year’s Rocket Richard Trophy race will certainly be among the most compelling races to watch. Last year, Leon Draisaitl earned the honour with 52 goals scored, the fewest goals scored by any league leader since 2019. Auston Matthews led the league in goal-scoring three times over the last five years, and after a down season last year will be looking to bounce back. Connor McDavid, Kirill Kaprizov, and David Pastrnak will be in the mix too, and we’re surely in for a tight race.

One interesting name to watch this year will be William Nylander. Nylander finished runner-up in the league’s goalscoring race last season with a career-high of 45 tucks. He’s entering what are likely the prime years of his career. Could this be the season he finally breaks 50 and enters as a legitimate contender for the Rocket Richard? It won’t be easy, but if he wants it bad enough it’s within his reach.

Here’s a look at what will have to go right for Nylander to challenge for the hotly contested award this season:

Changed Leafs DNA

All summer, we have been promised a “DNA change” for the Toronto Maple Leafs. For head coach Craig Berube, that has meant being a tougher team to play against, bringing a complete north-south game nightly. It’s also meant the departure of longtime Leaf Mitch Marner.

Nylander looks set to continue to play alongside John Tavares and Bobby McMann this season on the second line, perhaps the only one that won’t be changed from last year. That being said, it doesn’t mean they can’t come in with a new mentality. And in Marner’s absence, this could be the season for Nylander to step up as a leader and put up his best numbers.

New look to the power-play

It improved as the year rolled on, but the Toronto Maple Leafs power play looked abysmal to start last season. And in the postseason, they converted at just over 20% on the man advantage. Not great for a team with so much offensive firepower.

This year, the Maple Leafs are back to running a four-forward power play, the top line consisting of Morgan Rielly, Auston Matthews, William Nylander, Matthew Knies, and John Tavares. Nylander and Matthews are set to play on the flanks, looking to fire off pucks where they can to get Toronto’s power play going. With Rielly looking good ahead of the season and Matthews reportedly back at full strength, a booming top power play unit will be key to pad the stats for Nylander this year.

Be selfish

Last year was just the second time in Nylander’s career that he finished with more goals than assists. Aided by a career-best shooting percentage of 17.8 percent, it led to a 45-goal campaign. If he can keep that shooting mentality this year, and that level of accuracy, he’ll certainly emerge as one of the team’s leading goalscorers.

Olympic boost

It is sometimes overstated, but set to make his Winter Olympics debut in February, it may provide some extra fuel for Nylander to play his best hockey this season. Having already talked about his excitement for his upcoming Games debut, the 29-year-old will be looking to enter the tournament in peak form. And if he can come back from Italy with some hardware around his neck, he’ll be carrying some extra swagger through the latter half of the year.

No one else goes off

Okay, let’s be honest. Nylander is an incredible player, but it seems pretty unlikely he’ll score north of 60 goals, barring something amazing happening. Last year, the Rocket Richard was won with a tally of 52, but the three years prior it was picked up with 60+ goal campaigns (of course, twice by Matthews). There’s no doubt every Leafs fan would gladly see Matthews drop 60 (or 70…) once again, but the only way Nylander is a legitimate Rocket Richard candidate is if no one else in the league puts up a career year.

All to say, Nylander is long shot for the Rocket Richard Trophy, but it’s not impossible. A number of things have to go his way to make it happen, but it would certainly be a welcome surprise for the Toronto Maple Leafs and a confidence boost heading into the postseason.