Maple Leafs’ Nylander Isn’t Just Lucky: He’s Really Good!

The Toronto Maple Leafs’ William Nylander is a really good hockey player. However, sometimes Nylander isn’t given the credit he deserves.

Ian Tulloch of Maple Leafs’ Hot Stove made a really good point in his post today. He noted that hockey analysts use the phrase the “puck is following him around,” when they speak about Nylander’s play. It’s as if his success this season can be attributed to “puck luck.” It ain’t so.

Of course, hockey analysts used to say that about Wayne Gretzky as well, and we know that isn’t accurate. Obviously, Nylander isn’t anywhere near the skillset or tenacity of Gretzky, and he plays a different game. 

Nylander Carries the Puck a Bit Like Connor McDavid

In some ways, Nylander has some of the similar qualities as Connor McDavid, except that he doesn’t handle the puck in traffic nearly as well as McDavid. Few do. McDavid’s in a class by himself.

I have to say that, although I know that the puck moves more quickly by passing than skating, some of my favorite Nylander plays are when he winds up in his own defensive zone at even strength. You can just see it coming. He then proceeds to carry the puck to the opponent’s net, which could be as far as 150 feet away. 

There are times when Nylander can simply dominate opponents at even strength. He’s often at his best when he’s the one carrying it up the ice, breaking down the defense, and generating shot after shot on the net. As Tulloch notes, Nylander produces shots on goal at an elite rate. 

And, Nylander’s been doing it all season. On Friday against the Sharks, he had a game-high eight shots on the net.

Against the San Jose Sharks, Nylander Got Things Going Early

In Friday night’s game, Nylander also scored two points and helped the Maple Leafs win by a 4-1 victory score over the San Jose Sharks. He started early and opened the scoring just 32 seconds into the game.

The goal originated on a nice pass from Morgan Rielly. John Tavares then didn’t try to play the pass from Rielly but tipped it to a space. There Nylander picked it up and took it to the net.