Maple Leafs’ William Nylander to join Sweden at IIHF Men’s World Championship

Nylander was made available to represent his country after the Maple Leafs were eliminated from the Stanley Cup Playoffs, losing to the Florida Panthers in Game 7 of the Atlantic Division Final on Sunday night.

The Calgary-born star will be riding high heading into the world championship, individually. Nylander led the Leafs in scoring during the postseason, potting six goals and 15 points in 13 games. He and Mitch Marner were the only players on the roster to average a point per game in the playoffs. This will be the second time Nylander will be donning his country’s colours this year. In February, he was an alternate captain for Sweden at the 4 Nations Face-Off, posting two assists in three games as the Swedes finished third with a 1-0-2 record.

It was the 29-year-old’s first bit of international duty since the 2022 Men’s Worlds. He will be competing at the senior world championships for the fourth time in his career. Nylander led Tre Kronor to the gold medal over Canada in 2017, leading the tournament in goals (7) and was named the event’s most valuable player.

Nylander followed that up with another impressive performance in 2019. Despite Sweden falling to Finland in the quarterfinals, he led the tournament in assists (13) and points (18), being named to the All-Tournament Team for the second time in three years. Along with his success on the senior national team stage, Nylander has also represented Sweden at the 2012 Under-17 World Hockey Challenge, the 2013 Hlinka Gretzky Cup, the IIHF Under-18 Men’s World Championship (twice) and the IIHF World Junior Championship (twice).

After losing to Canada in the group stage finale, this year’s Swedish side finished second in Group A. They will face Czechia in the quarters on Thursday, hoping to punch their ticket to the semifinals for the second year in a row.