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Nylander, Maple Leafs Feeling the Effects of No Marner?

Originally posted on NHL Trade Talk | By Jackson Weber | Last updated Nov 18, 2025 12:31 PM ET

William Nylander has always been one of the faces of the franchise during his time as a Toronto Maple Leaf, but in 2025-26 and beyond, he’s moved even higher in the pecking order thanks to the departure of Mitch Marner.

The Swedish superstar is capable of handling such responsibility as one of the best wingers in hockey himself. While that’s been the case on the offensive end to start the season, there have been a lot of growing pains in other areas of the game.

Much like Phil Kessel back in the day, Nylander has his particular style of play, and that’s never going to change. The problem is that, without Mitch Marner and now an injured Auston Matthews, there’s nobody to hide his deficiencies, as TSN analyst Bryan Hayes noted during “OverDrive” on Monday.

Hayes said:

“Marner put up a shield for Willy to just go be Willy. Because Marner would do the grunt work. Marner would be the guy on the penalty kill; Willy’s never killed a penalty in his life. And big defensive plays in the past, it was, obviously, Marner was going over the boards.”

Is Nylander struggling with a bigger role due to Marner's departure? #OverDrive @OverDrive1050 pic.twitter.com/pqRBinRj0x
— TSN (@TSN_Sports) November 17, 2025

“But I think the Marner discussion ironically comes back to Nylander, where they were connected at the hip for the wrong reasons forever. But Mitch kind of put up a bubble for him, put up a shield, and just said, “I’ll do this, I’ll do that, this is how I play, you go be Willy.” And now with Marner not here and, by extension, Matthews not playing, you only look at Willy and say, “Well, you’re the only one left,” Hayes added.

As Hayes also referred to, the 29-year-old remains extremely productive offensively through it all, having tallied 26 points (eight goals, 18 assists) in just 16 games this season.

Losing Marner for Nothing Will Forever Haunt the Maple Leafs

There is no denying that it was time for Marner and Toronto to go their separate ways; in fact, it was long overdue. That being said, losing him to free agency for a toss-in acquisition in Nicolas Roy is bad business; there’s no other way to put it.

The smart play would have been trading one of Marner or Nylander years ago for a haul in return that allowed the Maple Leafs to retain a superstar winger and acquire multiple good pieces for the other.

Instead, they’re now left with Nylander and a depth forward in Roy, who provides the same skillset as almost everyone else in their bottom six.

It’s easy to look back and say this now, but everyone was beating said drum at the time, and the Maple Leafs continued to run things back, resulting in no playoff success, and they’re now facing the consequences.

This article first appeared on NHL Trade Talk and was syndicated with permission.

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