Why Leafs’ William Nylander is linemate proof

Nylander has a knack for getting offence out of everyone. So far this season he has assisted on goals by eight different players, and 12 different players have assisted on his goals, resulting in 13 different players Nylander has found his way onto the scoresheet with. The fact that he’s generating offence with Kampf as well as Fraser Minten has been encouraging and his success with players like Domi, Pacioretty, McMann, and Knies regularly shows encouraging signs that the Leafs can be a three line offensive team with ease once Matthews is healthy. Nylander will be critical to diversifying the Leafs attack.

The reasoning behind Nylander’s success in this role seems pretty clear. It’s the number of tools in his offensive arsenal. Nylander is the Leafs premiere puck carrier and arguably one of the top puck carriers in the league. There is no rush or panic when the puck is on his stick, and he creatively finds space in which to work. Putting a puck carrier of this magnitude on any line is what gives you the luxury of getting more out of players like Kampf or Holmberg or whomever might otherwise be offensive inept.

The next aspect comes with Nylander’s entry into the offensive zone. The fact that Nylander can distribute the puck, drive the net, or simply hammer the puck makes him an incredibly challenging player to face on an odd man rush and whether Nylander is entering with Auston Matthews, John Tavares, or Fraser Minten, it seems that Nylander is capable of creating his linemate as a potential threat as much as he is, or he will exploit the fact that opponents will cheat towards him like the David Kampf clip above demonstrates.

Where Nylander goes, offence follows, and while Nylander will provide little in the way of defensive support the Leafs’ bottom six forward group, he is demonstrating an ability to make those lines a 200 foot threat rather than units only capable of weathering storms.

It seems that in William Nylander, Craig Berube has found the elements that he had success with Vladimir Tarasenko in St. Louis.  Both Nylander and in his prime Tarasenko are outside what you’d expect for Craig Berube type players but are the type of players who thrive once the typical Craig Berube players regain control of the puck. It’s one thing to battle for the puck, but Nylander and Tarasenko are the players who won’t give it up.

Nylander is a player who thrives in the transition. He can be on the ice while David Kampf and Connor Dewar fight to regain the puck in the Leafs end and then he is the right option to carry the puck up the ice while his linemates are replaced with offensively driven options like Max Domi and Nick Robertson. If nothing else Nylander is a barrier to unnecessary dump-ins for line changes, but of course he generates so much more. It’s just that simple aspect of his game may take on greater importance as the games start to count more.

Over the next few months as the trade deadline comes and goes and the Leafs potentially see developing players like Minten and Grebenkin return to the Leafs to take on significant roles, Nylander’s role on the club will be a strategic part of what the Leafs identity will be in the playoffs. He enables a lot of secondary scoring potential, puck possession/transition play in addition to the dominance he brings when playing in the top six. It wouldn’t be at all surprising to see Nylander move around the lineup a lot more and really only see time in the top six when the Leafs are specifically looking to offensively overload their opponents.

It will be interesting to see where Craig Berube sees Nylander’s best fit once he has a healthier lineup to work with.