William Nylander is the Toronto Maple Leafs MVP and the most underrated star in the NHL

Call me Ferris Bueller, because I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: William Nylander is the best player on the Toronto Maple Leafs. Through 11 games this season, Nylander has 20 points, including three against the Pittsburgh Penguins, helping spark a third-period comeback for a 4–3 win, and two last night in a win against the Utah Mammoth.

According to MoneyPuck, Nylander has more 5v5 points than anyone in the NHL at this point (other than John Tavares, who he’s tied with). He’s only played 11 games! I know it’s a long season, and 11 games is a very small sample size, but Nylander is off to a very hot start.

How good is he?

Nylander has been playing alongside John Tavares for most of the season, and they are tied for the lead in 5v5 points. To anyone who said Auston Matthews will be driving the bus this season, how’s that working out for you? Nylander, Tavares and Matthew Knies are the top three in 5v5 scoring. Matthews, while he has more goals than Nylander, is nowhere near the top of that category. Nylander is now leading the league in points per game among players with a minimum of seven games played. He has 1.82 points per game so far this season.

Nylander has missed three games this season and is still in the top five in the league in scoring, while also leading the Leafs in points. Yes, the Leafs haven’t necessarily lived up to the expectations that fans and the media have for them so far this season, but if that’s going to change, their best players will have to continue to be their best players. That starts with Nylander, Matthews, and Knies.

Even though the Leafs got the victory against Pittsburgh, Craig Berube still had a very direct message regarding his team’s performance in the opening two periods. Berube put Nylander back on the top line with Knies and Matthews, and they put on a show, with three straight goals to tie the game. And last night, back with Tavares, he looked just as dominant.

Pressures

Every hockey fan knows that there’s an extra sense of pressure that comes with playing in any Canadian market, which was part of the reason Mitch Marner was likely going to leave the Leafs, whether they traded him or not. However, Nylander seems to thrive under that pressure and is consistently performing very well.

It’s a common stereotype in the NHL that Swedish players only care about winning in International tournaments and not for their NHL teams. The player who comes to mind is Filip Forsberg. In the 2023–24 season, he finished with 48 goals, leading the Nashville Predators to the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

However, the single-season record for a Swedish-born player is 50 goals, set by Håkan Loob in the 1987–88 season with the Calgary Flames. He was the first and remains the only Swedish-born player to reach this milestone. Forsberg had just two goals in the Preds’ first-round series against the Vancouver Canucks. Many people speculate that he was upset over not breaking Loob’s record, which caused a lack of goal scoring in the playoffs.

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What could happen?

This doesn’t seem to be the case with Nylander; he wants to bring the Stanley Cup back to Toronto and seems like the kind of guy who will do everything he can to make that happen. I’m sure you’ve seen the clip of him calling out Auston Matthews in the playoffs.

Nylander is the kind of player who’s a “game breaker.” He’s the kind of player who makes those who are around him better, similar to the way Mitch Marner is. I don’t think Matthews is on the same level in that regard.

According to Elite Prospects, Nylander is on pace for 144 points, which likely isn’t going to happen. However, if he can stay healthy, he is going to do some serious damage on the scoresheet. Fans are once again in for a rollercoaster of emotion this season, but Nylander will do everything he can to get the Leafs to the promised land.